Opec-member Kuwait posted around KD7.55 billion ($28.2 billion) preliminary surplus in the first half of its 2008/09 fiscal year on higher than expected oil revenues, official data showed.

Revenue of the world's seventh-largest oil producer stood at 14.52 billion dinars in the six months to September 30, of which oil exports amounted to KD13.9 billion, government data obtained by Reuters on Monday showed.

Kuwait had assumed its crude would fetch $50 a barrel over the year to March 31 in calculating the budget.

According to the initial forecast of production levels and oil prices total revenue was expected to amount to 12.68 billion dinars for the whole year including KD11.65 billion in revenue from oil exports, the desert country's main revenue earner, the data showed.

The price of Opec's reference crude oil basket, which includes Kuwait crude, fell to $72.67 a barrel on Friday after over $100 a barrel last month. Kuwait posted a surplus of 9.32 billion dinars in 2007/08.-Reuters