The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) lost $76b in 2016 due to low oil prices caused by rising US oil production due to US fracking, according to a report published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), The Daily Caller informed.

EIA’s report suggested that, in 2016, OPEC earned about $433b in net oil export revenues, which is 15% lower and $76b less than the $509b the cartel earned in 2015. This is the lowest earnings posted by OPEC since 2004.

EIA notes that OPEC’s relative losses were largely due to a decrease in the average annual crude oil prices during the year, and to falling net oil exports.

In the attempt to rebalance the market, OPEC is keen to extend the output cuts established by the cartel and non-OPEC countries in November 2016.

According to the Iraqi and the Algerian Oil Ministers, the organization has reached consensus to extend the limits of cuts until the end of 2017. However, Saudi Arabia and Russia recently announced that they favor prolonging oil-output cuts by global producers through the first quarter of 2018, setting a firmer time-frame for a likely extension of the curbs, as informed on Bloomberg.