Oil & Gas Directory - Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco)

Making petroleum and its products available to the world begins with exploration and development. Exploration focuses on finding oil and gas fields hidden deep underground. Oil is formed in sedimentary rocks and migrates through a sedimentary basin's fluid system. Some is eventually trapped in a variety of geologic environments. It is up to oil exploration teams to locate these traps. These teams are primarily comprised of geologists and geophysicists.

Geologists study rocks, minerals and fossils to determine where oil and gas accumulations are likely to be found. They also understand global plate tectonics and how the basins of the world have evolved over time. Geophysicists study the physics of the earth. They often use seismology, the study of sound within the earth, and seismic surveying, the study of manmade sounds within the earth. Saudi Aramco explorationists primarily look for traps found by geophysicists in areas where geologists have determined that oil is likely to be found.

Once a field is located, development begins. Development entails studying a hydrocarbon reservoir to determine exactly how much oil or gas is present and how it may be safely and effectively extracted or produced. The techniques used in development are similar to those of exploration but are usually done in much more detail and can extend over the life of the field.

Saudi Aramco succeeds by taking a systematic approach to exploration. All exploration studies done by its scientists are kept in libraries, even studies that had negative results.

Exploratory wells that were unsuccessful in finding oil or gas, called dry holes, provide valuable information about conditions in the sedimentary rocks thousands of feet down.

Oil is generally found in a new basin after a long search, which may take many years, so a systematic approach to exploration and good record keeping are extremely important. The science of oil exploration matured over the last century and is now very sophisticated. Exploration and development require computer specialists to operate the powerful computers necessary for processing, analyzing and mapping the vast stores of data collected.

Two other important groups of specialists are the drillers and the petroleum engineers. The drillers are the ones responsible for the actual drilling of all exploration or development wells. The petroleum engineers become involved during the early development of a field after its initial discovery. They are largely responsible for managing a reservoir. In cooperation with, and using the data supplied to them by the geoscientists and those who directly produce the hydrocarbons, the engineers build highly detailed, 3-D reservoir models and input these models into sophisticated reservoir simulation computer programs that predict the current and future production of a reservoir.

Oil Operations
Saudi Aramco's oil operations encompass the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including territorial waters in the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea. Totaling more than 1.5 million square kilometers, this area is larger than the combined areas of Texas, California, Oklahoma and Utah, or of France, Spain and Germany. Most production comes from fields in the coastal plains of the Eastern Province in an area extending 300 kilometers north and south of Dhahran.

Gas Operations
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is endowed with two major fossil fuel sources, crude oil and natural gas. Worldwide, gas is the fastest growing energy source. Over the last decade, world gas consumption has grown 1.7% per year and is expected to accelerate at a rate of 3.2% per year over the next 20 years.

Saudi Arabia discovered the merits of gas as a valuable resource in the 1970s, well before any other hydrocarbon-rich nation in the Middle East.

Refining, Supply and Distribution
Saudi Aramco's responsibilities expanded greatly on July 1, 1993, when a Royal Decree merged into the company all of Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil refineries and distribution and marketing operations that were operated by the Petromin marketing and refining project known as Samarec. Under the same decree, Saudi Aramco assumed Petromin's 50-percent interests in three domestic joint-venture refineries. Saudi Aramco's new refining interests, combined with its Ras Tanura Refinery and its joint-venture and shareholder interests in five other refineries in the United States and the Far East, place the company in the top rank of world refiners.

Saudi Aramco Refining
World-class domestic refineries stretching from the Arabian Gulf to the Red Sea maintain a reliable supply of more than a million barrels per day of products to meet the needs of domestic and international markets.

Supply and Distribution
A broad network of bulk plants and air-fueling units in the Kingdom supplies thousands of bulk customers with products ranging from gasoline and jet fuel to fuel oil and liquefied petroleum gas.

Terminals
Mammoth tank farms and shipping terminals supply crude oil, natural gas liquids and refined products to customers around the globe. Every year, more than 9,000 tankers call at Ras Tanura and Ju'aymah on the Arabian Gulf, and at Yanbu', Jiddah and Rabigh on the Red Sea. Operations Coordination Center OCC is the hub of oil, gas, electricity and refined products management, optimizing hydrocarbon system capacities and inventories to deliver quality products to the customer at the right time and place.

Electric Power Network
An extensive electrical power generation, transmission and distribution network supports Saudi Aramco's industrial operations in the Kingdom and sustains their continual growth.

Shipping
Saudi Aramco sails one of the world's largest fleets of crude carriers and operates terminals which service more than 10 tankers per day.

Vela International Marine Limited
Vela International Marine Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary, was established in 1984 with four ships. It has grown to include 21 very large crude carriers (VLCCs) and seven product vessels.

Vela, which transports crude oil to North America, Europe and Asia, has a history of commitment to accident-free voyages and quality maintenance. It has received ISO accreditation for its safe ship operations and environmental practices. In 2004, Vela completed compliance with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code for its fleet of VLCCs.

Terminals
Saudi Aramco Terminals handle more than 9,000 tankers per year. These terminals are located at Ras Tanura and Ju'aymah on the Arabian Gulf coast and Jiddah, Rabigh, Jaizan, Yanbu' and Duba on the Red Sea coast.

All tanker movements within Saudi Aramco terminals are conducted under the direction of highly trained harbor pilots with the assistance of powerful tugboats to safeguard company facilities and the environment.

Since the beginning of Saudi Aramco Terminals at Ras Tanura in 1939, the company has committed itself to preventing oil spills. Saudi Aramco takes extensive measures to minimize the risk of spills its ships, marine terminals and visiting tankers.

Terminal facilities are maintained to the highest standards, and stringent loading procedures are followed.

International Operations
Saudi Aramco has grown from essentially an exploration and production company prior to the 1990s to what it is today: an integrated global petroleum enterprise. The company not only markets and exports crude oil, petroleum products, natural gas liquids and sulfur -- it also ships crude oil worldwide through an affiliated company and participates in joint ventures and other affiliates at home and abroad to refine crude oil and market its products.

Technology and Innovation
Sophisticated oil exploration, production and utilization require oil companies worldwide to develop and employ the latest technologies. Saudi Aramco is a leader in utilizing and developing technologies that efficiently and effectively, yet safely, maximize the extraction and use of oil and gas. The company relies on its state-of-the-art electronic network and its extensive human network to keep it among the leaders in the oil and gas industries.

Support and Services
Saudi Aramco's oil and gas production relies heavily upon Support Services. Without organizations such as Engineering, Project Management, Research & Development, Mechanical Services, Roads & Heavy Equipment, Aviation, Marine, Transportation and Material Supply, the exploration, production, refining and shipping of oil and gas would be impossible.

Community Involvement
Saudi Aramco commits tremendous effort and resources to service the communities in which it operates, as well as Saudi Arabia as a whole. During its long history it helped develop the Eastern Province's electrical power grid and carried out other major infrastructure projects.

The company has built nearly 135 schools serving thousands of Saudi and other resident children. In addition to its school building program, the company has contributed to the community through numerous community programs, including donations and fund raising events, developing health campaigns and participating in awareness campaigns on traffic and fire safety.

On the environmental front, the company closely monitors the effects of its operations on the ecological system and employs the latest environmental control technology. Its environmental consciousness has led to recycling campaigns, implementing smoke-free office environments and increasing green areas through assistance in Tree Week and mangrove planting initiatives. Saudi Aramco also conducts extensive environmental awareness campaigns targeting adults and children.

On a local level, Saudi Aramco is the single largest employer in the Kingdom aside from the government. The wages it pays and the goods and services it buys in the local markets help fuel the regional and national economy. The company also assists local manufacturers and vendors by using their services and purchasing their products.

Saudi Aramco has also sparked a thirst for knowledge and nurtured creativity among young people through its Kingdomwide mobile libraries program and annual children's art contest.

Milestone

Year	Description
1933	Saudi Arabia grants oil concession to California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc), affiliate of Standard Oil of California (Socal, today's Chevron). Oil prospecting begins on Kingdom's east coast.
1936	Texas Company (known as Texaco, now part of Chevron) acquires 50 percent interest in Socal's concession.
1938	Kingdom's first commercial oil field discovered at Dhahran. Crude is exported by barge to Bahrain.
1939	First tanker load of petroleum is exported.
1944	Casoc changes its name to Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco).
1945	Ras Tanura Refinery begins operations.
1948	Standard Oil of New Jersey and Socony-Vacuum Oil (both now Exxon Mobil) join Socal and Texaco as owners of Aramco.
1950	1,700km Trans-Arabian Pipe Line (Tapline) is completed, linking Eastern Province oil fields to Lebanon and the Mediterranean.
1951	Safaniya field, the world's largest offshore oil field is discovered.
1956	Aramco confirms scale of Ghawar and Safaniya, world's largest oil field and largest offshore field, respectively.
1961	Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) - propane and butane - is first processed at Ras Tanura and shipped to customers.
1966	ankers begin calling at "Sea Island, new offshore crude oil loading platform off Ras Tanura.
1973	Saudi Arabia's Government acquires a 25 percent participation interest in Aramco.
1975	Master Gas System project is launched.
1980	Saudi Government acquires 100 percent participation interest in Aramco, purchasing almost all of the company's assets.
1981	East-West Pipelines, built for Aramco's natural gas liquids (NGL)and crude oil, link the Eastern Province with Yanbu' on Red Sea.
1982	Exploration and Petroleum Engineering Center (EXPEC) opens in Dhahran.
1984	Company acquires its first four supertankers.
1987	East-West Crude Oil Pipeline expansion is completed, boosting capacity to 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd).
1988	Saudi Arabian Oil Company, or Saudi Aramco, is established.
1989	High-quality oil and gas are discovered south of Riyadh, the first find outside the company's original operating area. Saudi Aramco and Texaco launch the Star Enterprise refining and marketing joint venture.
1991	Company plays major role combating the Gulf oil spill.
1992	East-West Crude Oil Pipeline capacity boosted to 5 million bpd. Saudi Aramco affiliate purchases 35 percent interest in SsangYong Oil Refining Company (now S-Oil Corporation) of the Republic of Korea.
1993	Saudi Aramco takes charge of Kingdom's domestic refining, marketing, distribution and joint-venture refining interests.
1994	Maximum sustained crude-oil production capacity is returned to 10 million bpd. Company acquires a 40 percent equity interest in Petron, largest refiner in the Philippines.
1995	Company completes program to build 15 very large crude carriers. Saudi Aramco President and CEO Ali I. Al-Naimi is named Kingdom's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
1996	Saudi Aramco acquires 50 percent of Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries and Avinoil. Company also assumes controlling interest in two Jiddah-based lubricants companies, now known as Saudi Aramco Lubricating Oil Refining Company (Luberef) and Saudi Arabian Lubricating Oil Company (Petrolube).
1998	Saudi Aramco, Texaco and Shell establish Motiva Enterprises LLC, a major refining and marketing joint venture in the southern and eastern United States.
1999	HRH Crown Prince 'Abd Allah inaugurates the Shaybah field in the Rub' al-Khali desert, one of the largest projects of its kind in the world goes on stream. The Dhahran-Riyadh-Qasim multi-product pipeline and the Ras Tanura Upgrade project are completed. The second Saudi Aramco-Mobil lubricating oil refinery (Luberef II) in Yanbu' commences operations.
2000	Petroleum Intelligence Weekly ranks the company No.1 in the world for the 11th straight year, based on the Kingdom's crude oil reserves and production. Aramco Gulf Operations Limited is established to assume management of the government's petroleum interest in the Offshore Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. New facilities are under construction in the Haradh and Hawiyah gas plant projects to process gas for delivery to the Master Gas System and on to domestic markets.
2001	Hawiyah Gas Plant, capable of processing up to 1.6 billion standard cubic feet per day of non-associated gas, comes on stream.
2003	Haradh Gas Plant completed two and a half months ahead of schedule.
2004	HRH Crown Prince 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abd Al-'Aziz Al Saud, First Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the National Guard, inaugurates the 800,000 barrel-per-day Qatif-Abu Sa'fah Producing Plants mega project. In addition to the crude, the plants provide 370 million standard cubic feet of associated gas daily.
2005	Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. sign a joint venture agreement for the development of a large, integrated refining and petrochemical complex in the Red Sea town of Rabigh, on Saudi Arabia's west coast.

Telephone:
• For Refining & Petrochemicals Group:(9663) 874-1701
• For Industrial Ventures Group: (9663) 874-1705
• For Commercialization & Services Group:(9663) 874-1710
• Local Enterprise Development : (9663) 874-1702

Fax: (9663) 874-1737

www.saudiaramco.com

PDF: Download / View