Karnes County in Texas, US, and the Al Ahsa governorate in Saudi Arabia’s eastern province have little in common. But these sparsely populated regions have, between them, transformed the global economy.
In recent decades, the massive Ghawar oil field that lies beneath the sands of Al Ahsa, along with similar reserves across the Arabian Peninsula, has helped to catapult Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf monarchies into economic powerhouses.
