On a dollar basis, Saudi Arabia was the biggest Opec winner in 2017 with revenues up $23.5bn year-on-year. But as by far the biggest producer in the grouping, its annual revenue swings are typically the greatest.
When looking at revenue changes on a percentage basis the clear winner was Libya, whose earnings soared 61% to $15bn. Perhaps not surprising given that crude output more than doubled from 380,000 b/d to 820,000 b/d. And with an average of 1mn b/d in the first five months of 2018, Libya can look forward to more strong growth this year absent of an unexpected second half collapse. Alongside Nigeria, Libya remains exempt from the Opec+ production allocations, and, with markets tightening, pressure is unlikely to grow on the pair to agree to restricting potential output gains. (CONTINUED - 371 WORDS)
