The area under review is the Arabian Peninsula, Fertile Crescent and parts of SE Turkey and SW Iran (Arabian Plate plus Levant). Petroleum production is essentially from the eastern part or the Iraq‐Iran‐Arabia basin. Published proved oil reserves at the start of 1985 were estimated at 398.7 B† brl (barrels) and those for natural gas at 869.95 T‡ cu. ft (53 B tonnes and 24.8 T cum respectively) amounting to 57% of estimated world oil reserves and 25.6% of world gas reserves. The region produced 21.2% of world production in 1984 (but had produced 38.8% in 1974, the drop being due to non‐technical reasons). The oil reserves are attributable to some 290 producing fields and undeveloped discoveries, 25 of which are “supergiant” and 69 of which are “giant” in size. Only about 122 of these fields and discoveries are actually producing (excluding Turkey's 30 which account for little of the total).The reasons for the prolific oil abundance lie principally in the repeated extensive deposition of organically‐rich source rocks under anoxic conditions in the right juxtaposition with very permeable extensive reservoirs and sealed by regionally extensive efficient seals over several intervals of geological time, charging extremely large anticlinal traps formed by a variety of structure‐forming mechanisms available at optimum hydrocarbon maturation and migration times. Accumulations occur in Paleozoic sands in southern Oman charged from Infra‐Cambrian source rocks, and in Middle and Upper Jurassic carbonates and Lower and Middle Cretaceous carbonates and sanhtones in the central part of the basin (the Gulf), and the Zagros fold belt, as well as in the Oligo‐Miocene carbonates in the latter charged by vertical migration from the Cretaceous. The NW‐most part has heavier Middle‐Upper Cretaceous and some Miocene oil of differing origin and Triassic light oil, gas and condensate extending into central Syria. Subordinate Paleogene heavy oil occurs in the Kuwait‐Basra area. Other new discoveries of Mesozoic and Paleogene age have occurred in Jordan and North and South Yemen.All Middle East countries with the exception of Lebanon now either have established production or discoveries under assessment. Even in the main basin, exploration has not been intensive and future efforts including enhanced recovery methods will lead to considerable success and are expected to add new reserves equal to those now established for oil and probably more than those now estimated for gas, with a 50% chance of success. Saudi Arabia, Iraq and UAE are ranked highest, but small basins outside the main area will yield important finds by utilisation of the latest in geop