Cheaper oil to shave $79 billion off OPEC earnings: EIA

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Falling crude oil prices will cost OPEC about $79 billion in lost oil export revenue this year and almost $100 billion in 2009, according to the U.S. government's top energy forecasting agency.

Net oil export earnings from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are projected to hit a record $1.172 trillion this year, the Energy Information Administration said this week in its latest energy forecast.

While OPEC's earnings in 2008 would still be 75 percent higher than the $671 billon the group earned last year, it would be $79 billion less than the EIA had forecast last month.

OPEC's expected drop in export earnings reflects lower petroleum demand and the steep fall in oil prices, which have declined about $33 a barrel over the past month and are projected to be much lower than previously forecast.

For 2009, the oil producer group's crude export earnings are expected to reach $1.225 trillion, $97 billion less than the EIA forecast last month.

Through the first seven months of this year, OPEC members had already raked in about $642 billion from their oil exports, with Saudi Arabia accounting for the biggest share at $191 billion, the EIA said.

(Reporting by Tom Doggett; Editing by Walter Bagley)