São Paulo – Oil exports from the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) fetched US$ 964.6 billion in 2014, according to the Annual Statistical Bulletin (ASB) released this Wednesday (24th) by the organization. It was the first time since 2010 that the value stood below US$ 1 trillion. The total is 12.6% lower than the figure of 2013.
The performance reflects the steep drop of oil prices during last year. The organization’s reference basket, which gathers the prices of the commodity as produced by the different members, had an average price of US$ 96.29 per barrel during the year, against US$ 105.87 in 2013.
The decline of prices in future and commodities exchanges was sharper in the second semester, going from US$ 100 per barrel in June to less than US$ 60 in December, according to the news agency Reuters. Even with this scenario, Opec decided not to reduce the production to try to hold prices up.
All of Opec’s 12 member countries lost revenues with oil exports in 2014 in comparison to 2013, but in different levels. The country which lost the most was Libya, but for reasons more severe than the oscillations of the market, since there’s a civil conflict in the country.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani