JAKARTA ~ The average price of crude oil will fall to US$54 per barrel in 2008, Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said.

The fall will dent oil revenue in the country, southeast Asia’s only member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Yusgiantoro said on Wednesday.

He said oil revenue would drop to Rp99.8 trillion ($10.9 billion) next year from Rp119.98 trillion in 2007.

The revenue estimates assume an average price of $63 per barrel this year, and that Indonesia’s average oil output will rise to 1.1 million barrels per day in 2008 from 1.05 million this year.

The country has become a net oil importer in recent years despite its membership of OPEC.