The Oil in the Arabian Gulf Region between Exporting and Refining - a geographical analysis -

Abstract

This paper deals with oil of the most important region in the world which includes eight countries. It aims to draw a clear picture of the eight countries in the region regarding the refining of its oil, instead of exporting it as crude. Some questions to be answered here: are the gulf countries refining its oil more than exporting it after almost 100 years of oil discovery, what are the differences between them in this matter?, and is the growth of refining high enough during the last 30 years, compared with other countries even non-oil producers such as Singapore?. International and regional as well as local information and data were used to present a real situation and its development with enough comparisons in time and space. The paper ends with findings such as: all eight countries of the region have 37 refineries, with almost 5 millions barrel per day represents almost 25 % of the total oil daily production, Saudi Arabia is the largest producer while Bahrain presents a special case, because it refines more than its oil production and Kuwait on other hand, represents a different case as it spreads internationally, but the ratio of growth is very slow. Finally, the region has economic and geographical location advantages which should encourage them to increase it capacities to cover the growing need of the region itself as well as the area around where the population is increasing at high rate and comprehensive social, urban and economic developments are going on.