ALGIERS: OPEC member Algeria expects its energy production and exports to shrink in 2011, pushing earnings from oil and gas down 4.5 percent on the forecast for this year, the finance ministry said. Revenues from oil and gas sales abroad are set to decline to $42.2 billion from the $44.2 billion forecast for this year, according to a document drafted by the finance ministry which was obtained by Reuters. The forecasts in the document for 2010 and 2011 are both made on the basis of a nominal average price for crude oil of $60 per barrel, excluding the influence of price fluctuations on the forecast revenues. Asked to explain the forecast drop in earnings for 2011, Finance Minister Karim Djoudi told Reuters: “It's because, regarding quantities, production and exports will decline.” Algeria supplies about a fifth of Europe's energy needs and is also the world's eighth largest crude exporter. The energy ministry did not respond to telephone calls seeking comment, and finance ministry officials did not offer any explanation for the forecast drop in energy output.
