Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas industry has lifted the nation into being one of the richest nations in the Middle East. The country holds around 17% of the world’s hydrocarbons reserves and maintains one of the world’s largest oil production capacities, just behind the US. Saudi Arabia also holds the world’s sixth-largest natural gas reserves after Iran, Russia, Qatar, Turkmenistan and the US. The OPEC member’s oil exports account for 70% of the country’s output and support more than half of the government’s revenues. All areas of Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas industry are driven by NOC Saudi Aramco.

While Saudi Arabia has more than 100 different producing fields, eight of them are responsible for the majority of the country’s oil production. Most notable is the Ghawar field, the world’s biggest oilfield, and the Safaniya field, the world’s largest offshore oilfield. Most of Saudi Aramco’s investments go towards maintaining its upstream operations.

Saudi Arabia’s downstream operations have received massive funding as part of the country’s diversification roadmap. The nation now produces base oils, lubricants and chemicals, such as aromatics, olefins, polyolefins, polyols, isocyanates and synthetic rubber. In 2020, Saudi Aramco acquired 70% equity in Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, a local diversified chemicals company with operations in US, Europe, Middle East and Asia, further consolidating its downstream market.

The nation’s target to become carbon neutral by 2060 is being led through heavy financing of renewables developments, including blue and green hydrogen. Investment is backed by Saudi Arabia’s National Development Fund set up in 2017. The country has tremendous solar capacity and aims to harness its potential to have 50% of its power generation coming from green sources by 2030. While developments are underway, the country still relies heavily on hydrocarbons to meet its high energy consumption.

Qatar’s oil and gas industry has had a significant impact on the nation since oil was discovered in the mid-20th century. In 1985, Qatar’s North field was declared the largest non-associated gasfield in the world with recoverable reserves amounting to 10% of all recoverable reserves worldwide.

Hydrocarbons activities and affiliated operations form the majority of the peninsular nation’s economic backbone and make up around 70% of government revenues. Gas operations have propelled the country’s GDP per capita into the top 50 globally. QatarEnergy is the state-owned entity involved in managing all oil and gas activity in the country.

The country has made considerable investments in producing LNG since it began in the 1990s, with the country now one of the leading LNG exporters worldwide along with the US and Australia. LNG export from Qatar has traditionally been done through long-term oil-indexed contracts, though short-term contracts are being made as the LNG customers diversify import sources. The traditional target market for the country’s product is Asia, although interest in Qatari LNG from Europe has grown.

While the nation’s power generation capacity has traditionally come from fossil fuels, the government has made ambitious strides to develop renewable capacity, particularly solar. The state has set ambitious targets to have its electricity derived from non-gas sources by 2030 under the Qatar National Vision 2030 initiative.

Oman’s oil and gas industry has been the main driver of the country’s economic development since commercial production began in 1967. The nation is now the largest producer of hydrocarbons in the Middle East outside of OPEC members. Traditionally around 70% the Omani state’s budget is fuelled by revenues from taxation and operations of its oil and gas production, and the sector accounts for around 30% of Oman’s GDP. The country is stressing diversification of its economic foundations using the oil and gas sector as a base under its Vision 2040 programme. The initiative looks to see non-oil activities take up 90% of the nation’s GDP.

Government approvals and policy are dictated by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, with NOC Petroleum Development Oman being the largest operator with the largest oil reserves in the country. The state-run entity is followed in size and scope by American E&P company Occidental Petroleum, which has the largest presence of any foreign company in the country. The government has also created other state-run players that have lesser stakes in upstream, midstream and downstream operations.

Most of Oman’s oil and gas resources are traditional, with limited unconventional and zero shale plays. EOR techniques have allowed the country to continue producing from its maturing assets. While local oil production meets demand for domestic energy consumption, the country is active in transitioning away from oil and gas towards reliance on solar and wind facilities in its power generation sector.

“The possibilities for Oman are enormous. There are many oil and gas resources to be explored and developed, and solar and wind offer a lot of potential as well,” Chris Breeze, country chairman for Shell Development Oman, told The Energy Year. “There are also significant opportunities to use digital technologies to interact with customers to enhance the energy efficiency of the electricity network. There are such large quantities of in-country resources available, and we have only just begun to unlock the potential of energy efficiency.”