The United Arab Emirates

They are an exotic and exuberant expression of economic concentration and political conservatism in the shores of the Persian Gulf. 

The United Arab Emirates is a political federation and a hybrid monarchy located in the southern Persian Gulf  

Its territory is politically composed of seven emirates Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Ras al Khaima, Umm al-Qaywayn and Fujayra. 
It has 83,000 km2 and about 9,000,000 inhabitants, most of whom,  (some 5,500,000) are foreign workers. The Emiratis citizens are approximately 32% (3,400,000) of the total population.. 

Since 1820 the emirates of the Gulf became a British protectorate that later acquired the name of "Truce States" guaranteeing monopoly commercial and exploitation of resources to the United Kingdom. In 1968 they acquired independence (including Qatar and Bahrain, which later split up) with the name of the United Arab Emirates.

The largest emirate is Abu Dhabi with 67,000 km2 and more than 3 million inhabitants concentrated in the capital of the same name. The other most populated emirate, despite being considerably 
smaller, is Dubai with 3,000,000 inhabitants and 4,100 km2 

The other emirates have much less territorial and demographic ssignificance: Sharjah (234 km2 and 1,500,000 of inhabitants), Ajman (258 km2 and 260,000 inhabitants), Ras al Khaima (1,680 km2 and 230,000 inhabitants), Umm al-Qaywayn (780 km2 and 72,, 000 inhabitants) and Fujayra (1,150 km2 and 230,000 inhabitants.

The United Arab Emirates have an important economic income due to its oil and gas deposits. The

per capita gross income is estimated at US$ 70,000 that is would more than twice if we consider only the citizens of the country. 
Most oilfields in the UAE are offshore and continental in the territory of Abu Dhabi. 
The oil production of this emirate is 3,000,000 barrels per day, which constitutes one of the largest producers of crude oil in the world crude. The main deposits are offshore in the Gulf waters especially in the oil field called "Upper Zakum" located 50 km northwest of Abu Dhabi. The structural frrame of this field is relatively simple with layers gently folded and deformed in which the hydrocarbons are contained. Geologically and structurally the field is constituted by an Ç
wide anticline (convex fold) whose axis extends East-West with mild dip (inclination). The hydrocarbons are contained in a Cretaceous limestone (approximate age: 100 millions of years)  

The formation is called Zakum Superior which is part of  the Group Thanama (sedimentary) formed by carbonated rocks of lower Cretaceous age representing the most important reservoir in the productive zone of Abu Dhabi. Two oil systems have been identified with the existence of two source rocks that would could be sources of hydrocarbons (this requires confirmation).

As always the abundance and sustainability of the flow of oil in this deposit suggests that in addition (or instead of) the existence of the alleged source rocks it may exist upwelling coming from deeper levels of abiotic origin 
(To be continued)

From the book "Geopolitics and geology of petroleum and natural gas", D.Anton, Piriguazú Ediicones