René Muschter
Research Expert covering Industry & Mobility
Crude oil industry in the GCC - statistics & facts
As of 2023, around a third of the world’s oil was produced in the Middle Eastern region. Northern America in comparison produces only 32.8 percent of the total global volume of oil. The leading oil producers amongst the Middle Eastern countries are the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members. Oil reserves were discovered on the Arabian Peninsula in the 1930s, and revenue from them led to increased economic prosperity and development for the GCC member states throughout the 20th century. Therefore, the core GCC states of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar are referred to as rentier states, which means most of their revenue comes from fossil fuels, instead of taxation. This has led to distortion of those countries’ labor markets, as the workforce participation rate of their native populations is very low, and the majority of their workforces consist of expatriates.
