Sep 25, 2018...Trump says OPEC is 'ripping off the rest of the world'
Posted on 12/03/2018 7:44:39 AM PST by bananaman22
Qatar will leave the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries as of next month, its energy minister told media today, adding that the decision was part of a long-term strategy for growing its international presence on energy markets with a focus on gas.
Qatar is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, but it has Australia breathing down its neck as well as emerging competition from the United States and other, smaller, producers.
“Qatar has decided to withdraw its membership from OPEC effective January 2019 and this decision was communicated to OPEC this morning,” Saad al-Kaabi said, as quoted by Reuters, at a news conference. He said the decision had been hard to make since Qatar had been a member of the cartel for almost six decades, but it had very little influence on OPEC decisions. Qatar produces about 600,000 bpd, which ranks it among the smaller OPEC producers.
(Excerpt) Read more at oilprice.com ...
GOOD NEWS!
The cracks in OPEC are forming.
The recent photos of Putin and the Saudi smiling belie their insecure future.
Fracking.
The U.S. should be # 1 in EVERYTHING!
Reminds me of the 1970’s shortage that Carter was involved in.. This definitely is good news..
AT LEAST Odumbass didn’t get us 18% mortgage interest rates and gas-lines like Carter did.
That is about the only good thing I can think of to say.
“The cracks in OPEC are forming.”
This may have more to do with the political friction between Saudi Arabia (and the UAE) and Qatar, over Qatar’s support of the Muslim Brotherhood and jihadi groups.
The Saudis share Qatar’s only land border. In this disagreement (part of President Trump’s anti-terrorism efforts)they have gone far beyond a simple boycott - they have contracted to have a canal dug, to cut Qatar off from the mainland (except for their official border crossing). They are really trying to force Qatar to comply with Saudi foreign policy. The Qataris have turned toward Turkey and Iran for support.
It is a political, religious and personal conflict; beyond the oil business.
As the article points out, Qatar is not a big oil producer anyway. Their main business is natural gas, and most of that is produced offshore, in waters they share with Iranian producers. So this might have something to do with skirting the huge sanctions that just hit Iran, which they could not get away with within OPEC.
“We’re going to Qatar losses” Saad al-Kaabi said.
John Batchelor often bases his show in Qatar. He’s pretty much a normal guy, what’s missing in his (and my) warning systems that you claim MB and terrorist activity?
Sep 25, 2018...Trump says OPEC is 'ripping off the rest of the world'
Why do you need a cartel unless it’s purpose is to fix prices, high prices.
I’m not so sure about that....Pres. Trump spoke about Opec and others at his UN address in Sept... As if he was throwing a wrench into the industry overall which included Russia and Saudi.
The group that initiated the blockade, which also includes Egypt, the UAE, and Bahrain, accused Qatar of supporting terrorist groups and being too close to Iran... Qatar has denied the accusations and launched counter-accusations against the leader, Saudi Arabia, of trying for a regime change in the Gulf state.
However Qatar is the smallest producer in Opec and didn’t have much say in how things went with Opec anyway.
Below data covers 2017:
Value of exports (million $) 84,906
Value of petroleum exports (million $) 35,496
Current account balance (million $) 6,408
Proven crude oil reserves (million barrels) 25,244
Proven natural gas reserves (billion cu. m.) 23,861
Crude oil production (1,000 b/d) 600.0
Marketed production of natural gas (million cu. m.) 163,598.6
Refinery capacity (1,000 b/cd) 433
Output of petroleum products (1,000 b/d) 699
Oil demand (1,000 b/d) 339.0
Crude oil exports (1,000 b/d) 466.0
Exports of petroleum products (1,000 b/d) 639.4
Natural gas exports (million cu. m.) 128,645.3
https://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/168.htm
OPECS Response:
Qatar gives notice of its withdrawal from OPEC No 25/2018
Vienna, Austria
03 Dec 2018
The OPEC Secretary General, His Excellency Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, has today received a letter from the State of Qatar giving notice of its intention to withdraw from its Membership of OPEC, pursuant to Article 8 of the OPEC Statute, with effect from 1 January 2019.
The letter from His Excellency Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs, also expressed sincere appreciation to OPEC Member Countries, the OPEC Secretary General and all OPEC staff.
Every Member Country has the sovereign right to withdraw from the Organization and this requires no approval from the OPEC Conference. The Organization respects the decision taken by the State of Qatar.
The OPEC Secretariat expresses thanks to the State of Qatar for its support of the Organization over the many decades of its Membership.
In the past three years, OPEC has seen Gabon (2016) rejoin the Organization and welcomed new members, Equatorial Guinea (2017) and the Republic of the Congo (2018). OPEC appreciates the continued interest of producers wanting to join the Organization.
OPEC remains fully committed to achieving and sustaining balance and stability in the market, through the Organization, and with the landmark ‘Declaration of Cooperation’, alongside 10 participating non-OPEC countries.
“John Batchelor often bases his show in Qatar... what’s missing in his (and my) warning systems that you claim MB and terrorist activity?”
He is aware of their history, as is his frequent guest, Malcolm Hoenlein. While their guest, and while on their payroll, he must of course be tactful in how he frames his statements. I am a fan of John Batchelor, but he has a business to run, and the Qataris are probably willing to pay richly for some good press during this crisis with Saudi Arabia. Maybe the Qataris are cultivating preparations, in case they do change policy.
Al Jezeera is the Qatari’s media outlet. They have long been the Arabic (and English) language broadcasters for the main Muslim Brotherhood thinkers and propagandists, like Sheik Qaradawi, who has been sentenced to death in Egypt and banned in Saudi Arabia.
Qatari money has been a main source of funding to jihadi groups in Syria (through their Turkish allies, who provide the military training and intelligence).
The former Muslim Brotherhood President of Egypt, Mohammed Morsi, was convicted of treason for revealing Egyptian state secrets to Qatar.
Qatar has long been a (the) main financial state sponsor of the Muslim Brotherhood.
. . . not for want of trying. Carter was a one-termer because he succeeded, pre-fracking, in lousing up the economy royally. To be fair, the Republican Party of Gerald Ford and Bob Dole was clueless about the economic import of overtaxation. It took Jack Kemp to make the case that government can overprice its “product" - legitimacy - with excessive tax rates. And that the result was not only economic slowdown but revenue shortfalls - and higher welfare expenses - as well.It’s amazing to think that for 40 years Democrats kept control of Congress with spending, and kept the Republicans out of power by the simple expedient of allowing the Republicans to raise taxes to pay for Democrat spending. And that, pre-Kemp, I actually thought that made sense.
But the point I wanted to make was that a FReeper who shall be nameless simply didn’t understand my point when I said that Frackers re-elected Obama. That wasn’t their objective at all, but by pursuing economic success they kept the economy afloat - and that kept Obama’s re-election chances afloat. As it was, Obama’s economy was a continual borderline recession. Without the success of the frackers, our economy would have been in a depression.
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