Thanks to higher oil prices, Opec member nations are expected to earn a record $850 billion this year from their crude exports.

The figure is about $175 billion more than in 2007, the US government's top energy forecasting agency said.

Net oil export earnings from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries should jump 26 percent from last year's record $675 billion and then fall to $783 billion in 2009 on lower oil prices, the US Energy Information Administration said.

On a per-capita basis, Opec's oil export revenue reached $1,147 last year and is forecast to increase 24 percent in 2008 to $1,424, said the EIA, which is the US Energy Department's independent analytical arm.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producer and holder of the largest crude reserves, accounts for almost one-third of Opec's total oil exports revenue.

Opec members are bursting with cash from rising global oil demand and high crude prices, which for US oil hit a record $100.09 a barrel in early January.

Much of Opec's oil will be shipped to the United States, the world's biggest crude consumer. US oil demand averages about 21 million barrels a day, with three of every five of those barrels imported. Opec members provide almost half of total US crude oil imports.

Opec is expected to account for 32.6 million barrels of the 87.7 million barrels of average daily global oil output this year, the EIA said.

The EIA will not make public its oil export earning estimates for individual Opec members during 2008. But for last year, the EIA said the six largest Opec oil export earners were: Saudi Arabia ($194 billion), United Arab Emirates ($63 billion), Iran ($57 billion), Nigeria ($55 billion), Kuwait ($54 billion) and Algeria ($51 billion). - Reuters