After withdrawal from OPEC, Qatar can start to market Iranian oil to Asia and Europe, Sam Barden, director of the international trading and consulting company SBI Markets, told Trend Dec. 4.
This decision is a politically and economically right thing to do, he said.
“There is absolutely no benefit to Qatar to remain a member of OPEC,” he noted. “Firstly, they are a small oil producer in comparison to others in OPEC, and the time needed at the ministerial and executive level to maintain OPEC relations doesn’t match the benefit gained.”
“Qatar will and should focus on gas over oil, as gas has a much bigger future than oil globally,” he said. “Qatar, as the largest producer of LNG, is also the host of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), an 11 member global organization, sometimes referred to as the Gas OPEC. Given Russia is a member of the GECF, but not OPEC, and is also one of the largest procurers of gas and oil, Qatar can now deepen cooperation with Russia, and also Iran.”
“Strategically, and moving forward, this makes much more sense politically and economically, as Russia and Iran, along with China and other parts of Asia, are likely to move away from US dollar settlements and trade in an effort to remove sanctions risk,” he noted.
“Qatar can now start to market Iranian oil to Asia and Europe, and this could dramatically increase supply, or take market share from others,” he added.
“A move like this could be coordinated with Russia and China as part of the overall strategy to fund and build the Belt and Road Initiative, which is the largest infrastructure project on the planet,” he said.
Such actions will more than likely fasten the collapse of the US dollar trading system, which is a good thing for future peace and free trade in the world, Barden noted.
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