Day 31 – Q 5.How did newly found petroleum supplies change the new nations in Southwest Asia? Explain.

5. How did newly found petroleum supplies change the new nations in Southwest Asia? Explain. 

दक्षिण पश्चिम एशिया में पाए गए नए पेट्रोलियम आपूर्ति ने नए राष्ट्रों को कैसे बदल दिया? स्पष्ट करें।

Approach:

• Introduction
• Brief note on newly found petroleum supplies
• Impact
• Conclusion

Introduction:

Southwest Asia is the westernmost sub region of Asia. The countries in Southwest Asian region are- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Over half of the world’s known oil reserves are found in this part of the world.
The Middle Eastern nations with the greatest reserves of natural gas and oil are Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and Kuwait.  Southwest Asia has the world’s largest known oil reserves. • Saudi Arabia and Iran have the largest deposits of oil.

Newly found petroleum supplies: It was discovered in Persia (now Iran) in 1908. In the 1930s, more oil was found on the Arabian Peninsula and around the Persian Gulf.  The Middle East became extremely important to other countries as they began to take control of oil production.

Impact:

The region has been completely transformed due to the discovery of oil.

• Oil-producing countries have enjoyed tremendous growth in national wealth and an improved standard of living. Citizens that live in these countries may have the access to quality houses, food, health care, education, jobs, transportation, communication, and luxury items. The life expectancy in these countries has increased by over 15 years because of advancements in healthcare, hospitals, medicines, education, etc.
• One of the results from cracks in oil rigs, oil spills, and illegal dumping of oil waste is reduction in the amount of freshwater available for drinking apart from environmental deterioration leading to climate change.
• Many Southwest Asian nations became dependent on oil sales.

Global impact-

• It has made some of these countries extremely rich and has led them to have a lot of control over the global economy.

Political instability-

• Some countries have grown very rich due to their oil production (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait), while countries without oil are struggling (Afghanistan, Jordan, Israel, etc.). Countries without oil have a much harder time improving living conditions for their population. This difference in wealth in some of the Middle East has led to conflicts among the nations.
• Anarchy/despotism in Iraq and Syria was a result of the leaders in these nations growing rich by exporting oil and not spending the revenue generated on the wellbeing of the common people.
• Interference by western nations further complicated the situation.
  

Conclusion:

Recent developments like initiation of production of Shale gas and environmental regulation under Paris agreement is surely going to bring in much required sustainability in the region. Further, development of alternative economies like livestock ranching as proposed by Saudi Arabia’s prince should be adopted by other countries as well.

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