 Das Island is the main centre of the UAE's offshore oil industry, lying in the centre of the Arabian Gulf, around 140 km north-west of Abu Dhabi.
Das was formerly an important breeding site for turtles and seabirds, most of which abandoned the island when it was developed as an oil and gas export terminal. Even so, turtles still feed safely around the island. In recent years nearly four hundred pairs of white-cheeked tern (Sterna repressa) have resumed breeding on the island, an example of how birds can adapt to a modern industrial environment.
Das is an important landfall for migrant birds, many of which may be lost or tired, and several species on the national list have been recorded nowhere else in the Emirates to date.
Little trace of ancient occupation on Das has survived the industrial development of recent decades, although pieces of Late Islamic pottery still occasionally turn up. There is also an fishermen's cemetery.
Today, Das is the export terminal of oil from the offshore fields of the Abu Dhabi Marine operating company, ADMA-OPCO, and for liquefied natural gas produced by the Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company, ADGAS, both part of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, ADNOC, Group.
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