The author analyzes on the basis of available statistical data the development and role in the world economy of oil-producing countries on the example of Indonesia, Iran and Saudi Arabia in the second half of XX - early XXI centuries. He focuses his attention on the key processes of economic, political and social development of these countries in the period after World War II. The theoretical framework of the study covers mainly neoclassical and endogenous models of economic growth. For the econometric analysis we have chosen, first of all, the so-called general or world growth model constructed by Prof. György Simon Sr. (1930-2008) on the basis of data from 131 countries of the world, including oil-producing countries. This endogenous Caldorov-type model takes into account not only physical and human capital, but also time as an event space of creative economic activity. It makes it possible to compare the total factor efficiency with the world level.