Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest producer and exporter of petroleum liquids and is currently the world’s second largest crude oil producer behind Russia. At the same time, the Kingdom is the fastest growing consumer of energy in the Middle East as a result of its rapidly growing population and large-scale development programs.  Due to new exploration, drilling operations, and refining capabilities, Saudi Arabia will ultimately account for more than half of the grassroots crude oil production capacity brought on-stream worldwide through 2020. Supplying over 10 percent of the world’s oil, Saudi Aramco plans to spend $60 billion on upstream and downstream operations through 2014 in order to further advance the industry. Saudi Arabia is also aggressively pursuing the use of nuclear and solar energy with the announcement of the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy last April.