OPEC oil export revenue lowest since 2004

Net oil export revenue totals for members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) dipped below 2005 totals for the first time in 2015, according recent estimates by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

After the dramatic gains made by OPEC members between 2005 and 2008, when export revenue reached $899.8 billion, revenue plummeted sharply in 2009 before recovering to an all-time high of $950.7 billion in 2013. The EIA estimates indicate that OPEC’s 2015 revenue sits at $404 billion, a decrease of approximately 60 percent in only two years.

The decline in revenue is strongly correlated with a drop in crude oil prices, which have fallen from $112 per barrel (b) in June 2014, to just $38/b in December 2015. In addition to slipping prices, some OPEC members have recently been forced to contend with unplanned production outages stemming from production shut-ins, failure to pay employees, armed conflict, and other political and military factors.

The steep decreases in oil export revenue are expected to have a significant impact on the economies of countries that rely heavily on oil sales and lack large financial reserves. While petroleum exports account for only five percent of Indonesia’s export revenues, the comprise 99 percent of export revenue in Iraq.