Middle East Oil Reserves By Country and Rank

The terms "Middle East" and "oil-rich" are often taken together as synonyms of each other--as if every country in the Middle East were an oil-rich, oil-producing exporter. The reality is at odds with that assumption.

The Greater Middle East adds up to more than 30 countries. Only a few of those have significant oil reserves and produce oil enough to slake their energy needs and export oil as well. Several have minor oil reserves. Below is a list of oil-dry countries, followed, below the break, by a table ranking the Middle East's oil-rich countries according to known oil reserves:

The Oil-Dry Nations of the Greater Middle East:

• Afghanistan
• Bahrain
• Cyprus
• Comoros
• Djibouti
• Eritrea
• Israel
• Jordan
• Lebanon
• Mauritania
• Morocco
• Somalia

  The Mideast's Oil Produces, by Known Reserves

  Rank	Country	Reserves (billions of barrels)
  1	Saudi Arabia	262.3
  2	Iran	136.3
  3	Iraq	115
  4	Kuwait	101
  5	United Arab Emirates	97.8
  6	Libya	41.5
  7	Kazakhstan	30
  8	Qatar	15.2
  9	Algeria	12.70
  10	Azerbaijan	7
  11	Oman	5.5
  12	Sudan	5
  13	Egypt	3.7
  14	Yemen	3
  15	Syria	2.5
  16	Turkmenistan	0.6
  17	Uzbekistan	0.6
  18	Tunisia	0.4
  19	Pakistan	0.3
  Source: U.S. Department of Energy, Oil & Gas Journal; 2007 figures.

  
  Note: The figures above represent the rankings of oil reserves only in the Middle East. For perspective, see the rankings of the world's top oil producers.