Oil income in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) will hit US$608 billion in 2011 due to a big rise in oil prices and higher crude output – nearly 30.7 per cent above the oil export revenue of US$465 billion earned by the six-nation GCC in 2010 – according to a new report by the government-run Emirates Industrial Bank (EIB).
Result of higher prices
The increase will be a result of higher prices, with Dubai's crude price averaging as high as US$101 in the first 10 months of 2011, nearly 34.6 per cent above the US$75 average price in the same period of 2010, EIB said.
"This large increase in crude prices together with a rise in production to nearly 16.5 million barrels per day, will likely push up the GCC's crude export earnings to a record US$608 billion in 2011 compared with US$465 billion in 2010."
Saudi boosts oil supplies
EIB said Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude exporter, has boosted oil supplies to one of its highest levels of around 9.8mn bpd over the past few months to make up for crude disruption in conflict-hit Libya.
The bulk of the GCC's oil output increase this year was in Saudi Arabia, which controls over a fifth of the world's proven crude reserves. In 2010, the Kingdom pumped around 8.2mn bpd and output could average 9.2 mbpd this year.
New record
GCC countries, which also include the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and non-OPEC Bahrain and Oman, earned a record US$460 billion from oil exports in 2008 when prices hit an all time high of US$95.
Prices are projected to average at a new record of more than US$100 this year while the GCC's production will also be higher.
OPEC's statistics showed Saudi Arabia earned nearly US$196 billion in 2010 compared with around US$167 billion in 2009. The UAE's income surged to US$74 billion last year from US$57.5 billion while that of Kuwait and Qatar swelled to US$61.6 billion and US$29.2 billion from US$46.6 billion and US$19.1 billion respectively.
