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Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s largest oil producers. It also holds the world’s largest oil reserve. But the Saudis aren’t the only country with oil in the Persian Gulf. The region accounts for over two thirds of the world’s oil reserves. Use the map below to find out how much oil these Persian Gulf countries have beneath their surfaces.
It's About the Oil
Think what happens in Saudi Arabia doesn’t effect you? Think again. If you started your car today, or turned on a light or bought something, you were touched by oil. Oil-energy powers our homes, our cars and our jobs.
But why is Saudi Arabia so important? Because it, along with its Persian Gulf neighbors, owns more than sixty percent of the world’s oil reserve. In fact, Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil exporter, and holds over twenty five percent of the entire world’s oil reserve under its hot, sandy surface. Its two largest oil fields (Ghawar just south of Dhahran, and off-shore Safaniya)with a combined total of 261 billion barrels, are located on the east side of the country along the Persian Gulf. Of the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia has the most developed operations complex. The fields have been at work since 1939 when the first tanker load carrying 1358 barrels left Ras Tanura. Since then Saudi oil production has exploded to churn out seven million barrels of oil a day.
Saudi Arabia is also in the middle of a region in turmoil, one that may become a logistic nightmare for the oil industry. Of major concern is the vulnerability of huge transfer stations like the one at Ras Tanura --the world’s largest off-shore oil transfer facility. The massive tank farm and pumping station can load as much as six million barrels of oil a day. Similarly susceptible to attack are so-called choke-points in distribution like the Straits of Hormuz which sees eighty eight percent of the region’s oil pass through its narrow two mile wide shipping lane. And while the Saudis have developed other facilities such as the port of Yanbu which links the vast Ghawar oil field to the Red Sea by way of a 747 mile pipeline, this route adds five days shipping time to Asia, and only operates at half capacity.
If the Saudi taps were to suddenly close, the world, and the U.S. in particular would be hard pressed to replace Saudi supplies. Saudi Arabia is the top supplier of crude to the U.S. at 1,519,000 barrels a day (Mexico is next at 1.5 million and then Canada at 1.44 million barrels a day).
 And finally there is the matter of excess oil production. So-called excess oil is produced beyond the daily purchase and export demand. Think of it as a kind of petro-chemical cushion that can supply oil in the event that other major producers are shut down. The Persian Gulf region states produce almost ninety percent of the world’s excess oil.
The bottom line: Trouble in the Middle East leading to problems with oil production could spell big trouble for the world’s economy.
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