Chapter 5 Summary and Analysis

When Saudi Arabia enters the ranks of the world's top oil producers, the oil is easy and inexpensive to generate. Although Saudi Arabian wells are still some of the most prolific wells in the world, it has become far more expensive and labor intensive to maintain the high rates of production. In the early days, Saudi Arabia's oil was pure and easy to process. This is no longer the case. The crude oil coming from Saudi Arabian wells now contain liberal amounts of salt water, gases, sulfur and hydrogen sulfide gas. To deal with these problems, Saudi Arabia invests a great deal of money in gas oil separation plants (GOSP), and other processing techniques to maximize the amount and quality of the oil coming from its wells. Saudi Aramco also begins to collect other usable resources from its wells, including natural...