ABSTRACT
OPEC: 1973 - 60 per cent of non-communist world 's oil supply from OPEC 1985 - 40 per cent of non-communist world 's oil supply from OPEC
Prices per barrel : 1981 $35; 1986 < $10; early 1988 $16; late 1988 $13; 1990 $20; late 1990s < $20 Saudi Revenues : 1984 $50 billion ; 1987 $25 billion
Years %
Middle East 92 .1 65 .2 Latin America 36.1 7.6 Africa 25.0 6.4 Asia and Australasia 15.7 4.1 Former Soviet Union 25.5 6.4 North America 18.1 8.3 Europe 8.2 2.0
A paradox of the world oil market is that cheap oil, while attractive to economic growth, reduces the proved oil reserves, i.e. economically viable oil reserves, of the non-OPEC world because, by and large, non-OPEC oil is more expensive to produce, costing as much as $ 12 a barrel to extract in a difficult location such as the North Sea or Alaska. Saudi Arabian crude oil costs about $3 a barrel to extract from under the desert.
