Life in Saudi Arabia(King of Oil)

Introducing Saudi Arabia:

Saudi Arabia. The world’s last great forbidden kingdom, and an emblem of everything most inexplicable to the West: the Middle East, Islam, oil and terrorism. For centuries the country was considered closed to outsiders, penetrable only to the bravest and the boldest, such as Richard Burton, TE Lawrence and Wilfred Thesiger, who risked life and limb to get there. Today it continues to exist only in the realms of the imagination for most people, who still relish the sensational stories surrounding it. And yet, ever so tentatively, the country is beginning to permit travellers past its portals. For those willing to ‘risk’ the realm, there may well be a surprise or two, like Madain Saleh & the North. Called Saudi Arabia’s Petra, Madain Saleh numbers among the most magical and monumental sites of the Middle East. Or it would if more people knew about it.

The Empty Quarter, the largest sea of sand on the planet, is home to dunes the size of ships. The Arabian oryx, one of the most beautiful animals on earth, also lives there. In the far south lies Najran, an ancient caravan stop, where mud-brick forts rise out of the palm plantations and oases. On the coast, liberal, libertine Jeddah – or so it’s seen by the Kingdom’s more conservative kinsmen – is home to sensation-full souqs and lovely coral houses, once the abode of its moneyed merchants. Off its shores lie Saudi’s Red Sea riches – reefs that rank among the least spoilt and most spectacular in the world.

Most memorable for many, however, is the traditional Bedouin hospitality that, like the sand of the Empty Quarter, seems to go on and on forever.

According to the Oil and Gas Journal, Saudi Arabia contains approximately 264 billion barrels of proven oil reserves (including 2.5 billion barrels in the Saudi-Kuwaiti shared "Neutral" Zone), amounting to around one-fifth of proven, conventional world oil reserves. Although Saudi Arabia has around 100 major oil and gas fields (and more than 1,500 wells), over half of its oil reserves are contained in only eight fields, including the giant 1,260-square mile Ghawar field (the world's largest oil field, with estimated remaining reserves of 70 billion barrels). The Ghawar field alone has more proven oil reserves than all but six other countries.

Saudi Arabia is the largest oil consuming nation in the Middle East. In 2008, Saudi Arabia consumed approximately 2.4 million bbl/d of oil, up 50 percent since 2000, due to strong economic and industrial growth and subsidized prices. According to independent analysis quoted in industry reports, demand is expected to rise by eight to 10 percent through 2010, mostly in the area of electricity and NGLs for petrochemical production. Saudi Arabia also does direct burn of crude oil for power generation during summer months.