OPEC Income in 2010

Higher oil prices will likely boost the income of the OPEC by more than US$180 billion in 2010 and earnings could swell further in 2011, official US data showed. The 12-nation OPEC, which produces just under 40% of the world's oil supply, earned nearly US$429 billion in the first seven months of 2010, more than US$100 billion above its revenues in the same period of 2009, showed the figures by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the US Energy Department.

OPEC's income stood at about US$571 billion in 2009 and it is projected to surge to nearly US$752 billion this year, an increase of US$181billion, EIA said.

The earnings could rise to nearly US$821 billion in 2011 as crude price will likely remain strong and OPEC could hike output for higher global demand. Despite the increase, the income this year and in 2011 will be far lower than the record high income of about US$966 billion achieved in 2008, when crude prices climbed to their highest average of about US$147 a barrel.

EIA gave no forecasts on prices and OPEC's output but according to the Institute of International Finance and other estimates, crude prices could average above US$70 in 2010 and US$80 in 2011 compared with nearly US$60 in 2009.

OPEC producers could also be prompted by an expected recovery in demand to hike output, which was officially cut by 4.2 million bpd at the start of 2009 following a sharp fall in demand because of the global fiscal turbulence. EIA had previously projected OPEC's 2010 income at below US$600 billion but has massively revised up its forecasts apparently because it expects crude prices to further improve and the Group's production to be raised.

OPEC, which controls more than 70% of the global oil resources, netted its highest ever income in 2008 after prices hit an all time high and the cartel was pumping at one of its highest output levels. A breakdown showed Saudi Arabia was the largest earner in the first seven months of 2010 as Saudi Arabia pumps close to a third of OPEC's production. EIA put its income at around US$116 billion.

Iran, which controls the world's second largest oil deposits after Saudi Arabia, was number two, with an income of about US$41 billion. It was followed by the UAE and Nigeria, which earned US$38 billion each in the first seven months of 2010.

Kuwait and Angola earned about US$33 billion each while the income was estimated at nearly US$31 billion in Algeria, US$28 billion in conflict-battered Iraq, US$25 billion in Libya, US$22 billion in Venezuela, US$20 billion in Qatar, and US$4 billion in Ecuador, the smallest OPEC producer.

In the first half of 2010, the income of all OPEC members sharply increased on higher oil prices, which averaged nearly US$70 a barrel. The price rise lifted the UAE's oil export revenues by nearly US$12 billion in the while OPEC earned more than US$140 billion in extra income.

From around US$21 billion in the first half of 2009, the UAE's oil export revenue surged to nearly US$33 billion in the first half of 2010, EIA's figures showed. Saudi Arabia, which controls nearly a quarter of the recoverable global oil resources, saw its income leap by nearly 64% to US$100 billion in the first half of this year from US$61 billion in the same period of 2009.

Kuwait, also recorded a sharp rise in its earnings, which swelled to US$29 billion from US$20 billion in the same period.

The income of the other GCC oil producers soared from US$10 billion to US$17 billion in Qatar, to US$35 billion from US$22 billion in Iran and to around US$24 billion from US$16 billion in conflict-battered Iraq, which is not included in OPEC quota system. - Zawya