Why are the countries of the Middle East oil rich?

For the purpose of this article, the term 'Middle East' focuses on the oil-rich countries in south-west Asia including Iran, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, and Yemen. These ten countries together have an area of 5.1 million square kilometres, or about 3. read more

The Middle Eastern oil-rich countries are those primarily on the Arabian Plate. This piece of land was under water for most of its history. During that period, billions upon billions of marine creatures, from algae and bacteria up to whatever else was swimming around, sunk to the sea bottom and formed layers that are literally miles deep. read more

The oil-dry countries of the Middle East include: Afghanistan; Cyprus; Comoros; Djibouti; Eritrea; Lebanon; Somalia; The Mideast's Biggest Oil Producers. The Middle East's association with oil production primarily comes from countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait. Each of these has over 100 billions of barrels in proved reserves. read more