Middle East natural resources

In contrast to a relatively self-contained U.S., Europe and Japan are subject to political turmoils and are at the mercy of political vicissitudes in the Middle East. Europe and Japan are especially vulnerable to adverse changes because they both suffer from low levels of natural resources. 

The reserves and resources of conventional NG are comparable in size to those of conventional oil, but global gas consumption is still considerably lower than that of oil. NG is found around the world, but the largest reserves are in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. The proved gas reserves are unevenly distributed around the globe 41% are in the Middle East and 27% in Russia. Global natural gas reserves by countiy are shown in Table 1.9. 

The natural gas sources are spread unevenly over the world with almost 70% of the natural gas reserves located in the Middle East, Russia and the Caucasus region as shown on Figure 4. Provided the consumption of primary energy sources is maintained at present level the depletion time is reportedly 60.7 years for natural gas according to BP [3] (40.6 years for oil, and 204 years for coal)1. Although these estimates do not reflect the real source, they confirm that the fossil resources are rather limited and may be depleted within a few generations. 

The aluminum smelting industry has similar conditions to pulp. Demand can be - and has been - met during the last decade by very large-scale, low-cost new capacity in countries endowed with privileged natural resources and/or low conversion costs such as India, the CIS, China, and the Middle East. These low-cost... 

The regions with the largest trade balances are the EECA (Eastern Europe and Central Asia), the Caribbean Sea and Central America (Primarily Trinidad) and the Middle East (see Figure 3.20). The large trade balances are primarily due to the large resources of low cost natural gas in these regions36. 

In addition to price considerations, there is the issue of strategic supply. With most of the oil reserves being held in OPEC member countries, particularly in the Middle East, and the major natural gas reserves held jointly between Russia and OPEC, there is concern about supply to many developed countries. By contrast, coal is available across the developed world with major reserves in the USA and China. Even Europe has substantial reserves of coal. Furthermore, the known coal reserves far exceed those of oil and natural gas combined. Indeed, in many coal rich countries, e.g. Australia, prospecting for new coal resources is hardly encountered - the world s coal reserves may he much higher than published statistics. 

It is estimated that 25% of the world s recoverable coal (coal that can be readily mined) is located in the United States. As such, it is believed that the United States has enough natural resources to meet all of its energy needs for at least 200 years. To provide some additional perspective, consider the fact that these natural resources contain more than double the energy contained in all of the combined oil reserves in the Middle East. 

It is interesting to examine the regional distribution of the reserves and resources of conventional and non-conventional fossil fuels (Tables 5.1.10 and 5.1.11). More than 40% of current reserves of conventional natural gas and crude oil are located in the Middle East whereas the majority of coal reserves are located in North America, Australia, and Asia. This non-uniform distribution of reserves and resources of fossil fuels will play a strong role in future (struggle for resources etc.) and is a political risk. Most of the reserves and resources of non-conventional fossil fuels are located in North America and in the former USSR. 

The specific raw material used in cracking processes depends on the natural resources from each geographic region, and this determines the final distribution of olefins.Thus, in Europe and Asia, ethylene is produced from naphtha, gas oil, and natural gas condensates (co-producing propylene, C4-olefins and aromatic compoimds), whereas in the US, Canada, and the Middle East, steam cracking of ethane and propane is mainly employed. One aspect to be considered is the fact that for the production of 1 ton of ethylene in a typical naphtha cracker, 3.3 tons of naphtha are required," while when using ethane only 1.7 tons of feed are needed. 

The motivation level for incorporating desalination plants into plant i nfrastructure varies. The Middle East has fuel resources in abundance— natural gas, clean oil, and residual oil—and technology available that will help it bum each of these options with acceptable efficiency. Desalination technology also helps the Middle East achieve its major operational objective, which is to extend the time between overhauls (TBOs) and therefore parts life [as defined by Kfe-[Pg.225]

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