In Southwest Asia, many countries economies are incredibly centralized around oil. In some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, oil is makes up almost 90% of the exports that country sells. Saudi Arabia's other major export is date fruits, which shows that oil is pretty much the only important thing they export. Oil is very important to an economy in Southwest Asia, because the land is arid and it is difficult to farm crops.
OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is a large group of countries unified for the purpose of controlling the prices and production of oil in Southwest Asia. It also was formed to stabilize oil markets and make all oil prices similar. OPEC is also a very formidable political force, due to their massive control of oil. With one embargo, a country can be thrown into chaos over inflated oil prices. One example of this is the 1973 Oil Embargo. After the Six Day War, the Arab members of OPEC formed a separate branch, known as the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries. They then cut off the United States and Western Europe from oil to punish them for assisting Israel, but non-Arab OPEC members did not. The members of OPEC are: Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.
Oil has been a major asset to Southwest Asia, and without it, many countries would not be nearly as wealthy as they are today.
 The Daily Price of Oil Barrels from OPEC  Image Courtesy of Nitsua
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E. The Power of Oil |
