The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is an international alliance comprised of 13 member countries.
In alphabetical order, the 13 OPEC members are Algeria, Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
Overall, OPEC members shipped US$421.9 billion worth of crude oil around the globe in 2021. That dollar amount represents an -8% decline from $458.8 billion in 2017, but a 23% acceleration compared to $343.1 billion during 2020.
As a cartel, OPEC countries’ ability to collude and influence oil prices has weakened noticeably over the past 5 years.
In 2017, OPEC nations collected well over half (54.7%) of revenues from globally exported crude oil. Five years later, OPEC’s percentage share of the world total had dwindled to 49.7% for 2021.
OPEC Crude Oil Exports by Country
The 5 biggest OPEC suppliers of globally exported crude oil are Saudi Arabia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Nigeria. Combined, that quintet of leading OPEC crude oil providers generated over three-quarters (77.5%) of the cartel’s overall sales for crude oil exported during 2021.
- Saudi Arabia: US$97.9 billion (23.2% of OPEC crude oil exports)
- Iraq: $76.4 billion (18.1%)
- United Arab Emirates: $75 billion (17.8%)
- Kuwait: $41.3 billion (9.8%)
- Nigeria: $36.3 billion (8.6%)
- Libya: $28 billion (6.6%)
- Angola: $27.8 billion (6.6%)
- Iran: $19.1 billion (4.5%)
- Algeria: $11.9 billion (2.8%)
- Gabon: $4.1 billion (1%)
- Equatorial Guinea: $3.1 billion (0.7%)
- Congo: $1.1 billion (0.3%)
- Venezuela: $6 million (0.001%)
While OPEC is headquartered the non-OPEC capital city of Vienna, Austria, the largest OPEC exporters of crude oil are Middle Eastern countries. The Mideast export nations (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iran) accounted for approaching three-quarters (73.4%) of OPEC crude oil revenues during 2021.
OPEC Crude Oil Exporters: Fastest Growers and Decliners
The top gainer for higher OPEC crude oil sales from 2017 to 2021 was Libya via an 83.4% increase over the 5 year period. In second place was the United Arab Emirates (up 62.5%) trailed by Iraq (up 17.2%) and Gabon (up 15%).
The severest declines over the 5-year period belong to Venezuela (down -100% from 2017), Congo (down -70.6%) and Iran (down -59.6%).
Year over year, the strongest percentage gains among OPEC member in terms of international sales of crude oil belong to Libya (up 347.4% from 2020), Iran (up 90%), Algeria (up 58%), Angola (up 52%) and Iraq (up 49.9%).
There were 3 OPEC decliners from 2020 to 2021. These were Venezuela (down -99.8%), Congo (down -69.4%) and the United Arab Emirates (down -28.7%).
See also Crude Oil Exports by Country, Refined Oil Exports by Country, US Crude Oil Exports & Imports by State and Petroleum Gas Exports by Country
Research Sources:
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Databases (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on October 13, 2022
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on October 13, 2022
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Companies, OPEC Member Countries. Accessed on October 13, 2022
United Nations Comtrade Database, OPEC Member Countries. Accessed on October 13, 2022
Wikipedia, OPEC. Accessed on October 13, 2022
