Qatar’s oil output cut starts in January

In line with OPEC’s recent agreement to cut output to stabilize oil prices, Qatar’s oil production levels will be reduced effective January 1, 2017, Qatar’s state-owned oil company, Qatar Petroleum, said on Tuesday. 

Qatar Petroleum President and CEO, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, said: “This decision comes in line with the State of Qatar’s commitment to the recently agreed production levels by the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) during its ministerial meeting held on 30 November, 2016.”

Al-Kaabi added: “We have started advising our customers of the expected reductions in oil deliveries to ensure the State’s compliance with OPEC’s allocations.”

He concluded by reaffirming Qatar Petroleum’s commitment to fulfill the country’s support of OPEC’s recent decision.

Joined in 1961, Qatar is the smallest OPEC member country in terms of both area and population. According to OPEC, oil and natural gas account for about 55 per cent of Qatar’s gross domestic product.

Following the output reduction agreement by OPEC members at the end of November, a number of non-OPEC nations last Saturday also committed to cut their output. Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, Sudan, and South Sudan committed to reducing their respective oil production, voluntarily or through managed decline.