Hello and welcome back to another episode of Military TV
The Middle East includes five of the top ten oil-producing countries and is responsible for
producing about 27% of world production. While state-owned enterprises produce much of the oil,
many international oil companies engage in oil production and related activities in the Middle
East through joint ventures, production-sharing agreements, and other business models.
Today, we would like to profile the top 5 countries with the biggest
oil producers in the Middle East: Let's check it out...
At number 1 we have Saudi Arabia According to the U.S. Energy Information
Administration report, Saudi Arabia produces almost 12 million barrels of oil per day and
nearly 12% of world output. The country ranked as the largest oil producer in the decade from 2003
to 2012, after which it fell to second place due to surging oil production in the United States.
Saudi Arabia remains the world's largest petroleum exporter.
With proven oil reserves of about 337 billion barrels and relatively low production costs,
Saudi Arabia should maintain its position as a top-three oil producer for the foreseeable future.
Saudi Arabia's oil and gas industry is controlled by Saudi Aramco,
which is controlled by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources
and the Supreme Council for Petroleum and Minerals. Saudi Aramco is mostly state-owned,
but had an initial public offering (IPO) of 1.5% of the company in Dec. 2019. Meanwhile, although
international oil companies do not participate in oil production in Saudi Arabia, several
partners with Saudi Aramco in joint-venture refineries and petrochemical plants in the
country partners include Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Sumitomo Chemical Co., and Total S.A.
Some of the major oil fields in Saudi Arabia are the onshore Ghawar Field, which has been
in production since 1951, the offshore Safaniya Oil Field, which has been producing since 1957,
and the onshore Shaybah Field, which was brought on stream in 1998.
The Ghawar Field is also considered to be the largest conventional oil field in the world.
It is operated by Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company.
Number 2: Iraq Iraq took second place as the largest
oil-producing country in the Middle East. Iraq produces about 4.8 million barrels of oil per day
and is the sixth-largest producer in the world. The country has achieved substantial production
gains since 2005, two years after the start of the Iraq War. However, the country faces challenges
that could limit production toward these goals, including political instability, continuing
violence, and inadequate infrastructure. Oil production in most of Iraq falls under the control
of the Ministry of Oil in Baghdad. The Ministry operates through several state-owned companies,
including the North Oil Company, the Midland Oil Company, the South Oil Company, and the Missan
Oil Company. In the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq, oil production is controlled
by the local Ministry of Natural Resources. More than a dozen major international oil
companies are involved in Iraqi oil production. U.S. and European oil majors include Exxon Mobil,
Occidental Petroleum, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, and Total S.A. Other
international oil giants in Iraq include China National Petroleum Corporation, known as CNPC;
China National Offshore Oil Corporation, known as CNOOC; Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Berhad,
known as Petronas; and Gazprom Neft OAO.
At number 3 we have United Arab Emirates. UAE is a federation of seven emirates,
including Dubai and the capital of the federation, Abu Dhabi. UAE produces just
over 4 million barrels per day to rank as the world's seventh-biggest producer.
Each of the seven emirates controls oil production within its borders. However, Abu Dhabi is home to
most of the proven oil reserves in UAE territory and, thus, it has an outsized role in establishing
the federation's oil policy. The state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company controls oil production
operations in Abu Dhabi under the direction of the emirate's Supreme Petroleum Council.
Most oil production in Abu Dhabi is organized under production-sharing agreements between
ADNOC and international oil companies. Other emirates use similar production-sharing
agreements and service contracts to organize oil production. Some of the biggest international
companies involved in UAE oil production include BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Total S.A., and ExxonMobil.
One of the country’s major fields includes the Upper Zakum Oilfield located approximately 84km
north-west off the Abu Dhabi islands. Number 4 is Iran
Iran is the ninth-largest oil-producing nation in the world, at nearly 3.2 million barrels per day,
but the effects of economic sanctions placed on Iran have kept production levels below
true potential. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration
(EIA), sanctions have had especially severe effects on upstream oil and gas investment,
including numerous canceled investment projects. In July 2015, Iran came to an agreement with the
permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,
in which Iran agreed to strict limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of
international economic sanctions. However, the U.S. withdrew from the deal in 2018,
as former President Donald Trump fulfilled a campaign promise to exit JCPOA,
which he labeled a "disaster" and the "worst deal ever." Then, in 2019, the U.S. imposed additional
economic sanctions in response to a drone attack on an oil facility in Saudi Arabia, which U.S.
officials blamed on Iran. Oil and gas production in Iran is controlled by the state-owned National
Iranian Oil Company under the direction of the Supreme Energy Council. While the Iranian
constitution bans private or foreign ownership of the country's natural resources, international
companies have historically participated in oil exploration and development in the country through
buyback contracts, a contract model that does not convey equity rights to the international company.
Major oil fields in Iran include the Marun oil field, the Ahvaz field, the Gachsaran field,
the Aghajari field, and the Esfandiar field. It is located in the Khuzestan province of Iran.
And the last one is Kuwait; it took fifth place
as the largest oil-producing country in the Middle East.
Kuwait produces almost 3 million barrels of oil per day, placing it just inside the top
10 oil producers in the world. It has maintained consistent production of between about 2.5 million
and 3 million barrels per day, but, according to the EIA, Kuwait has been struggling to raise
production to 4 million barrels per day during this period, falling short due to inadequate
foreign investment and related delays in new oil production projects. The Ministry of Oil carries
out oil policy in Kuwait through the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and its subsidiaries.
International oil companies have long been denied access to Kuwait because the Kuwaiti
constitution does not allow foreign companies ownership stakes in Kuwaiti natural resources
or the revenues associated with those resources. This means standard joint
ventures and production-sharing agreements used in other countries are outlawed in Kuwait.
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