JaulaDeArdilla / Foter

Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could earn an estimated USD1,171 billion of net oil export revenues in 2012 and USD1,133-billion in 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Energy data unit, the EIA.  READ MORE HERE

L.C.Nøttaasen / Foter

While the overwhelming general consensus is that oil prices could head north of USD140 per barrel before the end of the summer, a small group of analysts are suggesting that the market may pause for breadth and climb down. READ MORE HERE

The United States’ hydrocarbon’s production will eclipse Saudi Arabia and Russia as early as 2017, says Citibank. In fact the energy surplus points to North America effectively becoming the new Middle East by the next decade. READ MORE HERE

Why did Exxon strike a deal with Kurdistan at the cost of upsetting Baghdad? Because Kurdistan offered up one of the greatest oil basins in the world, roughly half the size of Abu Dhabi. READ MORE HERE

Chatham House says OPEC may be heading for a Shia-Sunni split, but it appears to have discounted the group’s enduring powers and its resilience despite wars and severe disputes between member states. READ MORE HERE

indigoprime /Free Photos

As the world faces its biggest oil crisis since the 1970s, politicians are blaming every one – President Obama, Iran, QE and Saudi King – for high oil prices. How about putting some blame on Israel for pushing the world into another unwanted war. READ MORE HERE

It’s a crisis that won’t go away. While the region is no stranger to Israelis and Iranians trading insults and threats, Tel Aviv’s latest hue and cry over Iran’s nuclear ambition refuses to die down.

Recent bombing attacks on Israeli embassies in New Dehli, Tbilisi (Georgia) and Bangkok was blamed on Iran – claims denied by Tehran – have frayed nerves and the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did nothing to soothe them by attending an event that highlighted Iran’s “nuclear achievements” on Wednesday.

READ MORE HERE

It’s only the second week of the year and oil analysts are already in a frenzy, making bold predictions for crude prices – from alpha bearish to mega bullish.

The latest bold prediction came from Capital Economics who have thrown a challenge to other analysts by predicting that Brent crude will average around USD85 this year. READ MORE HERE

Opec countries will rake in $900-billion this year. But these outstanding figures mask great turmoil facing group members in the next few
years.

With Brent crude comfortably over $100 a barrel, oil  exports of OPEC countries this year will amount to nearly $900 billion, a 38%
increase over 2010, according to the Centre for Global Energy Studies. READ MORE HERE

In the first part of the 2012 regional economic prospects, a look at oil-rich countries’ efforts to manage their citizens’ expectations, economic slowdown and regional and domestic political upheavals in the New Year.

The year 2011 was probably the most unexpected for the Middle East in decades with  not just the magnitude of changes unravelling in the region, but also the sheer number of those cataclysmic changes. READ MORE HERE