Oil boom brings $649 billion windfall for Opec

Opec’s oil and gas export revenue surged 22 per cent to a record $649 billion in 2006 as crude prices hit an all-time high and the exporter group pumped close to full tilt, an Opec report showed on Tuesday.

In the world’s biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia income from petroleum exports, including crude oil, condensates and natural gas liquids, hit $194 billion last year, a rise of 20 percent, Opec said in its Annual Statistical Bulletin.
A climb in oil prices to a record high of $78.40 a barrel for US crude in July last year has fuelled economic growth in some Opec countries. Oil is still within sight of the record, indicating another bumper year in 2007.

‘Opec members are certainly getting used to rising income, which is why they will be very careful about how much production they add to the market in coming months,’ said Paul Tossetti, analyst at PFC Energy.

TradeArabia