In terms of oil reserves, no region of the world can quite compare to the Middle East.
Ten oil-rich countries located in the region – Iran, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, and Yemen – occupy only about 3.4% of the earth’s land surface. But they hold 48% of the world’s known oil reserves and 38% of known natural gas reserves.
And then there’s Israel.
Israelis often joke that Moses led them to the only land in the region where there are no petroleum resources. But with the discovery of oil shale, also known as kerogen, near Jerusalem in 2009, Moses is finally getting a break.
