Name: ___________________
STATIONS - OIL IN THE MIDDLE EAST SS7G7a
Period: ______
STATION 1 - TEXT pages 134 – 135
1.
What was Saudi Arabia like before oil was discovered there?
2.
How has oil changed Saudi Arabia’s economy and society?
STATION 2 - OPEC VIDEO NOTES Video Hyperlink
1.
What does OPEC stand for? _____________________________________________________________________
2.
How many nations are in OPEC? __________________
3.
What percent of the world’s conventional oil reserves does OPEC control? ____________________
4.
OPEC countries affect the ___________________ of oil. They fix _____________________ levels to keep price
where they want it.
5.
Iran generates ______________________ percent of its export revenue from oil.
6.
If Iran obtains nuclear weapons, how night that affect you and your family? ______________________________
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Price of Oil Hyperlink
What do you notice about the price of oil in the last 12 months? How do you think this is affecting people in the Middle
East?
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STATION 3 - OIL NOTES
STATION 4 – CONSIDERING THE IMAGES
Consider one or more of the images. What do these images tell you about oil in the middle east? If you have questions,
use the iPad to conduct research.
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OIL
ANNOTATION NOTES
Petroleum is the world’s most important energy resource. Industrialized nations such as
the United States depend on petroleum oil for transportation, consumer products, and to
power their factories. Developing nations such as China and India require an increasing share
of the world’s oil production as their nations industrialize. Some nations have a great deal of
petroleum reserves, while other nations have none.
More than forty percent of the world’s oil reserves are spaced unevenly among the
nations of the Middle East and North Africa. America’s relationship with the Middle East
and North Africa has changed since the discovery of oil in the region. In 1960, many of the
oil producing nations agreed to form a cartel. A cartel is an international organization formed
to regulate prices and production. The cartel is called OPEC, an acronym for Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries. O.P.E.C. increased oil prices by 70% in 1973. As a result,
American gasoline prices more than doubled and people waited for gasoline in lines
sometimes over a mile long.
Oil has changed the Middle East and North Africa. Many leaders in the region have used
the wealth from oil to modernize their nations, while others kept the wealth or used it to buy
weapons and build armies. Saddam Hussein, who ruled Iraq from 1979 to 2003, was an
example of a dictator who used his nation’s oil wealth to build a military force that brutalized
the citizens of Iraq and Iraq’s neighbors.
Petroleum is a non-renewable resource, so oil-producing nations must prepare for a time
when their petroleum wealth no longer exists. Experts believe the price of oil will continue to
rise as supplies are exhausted in easily accessible areas. The world will likely prepare for the
exhaustion of petroleum reserves by switching to other sources of energy. Bahrain is a small
nation in the Persian Gulf that used its oil wealth to develop a diversified economy. A nation
with a diversified economy depends on many industries for its wealth. Today, Bahrain has
little oil left, but the nation developed into a commercial and financial center
OPEC
 Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
 Created in order to have more control over the price of oil on
the world market.
 Countries in SW Asia with the greatest reserves of oil are
Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and Kuwait.
Pipelines in the Middle East
Pipe Line in the Middle East