OPEC members, excluding Iran, made $982 billion last year from oil exports, up 5.4% from the previous year and the highest revenue in the last 38 years, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). EIA predicts that OPEC’s oil sales will fall by 4.3% this year to $940 billion and by 3.9% in 2014 to $903 billion, according to Bloomberg.
OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) is an oil cartel created in 1960 with the goal to secure a constant revenue to the member states and supply oil to the consumers.
Demand for OPEC oil will drop by 300,000 barrels a day in 2013 to 29.6 million barrels, and will be 2.6% below the current production. OPEC exports in North America are increasingly competing with the exploitation of shale production, which grows in the U.S. and Canada. U.S. oil production reached 7.35 million barrels a day in late April, increasing by 17% compared to the same period last year.
Saudi Arabia, the largest OPEC oil producer, had last year revenues of $311 billion from the sale of crude oil, representing 32% of OPEC’s total oil revenues, according to EIA.
The U.S. energy agency data exclude Iran, which last year was the second largest OPEC oil producer but dropped meantime to the sixth place, following Western sanctions imposed because of the country’s nuclear program.
A European Union embargo on buying, transportation, finance and insurance of the Iranian oil came into effect on July 1st of last year.
Iran has not been included in the survey because of “the difficulties associated with estimating Iran’s earnings, including its inability to receive payments and possible price discounts Iran offers its existing customers,” said EIA.
According to the International Energy Agency data published earlier this month, OPEC delivered in June 30.61 million barrels of oil a day, compared to 30.98 million barrels a day in May. OPEC reaffirmed in late May a target production of 30 million barrels of oil per day.
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