There is no crime involved, but the mystery of the petrodollar billions is worthy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Thanks to high oil prices, the Gulf states' coffers have been bulging. From 2002-06, the six countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) earned about $1.5 trillion from oil exports, twice as much as they made during the preceding five years. Around $1 trillion of that money was spent on imports. The rest-a cumulative current-account surplus of $542 billion-went abroad. But where?
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