Currently Riyadh accounts for almost one-fifth of global crude exports.


With focus on Saudi Arabia, Ghawar holds an unparalleled significance to future global oil supplies. Stretching for more than 150 miles beneath the desert, it is the largest known global crude deposit. It produces twice as much oil than any other field in the super-giant category.

Ghawar is hence crucial to continued Saudi production and meeting the galloping global requirements. People like Matthew Simmons have been arguing for years now that Ghawar is on decline. That is a cause of major concern to the energy fraternity.

Stuart Staniford is another sceptic. He recently undertook computer study of the publicly available information on Ghawar. After going through the available data on Saudi production before 1980, Staniford infers that the depth of the remaining oil column in northern Ghawar at that time was about 500 feet.

And with water level rising by about 18.4 feet per year, Staniford extrapolates that the northern part of Ghawar by now is quite depleted.