ABSTRACT
Ever since Britain reversed its ‘East of Suez’ policy in 1968, the Persian Gulf has been a focus of world attention. Increasingly more essential to the international economy, the vast oil reserves of the area bestow upon the countries of the Gulf an importance far out of proportion to their population, power and development. In a generation for which pollution has become a major problem and consumption of energy continuously grows, oil (especially Gulf oil) is, despite a constant rise in price, one of the cheapest and cleanest sources of energy. Although unreliable, recent statistics indicate that 60% of the world’s proven oil reserves are to be found in the Persian Gulf area, compared to 7% in the United States and an estimated 14% in the Soviet Union. Described1 as mere puddles relative to new oil strikes in the Persian Gulf countries, North Sea, Alaskan and Siberian oil and gas strikes may halt slightly the world’s growing dependence on Gulf fuel but will not bring a meaningful change in the chart of proven oil reserves.2 At present Gulf countries are already supplying about one-third of the world’s fuel consumption, but as the oil and natural gas sources of the western hemisphere are being gradually exhausted whereas global energy consumption rises annually by about 10%, the constantly increasing proportion of fuel imported from the Gulf will probably rise even more sharply in the near future. This fact, of which consumers and producers alike became aware in recent years, is already influencing the local and world economy, politics and strategy.3
