Adnoc 2008 crude price averages $96.48

Abu Dhabi: The official selling price (OSP) of Abu Dhabi's crude oil grades averaged $96.48 (Dh354) a barrel in 2008, latest data extrapolated from the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) reveals.

"It's more than double the UAE's budget estimates, so they will have a surplus for 2008," Kate Dourian, Middle East editor of global energy information provider, Platts told Gulf News.

However, Dourian cautioned that if Abu Dhabi doesn't amend its spending plans this year in line with the falling international oil prices, "they will either end up with a budget deficit or struggle to balance their budget, unless there's another spike in oil prices, which given the current trends, looks unlikely."

For December, the average OSP of Abu Dhabi crude oil grades - Murban, Upper Zakum, Lower Zakum and Umm Shaif - plunged to $40.96 a barrel from $50.21 a barrel in November 2008, in line with the recent global oil market price trends.

Adnoc's December average crude price was its lowest monthly price last year, the highest being $135.68 per barrel in July. On July 11, 2008, the international oil prices peaked to an all-time high of $147.27 per barrel. But ever since, the oil prices have been sharply going downwards due to the global financial crisis, which has crimped demand for petroleum products in major industrialised nations of the world. An increase in oil inventories worldwide, has also contributed to lower oil prices. Abu Dhabi accounts for nearly 94 per cent of the UAE's oil output and oil export is a major source of government income.

Energy experts say because of Abu Dhabi's relatively lower oil production costs and high cash balance, the UAE is in a better position to come to grips with a fast-changing global economic scenario than some of the other oil producing countries in the Middle East.