World energy trends : recent developments and their implications for Arab countries

Arab countries have 56% and 30% of the world’s conventional oil and gas reserves respectively. In 2003 they accounted for over 30% of world oil and NGL production, 11% of gas production, 16% of gas exports and 37% of LNG trade. This hydrocarbon endowment and rapidly expanding role in oil and gas trade conveys onto Arab countries a special responsibility and implies a growing role in the broader international discussions of the political economy of oil and gas, given these fuels’ dominant and growing share of global primary energy consumption. Arab countries thus are predestined to play an increasingly central role in the world economy