The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said its oil revenue plunged by $438 billion to a 10-year low last year, as an increase in export volumes failed to compensate for the collapse in prices, Bloomberg reported.
OPEC earned $518.2 billion in 2015 from the sale of crude and refined fuels, the lowest figure since 2005, the group`s Vienna-based secretariat said in its Annual Statistical Bulletin, according to Bloomberg.
It boosted exports by 1.7% to 23.6 million barrels a day, maintaining its share of global markets, as Iraq increased output and Saudi Arabia pressed on with a policy to squeeze rivals, according to the report.
Oil futures tumbled by 35% last year as U.S. crude production held up despite the Saudi-led strategy to pressure OPEC`s competitors with lower prices. Crude has since recovered, rising almost 90% in London from the lows reached in January, as U.S. output retreats and disruptions from Canada to Nigeria help whittle away a global surplus, Bloomberg writes.
The organization`s exports increased by an average of 400,000 barrels a day in 2015, raising its share of global production for the first time in four years, by 0.2 percentage points to 43%. Still, that was not enough to compensate for the price rout.
Exports from Saudi Arabia, which has steered the group`s policy often in defiance of poorer members like Venezuela and Algeria, were steady last year at 7.163 million barrels a day. The kingdom`s production rose by 4.9% to 10.193 million a day, according to the report.
While drilling activity declined in OPEC nations last year, with the number of rigs dropping by 60 to 887, the drop-off in other parts of the world was far more severe, the report showed.
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