The Persian Gulf is one of the most important stretches of water in the world. The reason can be summed up in one word — oil. The countries around its shores produce over 40% of the world’s oil and have approximately 70% of total world oil reserves.
Oilfields are scattered throughout the Gulf, particularly on and off its southwestern shores in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (see map on the back page). Iran on the northern shore is also a major oil producer, exporting almost all the oil it produces. The world’s largest offshore oilfield, discovered in 1951, is Saudi Arabia’s Safaniyah field, which lies in the northwest of the Gulf.
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