About Us

Geography

The Arabian Gulf (also known as the Persian Gulf) is an extension of the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Hormuz. Its area is about 251,000km2, its length 989km, and its width ranges between 200km to 300km. The waters of the Arabian Gulf are very shallow, with an average depth of 50 meters and a maximum depth of 90 meters. It is bordered by Oman and the United Arab Emirates on the south, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia on the west, Kuwait and Iraq on the north and Iran along the entire east coast.

Hydrology

Water of normal oceanic salinity enters the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, moves northwards along the Iranian coast, turns southward along the western coast and exits along the bottom of the Strait as dense hypersaline (more salty) water. This process takes between 1 and 3 years during which water moves in an anti-clockwise direction.

Resources

The Arabian Gulf spreads above the largest hydrocarbon reserve in the world, making this area extremely important for oil production and one of the most important strategic waterways in the world. Over 76 billion metric tons of recoverable oil and 32.4 trillion cubic meters of reserve gas in the region. About 25,000 tankers sail in and out of the Strait of Hormuz annually and transport about 60 per cent of all the oil carried by ships throughout the world. There are about 800 offshore oil and gas platforms and 25 major oil terminals in the region.

A wide variety of marine life is found in the Gulf, including sea turtles, marine birds, dugongs, whales, dolphins and over 500 fish species, many of which exist only in the fishing industry in the Arabian Gulf has been important since ancient times, but the per capita fish catch has been slowly decreasing due to climatic and ecological conditions and unsustainable fishing practices. And although pearl fisheries in the Gulf were famous in the past, they now operate at a fraction of the level of former times.