Saudi Arabia
SAUGas overtook oil on Saudi Arabia's grid in 2016.
Today gas supplies 63% and oil 35%.
What this grid depends on
Three measures that say more about a country than how much power it makes. Open “what this means” on any of them if the term is new.
Among the most carbon-heavy electricity anywhere.
What this means
How much planet-warming gas is released to make one unit of electricity. Two countries can generate exactly the same amount and one of them be ten times dirtier doing it. Lower is better.
Saudi Arabia generates almost exactly what it uses, with next to nothing crossing its borders.
What this means
Electricity can be sold across a border like anything else, through high-voltage lines connecting one country's grid to the next. Buying it in means leaning on a neighbour to keep the lights on. Selling it means generating more than the country needs.
Almost everything this grid runs on comes from inside the country.
What this means
How much of what this grid runs on the country can supply itself. Sun, wind and water count fully, because nobody can cut them off; coal, gas and oil only as far as the country digs them up. A high score is not the same as a good grid: mining your own coal scores well, importing uranium scores badly.
Also true of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia generates no coal electricity at all, in a region built on it.
45% of grids in Asia draw more than a tenth of their power from coal.
Saudi Arabia generates no hydro electricity at all, in a region built on it.
41% of grids in Asia draw more than a tenth of their power from hydro.
Saudi Arabia is first in the G20 for gas.
Gas supplies 63% of its electricity.
Saudi Arabia’s neighbours
United Arab EmiratesThe United Arab Emirates has cleaned up its grid faster than most people realise.
IraqGas overtook oil on Iraq's grid in 2018.
KuwaitKuwait uses far more electricity per person than countries at its income level.
QatarQatar uses far more electricity per person than countries at its income level.
OmanOman runs almost entirely on gas.
Figures are for 2024, the most recent year reported for Saudi Arabia. Generation shares are a percentage of electricity generated, not of energy used. How this is calculated.