Mubasher: After Qatar’s decision to leave the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in January 2019, ratings agency Moody’s said that the decision would not have a strong effect on the country’s sovereign.

In a comment on the announcement, Moody’s vice president and senior analyst Alexander Perjessy forecast that the decision would not have “credit implications for the sovereign.”

“Qatar’s reliance on liquefied natural gas (LNG) means that OPEC’s decisions on oil supply and their implications for oil prices will continue to have an indirect impact on Qatar’s government and export revenue,” Perjessy stated.

Qatar’s decision to no longer be a part of such decisions “will not change the sensitivity of its credit metrics to oil price fluctuations,” he added.

On Monday, Qatar said it was leaving OPEC to focus on natural gas production, according to its minister of state for energy affairs Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, who added that his country would not be bound by OPEC’s agreements after its exit.

The GCC member has been an OPEC member for over 57 years, however, it is now planning to exit in January 2019.

It is worth noting that Qatar is considered the 11th-largest oil producer in OPEC, having pumped around 609,000 barrels per day (bpd) in October.