Petroleum activities in the Arabian Peninsula show new trends in the 80s. Petroleum exploration is intensified and huge discoveries are anticipated. A giant Jurassic gas field along the coast of the Arabian Gulf discovered recently tops 150 tcf, the largest single reserve ever. Other giant oil fields in the area are undergoing expansion in development and productivity. Today, the peninsula, with a total area that surpasses one million sq mi (2,590,000 sq km), produces and exports more oil and gas and has greater reserves than any other area in the world. The excellent reservoir rocks are located in the Jurassic and Cretaceous formations between the Arabian shield and the Tethyan seaway. They represent porous and permeable marine cyclical beds sealed by impervious shales a d anhydrites. Reservoir sedimentology was affected by two orogenies during Late Cretaceous and Pliocene time portrayed by the cratonic area to the southwest and the orthogeosynclinal area to the northeast. The eastern part was little deformed by these movements.

Land satellite images and remote sensing data are salient features of the modernized exploration technology of Arabia in addition to seismic and gamma ray-neutron surveys. The crude oils encountered have high gravity (30 to 40° API) and their sulfur content ranges from 2 to 8%. Shut-in pressures are abnormally high and may range to 9,000 psi (62,000 kPa). All producing wells in the region are flowing wells and none of them require pumping.

Despite temporarily imposed production ceiling to 13 million bbl/day by OPEC, oil discovery rate is growing, and production may soon increase to help alleviate worldwide energy shortages.

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