Opec 10-month income up $161bn

High oil prices boosted OPEC’s crude export earnings by nearly $161 billion year-on-year in the first 10 months of 2010 and the income is projected to end the year higher by nearly $177 billion, official US data showed Sunday.

The 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps just under 40 per cent of the global crude supply, earned around $613 billion in the first 10 months of 2010 compared with $452 billion in the first 10 months of 2009, showed the figures by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The 10-month income this year is already way above the total 2009 earnings of nearly $571 billion and they could swell to about $748 billion by the end of this year, nearly $177 billion above the 2009 income.

EIA of the US Department of Energy gave no reason for the surge but oil prices were far higher, averaging around $75 during the first 10 months of this year against about $55 in the first 10 months of 2009.

Oil prices are projected to average around $75 this year compared with nearly $60 in 2009, when they were jolted by the 2008 global fiscal crisis.

Crude prices could swell above $80 in 2011 because of stronger demand on the back of global economic recovery and this is expected to boost OPEC’s income to $840 billion, according to EIA, which has revised upward its earlier forecast about OPEC’s 2011 income of $805 billion.

A breakdown showed all OPEC members netted much higher revenue in the first 10 months of 2010, with Saudi Arabia earning around $164 billion compared with nearly $122 billion in the same period of 2009.

The UAE’s income was estimated at around $54 billion against $40 billion while that of Iran, the second largest earner in OPEC, stood at nearly $59 billion against $43 billion in the same period, EIA’s figures showed.

Kuwait’s revenue stood at about $47 in the first 10 months of this year compared with around $38 billion in the first 10 months of 2009.

Conflicted-battered Iraq earned about $39 billion in the first 10 months of 2010 compared with nearly $31 billion in the same period of last year.

The income of Nigeria surged to nearly $54 billion from $35 billion while it swelled to $45 billion from $33 billion in Algeria, to $46 billion from $31 billion in Angola, to $36 billion from 27 billion in Libya, to $33 billion from $28 billion in Venezuela, to $30 billion from $19 billion in Qatar and to $six billion from $five billion in Ecuador, the report showed.

A surge in crude prices to a record high average of more than $95 a barrel in 2008 allied with much higher production to boost the combined income of the 50-year-old OPEC to an all time high of nearly $966 billion in current prices.

OPEC, which controls over 70 per cent of the world’s extractable crude deposits, slashed output quotas by over four million bpd through 2009. The bulk of the cut was made by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, which are believed to have trimmed supplies by more than 1.5 million barrels per day.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.