Qatar which has spent much of the last few months fighting diplomatic battles, is withdrawing from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), the country's energy minister announced.The Arab country will quit Opec by January 2019, the minister, Saad al-Kaabi said. The decision was made after Qatar reviewed ways to enhance its role internationally and plan its long-term strategy, al-Kaabi also said.

Reason for quitting OPEC by Qatar

• Qatar is the largest exporter of natural gas (LNG) in the world.
• It has 30 percent stake in natural gas production worldwide.
• Qatar wants to increase the dominance of natural gas fishermen around the world, for which they have to leave OPEC to focus on it.
• After being out of OPEC, Qatar can increase production of crude oil. She is OPEC's 11th largest oil producing country. Qatar produced 10 million barrels of oil per day in October 2018. Qatar is a member of OPEC since 1961.

Influence on India

• Qatar's decision will not have much effect on India as the country's major oil exporters are Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
• Apart from oil, there is not even much business relationship with Qatar in India.
• Because of US sanctions, if India had to reduce imports from Iran in the future, it could choose to increase import from Qatar.

OPEC and its member countries

• OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)) is a petroleum productive organization of 15
• OPEC's impact on world affairs not only affects the benefits of companies involved in the oil industry, but also affects transportation, agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
• Algeria, Angola, Congo, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Venezuela are its member countries.