Persian Gulf | Explained

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PERSIAN GULF (Also known as ARABIAN GULF)
If we look at the #world #map, it is located here in Asia. The #Persian #Gulf is defined as the shallow marginal sea of the Indian Ocean. The Persian Gulf is connected to the Indian Ocean through the ‘Strait of Hormuz’. It lies between- Arabian Peninsula to the S-W; and Iran to the NE. Countries bordering the Persian Gulf are: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, UAE (United Arab Emirates), Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iran. These are the 8 countries which border the Persian Gulf. These 8 countries are members of the United Nations.



Some important facts about the HISTORY of the Persian Gulf:
The earliest evidence of human presence on Persian Gulf islands dates back to Middle Paleolithic and consists of stone tools discovered at Qeshm Island. The world's oldest known civilization, known as the Sumer (Sumerian) civilization developed along the Persian Gulf and southern Mesopotamia. Arabs, Persians, Turks, the Portuguese, and later the British fought to get control over the sea. For 8 decades prior to 1970, this body of water was a closely guarded ‘British Lake’, administered in good measures by imperial civil servants from India. After the end of the British era, regional players entered with intra-regional rivalries and forced cooperation.

Why is the Persian Gulf region so rich in oil?
Throughout Paleozoic and Mesozoic times, the Middle East was a locus of sedimentation over a long and wide shelf affected, from time to time, by sea-level changes. As Gondwana consolidated at the turn of the Cambrian, microorganisms and marine species also rapidly evolved and diversified, thus enriching marine sediments with organic carbon necessary for hydrocarbon generation. For petroleum to be successfully generated, migrated, accumulated, and preserved, all elements and processes of the petroleum system, including organically rich and thermally matured source rocks, porous-permeable reservoir rocks, effective extensive cap rocks, and appropriate time relations between oil migration and trap formation should be present. Obviously, the Middle East qualifies all these conditions to a high degree and quality.

DISCOVERY OF OIL:
Before oil was discovered in the gulf in 1908, people made their living from fishing, pearl diving, trade and piracy. Oil production in the Persian Gulf on industrial scale began only in the 1930s. Today, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf provide approximately 20% of the world oil production. The Persian Gulf region has the presence of the major producers of crude oil and natural gas, and thereby contributing critically to the global economy. The area has approximately two-thirds of the world’s estimated proven oil reserves and one-third of the world’s estimated proven natural gas reserves.

EXPORTS:
The Persian Gulf exports approximately 18.2 million barrels of oil per day; approximately 17 million barrels per day transit through the Strait of Hormuz in tankers. Additionally, over 3.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas, approximately 18 percent of world shipments, travel through the Strait via LNG tankers. A considerable amount of sea trade passes through the gulf, leading to heavy traffic in the region. There remains an incessant traffic of large tankers that carry oil from the large marine terminals situated in Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and other locations to all parts of the world. There are few alternate routes for exporting Persian Gulf oil and gas, making the Strait of Hormuz an important chokepoint. Roughly 21 million barrels (or about one-third) of the world’s sea-traded oil passes through the strait every day, headed primarily to Asian markets like India, China, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

MAJOR PORTS in the Persian Gulf:
1. #SaudiArabia: King Abdulaziz seaport of Dammam, is the largest port of the Persian Gulf.
2. #Iraq: the Port of Basra and the offshore Al Başrah Oil Terminal
3. #Oman: port of Salalah
4. #UAE: Jebel Ali, is the largest human-made harbor and the busiest port in the Middle East.
5. #Qatar: Hamad port
6. #Kuwait: Shuwaikh port
7. #Bahrain: Mina Salman port
8. #Iran: Bandar-Abbas Port


OCEANOGRAPHY
The Persian Gulf has many fishing grounds, extensive reefs (mostly rocky, but also coral), and abundant pearl oysters, but its ecology had been damaged by industrialization and oil spills.

ISLANDS
The Persian Gulf is home to many islands. Geographically, the biggest island in the Persian Gulf is #QeshmIsland, belonging to Iran and located in the #StraitOfHormuz.
In recent years, there has also been the addition of artificial islands for tourist attractions, such as the
1. Pearl-Qatar Island, Doha, Qatar
2. The Palm Islands, Dubai, UAE
3. The World Islands, Dubai, UAE

#InternationalRelations