he crude oil export earnings by the Arab world petroleum exporting nations reached its peak in 2011 by nearly $174 billion. A report by Kuwait based Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries OAPEC said the earnings soared to $624.8 billion in 2011from around $450 billion in 2010. The report said that increase in crude oil prices and a higher production by the oil exporting Arab nations were responsible for the gains in export earnings. Saudi Arabia accounted for almost half the total income while UAE gained most in terms of net income . Saudi Arabia, the number one oil power, netted nearly $289 billion last year compared with $184.4 billion in 2010. The UAE’s income swelled to an all time high of about $85.9 billion from $57.9 billion .In Kuwait the income grew to $79.6 billion from $53 billion. The earnings leaped to $27.3 billion from $20.5 billion in Qatar. It went up to $37.2 billion from $28 billion in Algeria. The report, which gave no data for Tunisia, showed the 2011 income stood at $6.3 billion in Bahrain and around $4.6 billion in Egypt. Libya was the only exception as its income tumbled in 2010 because of the uprising which ended with the death of Muammar Gaddafi. The report said that in real terms, the combined Arab income was at $479 billion in 2011, taking into account the real dollar value and global inflation. While the nominal price of OPEC’s basket of crudes was at around $107 a barrel in 2011, its real value averaged about $88 in terms of 1995 prices.

In Nepal , about three lakh eighty four thousand youth left the county in 2011-12 for employment overseas, due to lack of opportunities and political instability. According to figures of the Foreign Employment Promotion Board (FEPB), the number has increased by nearly thirty thousand compared to last year.

According to FEPB, Qatar is still the favourite labour destination for Nepali youths. The country has hired 1,33,000 Nepali workers, followed by Malaysia 98,000 , Saudi Arabia 80,000 , the UAE and Kuwait . The numbers are only of those who go through registered manpower agencies.

United Arab Emirates shipped its first oil cargo from its Fujirah oil export terminal on Sunday bye passing the strait of Hormuz to Pakistan. The export terminal has the capacity to pump up to 1.8 million barrels per day. Exports from the new facility would start at a few hundred thousand barrels a day and rise gradually over the next few months. 

Until now, the UAE, like Qatar and Kuwait, had been entirely dependent on Strait of Hormuz to export its crude.The Fujirah pipeline ends its dependence on the strait of Hormuz. The 370-km Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline carries oil from fields in the UAE's western desert to Fujairah, a major oil storage and fuel bunkering hub on the east coast. The new terminal has eight crude oil storage tanks each with a capacity of one million barrel. The bulk of UAE's oil is exported to Asia.

The move is significant in the context of repeated warnings of closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran over the sanctions imposed by the western nations. Flows through the Strait of Hormuz last year accounted for almost 20 percent of oil traded worldwide.

The UAE Oil Minister Mohammed bin Dhaen al-Hamli said that it is a very strategic project which gives the options to its clients to transport larger quantities of oil.

He underlined the importance of the project by saying that it is a complementary project so that it has an alternative choice for more than one trade route. The head of state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) Abdulla Nasser Al Suwaidi, said it will make other projects viable in the area, and will also avoid more insurance and will give access to the open sea.