Arabia is one of the most enigmatic and unknown continents on Earth. The vast Rub al-Khali desert, known as the Empty Quarter, occupying most of the landmass of Arabia was one of the last of the great continental extreme environments to be explored. Richard Burton, William Palgrave, Charles Doughty, Gertrude Bell and Freya Stark were a few of the redoubtable explorers who ventured into the vast desert wasteland of the Rub al-Khali, in what is now Saudi Arabia and the frankincense coast of Dhofar, Hadramaut and the Magreb (Yemen) in south Arabia. Although local bedouin certainly made long-distance camel treks across parts of Arabia, the first recorded north–south crossing of the Empty Quarter was achieved by Bertram Thomas in 1930–1931, described in his book ‘Arabia Felix’.

The Middle East hosts the greatest concentration of oil and gas on Earth, with the vast majority located on the Arabian Plate. Most of it is contained in super-giant fields, making the Arabian Plate the world’s premier hydrocarbon province. In 1980, the Middle East accounted lor some 55% oi remaining world oil reserves, while today it accounts lor about 65%. As seen in the figure, world oil demand is forecast by the OPEC World Economic Model to increase rapidly, in part driven by global population growth. The world's population now stands at some 6 billion, having doubled in the last 40 years. These rising trends in reserve base, oil and gas supply and global population are expected to continue during this century. <...>