In the money: Opec
Opec earnings to top $850bn
Thanks to higher crude oil prices, Opec member nations earned a record $675 billion last year from oil exports and collectively will see their export revenue increase by $175 billion this year, the US government's top energy forecasting agency said.
Net oil export earnings from Opec are expected to jump 26% this year to $850 billion and then fall to $783 billion in 2009 on lower oil prices, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.
On a per-capita basis, Opec's oil export revenue reached $1147 last year and is forecast to increase 24% in 2008 to $1424, the EIA said.
Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producer, accounts for almost one-third of Opec's total oil exports revenue.
Opec members are bursting with cash from rising global oil demand and high crude prices, which for US oil hit a record $100.09 a barrel in early January.
