The UAE netted more than $22 billion from crude oil exports last year after oil prices surged above $28 a barrel and the country pumped at one of its highest output rates.

Official figures showed the value of oil exports was higher by more than 32 per cent over the previous year and slightly above the record 2000 earnings of $21.6 billion.

In a forward to the annual report on the country's economic and social developments last year, Sheikh Humaid bin Ahmed Al Mualla, Minister of Planning, said the UAE's crude oil sales hit an all-time high of Dh81.2 billion ($22.1 billion) last year compared with Dh61.2 billion ($16.6 billion) in 2002.

He gave no production figures but the UAE pumped more than 2.1 million barrels per day in 2002 while the price of Opec's basket of seven crude averaged more than $28 a barrel, one of its highest levels since the end of the oil boom two decades ago.

In contrast, the UAE's income plunged to nearly $10 billion in 1998, when oil prices collapsed to less than $10 following a price war among oil producers.

Oil prices have remained at more than $30 over the past few months and many expect them to range between $30 and $32 this year, their highest average in more than 20 years.

With the UAE's oil production expected to average more than 2.2 million bpd, its income is projected to hit a record $25 billion and could surpass that level if crude prices remain strong and the UAE boosts supplies in line with a recent OPEC agreement.