DUBAI, 6 August 2004 — The surge in oil prices is ensuring record revenues and exports of more than $180 billion in 2004 for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, said a report by British-based Standard Chartered.
“Record oil prices are leading to record government revenues,” Daniel Hanna, Middle East economist at the emerging markets bank, said in the institution’s quarterly publication.
“The combined net oil exports of the Gulf Cooperation Council are on course to exceed $180 billion in 2004, a jump of $35 billion from 2003,” he said.
Hanna said that “while Iraq and regional security concerns may dominate the international agenda ... the local focus is resolutely on the current economic boom.”
“High oil prices underpin the boom. Supply concerns and strong global demand have pushed oil prices to 20-year highs,” he said. “To match demand, the Gulf is now close to producing oil at full capacity,” he said, expecting “oil prices to remain high and volatile, with OPEC’s benchmark oil price forecast to average $35 in 2004.”
Global oil prices have risen to record highs amid concerns over whether supply can meet growing demand against a backdrop of terrorism alerts and recent attacks on oil facilities in the Gulf.
Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank said in an economic report on Tuesday that the Kingdom was set to achieve a budget surplus of SR56 billion riyals ($14.9 billion) in 2004 on the back of high oil prices.
