Gulf Crisis Contributes to 42% Jump in OPEC Petroleum Exports

Surging oil prices caused by the Persian Gulf crisis helped propel the value of OPEC’s petroleum exports last year to the highest level in nearly a decade, analysts said today.

The 13 members of the oil cartel last year took in from $154.1 billion to $165.8 billion for their petroleum exports--as much as 42% higher than 1989 levels, estimates show.

“The major reason (1990) is so high is because of the conflict in the gulf,” said Peter Bogin, associate director for oil markets at Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Paris.

He estimated members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries took in an extra $16 billion in the last half of the year because of the gulf-caused spin in crude prices and production.

Of the bonanza, oil giant Saudi Arabia captured about $9.3 billion, Bogin’s estimates show. The kingdom, the world’s biggest crude exporter, was pumping furiously to help compensate for losses stemming from the gulf conflict.

Iraq missed out on oil exports worth about $7.8 billion and Kuwait on $6.4 billion because their oil was embargoed during the year-end surge, Bogin calculated.

In all, he estimated the value of oil exports of the OPEC nations at $154.1 billion last year.

In 1989, OPEC reported the value of oil exports of its members at $116.6 billion.