BEIRUT, Lebanon — The tiny, wealthy Persian Gulf state of Qatar will withdraw from OPEC in January, the country’s energy minister said on Monday, hinting that it wanted freedom from an oil cartel dominated by Saudi Arabia, one of its regional rivals.

The minister, Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, said Qatar would focus on its gas industry and dismissed the idea that the withdrawal was connected to politics, but not without taking a jab at Saudi Arabia and its clout in the organization.

Qatar is one of the smallest producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and its modest contributions to the oil market will most likely dampen the effect of its move on prices, which have been battered in recent weeks by fears of a glut.

But the decision by Qatar, whose citizens have the highest per capita income of any country thanks to its status as the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, to leave OPEC after nearly six decades of membership is nonetheless a blow to the group and a possible sign of tensions within it.