The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ overall oil-export revenues climbed by 28% in 2017 to $578.30 billion from $451.80 billion in 2016, according to data released by the group on Thursday.
Libya’s revenues showed the largest proportional increase, climbing by 61%.
The second-biggest gainer was Qatar, which found that its political dispute with fellow Gulf producers was no barrier to expanding revenues by 55%. The United Arab Emirates ranked third, with $65 billion.
Total exports of crude oil from OPEC averaged 24.86 mb/d in 2017 declining by 1.6 percent, as compared to 2016, according to the data. However, the report showed that some countries benefited from the agreement more than others, Libya in lead, because it was exempted from any cut in addition to Nigeria, followed by Qatar and UAE.
OPEC works on reducing output around 1.2 million barrels per day, within a deal with Russia and other non-OPEC producers -- the deal became effective starting January 2017 and will continue till 2018.
The rise resulted from the hike in oil prices after OPEC deal to manage the supplies, following fostering the product for the sake of defending the market share between 2014-2016, in which oil exports value dropped.
Last year’s income is less than half the income that Libya used to get in 2013, after it returned to producing massive quantity post the civil war that the country witnessed since the ousting of the regime of former president Muammar Gaddafi. Yet, the deterioration of security conditions in oil producing regions and the halt of several oilfields led to a sharp decline in country’s income and output.
