When planning your investments in the oil commodity market, another pair of numbers to keep close tabs on is export and import figures. Exports are different from production: A country can produce a lot of oil and consume most, if not all, of it — as the United States does.

On the other end of the spectrum, a country can produce plenty of oil and export most of it, as is the case in the United Arab Emirates.

Identifying the top exporting countries allows you to zero in on the countries that are actually generating revenues from selling crude oil to other countries. Countries that are net exporters of crude stand to benefit tremendously from the oil boom, and you can get in on the action by investing domestically in these countries. Below are the top oil-exporting countries in 2009.

Rank Country Daily Oil Exports (Million Barrels)
1 Saudi Arabia 8.1
2 Russia 7.1
3 United Arab Emirates 2.5
4 Iran 2.3
5 Norway 2.3
6 Kuwait 2.2
7 Nigeria 2.1
8 Venezuela 1.9
9 Algeria 1.8
10 Angola 1.7

Source: United States Department of Energy