WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) - Thanks to record crude oil prices, OPEC members will likely earn over $1 trillion this year from oil exports, according to the U.S. government's top energy forecasting agency.
Net oil export earnings from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are forecast to skyrocket 57 percent from last year's $674 billion to $1.06 trillion this year and then decline to $990 billion in 2009 after an expected contraction in oil prices, the Energy Information Administration said in its new forecast.
Even though U.S. oil demand is expected to decline by 190,000 barrels a day this year because of high energy prices and a weak American economy, the EIA forecasts that global oil consumption will rise by 1.2 million barrels per day in 2008. (Reporting by Tom Doggett; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
