AFP - The government of Dubai, facing dwindling oil resources and a mountain of debt, announced on Thursday the discovery of a new offshore oil field which it hoped would rescue its limping economy. The ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktoum, "heralds the good news to the people of the United Arab Emirates that a new offshore oil field has been discovered in Dubai," a government statement said. The UAE sits on the world's fifth largest proven oil reserves, amounting to 97.8 billion barrels of crude oil. But 95 percent of those reserves are controlled by the leading partner in the federation, Abu Dhabi. The UAE also has 214.4 trillion cubic feet (six trillion cubic metres) of gas reserves, ranking it sixth in the world after Russia, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United States. Dubai's poor oil reserves, mostly offshore, are expected to be exhausted within 20 years, while it controls only two percent of the country's gas wealth, according to UAE government website.
