Why are oil reserves in Southwest Asia not distributed equally?
I understand that the distribution of oil in Southwest Asia is not equal, but I don't know WHY.
Earth Sciences & Geology - 2 Answers
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1 :
Because it is just where they were deposited. The Persian Gulf region had the right structures to preserve oil and most of the rest of the mid-east did not
2 :
Geology doesn't follow national boundaries. The distribution of oil in southwest Asia is determined by geologic events that happened over the past 550 million years, and to some extent the past history of the Earth. Rocks that from oil reservoirs in southwest Asia range from Cambrian in age (542-448 million years before present) to Holocene (present day). To give you an example of how complex this is, Ghawar, which is the largest oil field in Saudi Arabia, and the largest in the world is contained in rock that was deposited in the Jurassic, about 200-250 million years ago. However the trap, a giant structure that created the "container" that held the oil began forming in the Carboniferous, about 320 million years ago and continued to form until the Cretaceous, about 140-70 million years before present. The oil itself came from Jurassic rock, but that oil did not form until 75 million years ago in the Cretaceous. Two other sources of petroleum exist. One is in deeper older rocks of Silurian age and one is in Cretaceous rocks. http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/b2202-h/b2202-h-508.pdf Take a look at where the Arabian peninsula was located in the Jurassic: http://www.scotese.com/jurassic.htm Apart from the complexities of geology that have arisen from the plate tectonic patterns on our planet, there are political,cultural, and economic reasons that oil has not been discovered and explored for in some areas of southwest Asia. The history is very complex, and I would suggest you read "The Prize" by Daniel Yergin if you want to understand how the oil industry has been established in this region. The actions of colonial empires in the 19th century strongly affected how the development of oil and gas in this region proceeded. Even the boundary lines of many of the existing nations were determined in that period and in some cases were decided on the basis of oil exploration. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prize:_The_Epic_Quest_for_Oil,_Money,_and_Power Aside from political and cultural boundaries, there are boundaries created by practical considerations. For example, Khazakstan could be among the top five producers of oil in the world, but it has been very difficult to build infrastructure like pipelines to move this oil to the market. Khazakstan has no seaport. Since the pipelines must cross other countries, there are difficult negotiations. Afghanistan has suffered from political instability for decades and so has not been explored. Oil was recently discovered in northern Afghanistan, but the problem of how to transport this oil to market will still be a major obstacle. Oil pipelines are expensive to build and hard to protect from anyone who wants to destroy them. If the oil reserves are not large enough to cover all of these costs, the oil will be considered stranded and left in the ground. http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/Kazakhstan/Background.html http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/296706
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