Arabian Business takes a look back at the history of Aramco and oil production in the kingdom.
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IN PICS: 75 years of Saudi oil
A Saudi employee tightens the well head at Dhahran in 1939. The Saudi government granted the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc) oil prospecting rights on the kingdom’s east coast in 1933, marking the birth of Aramco. (Saudi Aramco)
A photo of Bayt Baghdadi, Aramco’s first office building in Jeddah taken in 1949. In 1944 Casoc changed its name to Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco). (Saudi Aramco)
Turkeys in boxes are loaded onto a camel outside a refinery in 1950. In the same year the 1,700km Trans-Arabian Pipeline (Tapline) was completed, linking the Eastern Province to Lebanon and the Mediterranean. (Saudi Aramco)
USS Greenwich Bay tanker at port in Dammam taken in the 1950s. (Saudi Aramco)
Virginia Rahilly walks a pipeline in Dhahran in 1952 for a photo for Glamour magazine while a man on a bicycle waits for her. (Saudi Aramco)
A photo of buggies used by exploration parties in Rub Al-Khali in June 1967. In 1961 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) – propane and butane – was first processed at Ras Tanura, later to become the largest oil refinery in the world, and shipped to customers. (Saudi Aramco)
A photo taken in the 1970s of the Juaymah gas plant at sunset. In 1973 the Saudi government acquired a 25% stake in Aramco. In 1980 the government acquired 100% of Aramco, purchasing almost all of the company’s assets. (Saudi Aramco)
A photo of a driller at an offshore drilling platform in Abu Ali in 1990. (Saudi Aramco)
Now the world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia provides over a tenth of world oil supplies. Saudi Aramco manages virtually all of Saudi Arabia’s enormous hydrocarbon enterprise. (Saudi Aramco)
