As a rumbling furnace fires up, glowing orange at 1,500 degrees Celsius, Sadika Keskes blows through a long, thin metal pipe to gradually inflate a hot, heavy bubble of molten glass. Slight, spry and focused, she moves from the furnace flames to a nearby water-cooling basin and back to the furnace to continue shaping her glass creation.
For some years now, the contemporary arts scene in Saudi Arabia has been mushrooming. While Jeddah remains the Kingdom’s art capital, Al Ula has captured much of the spotlight following the recent Desert X installations by 15 Saudi and international artists. Al Ula is truly an amazing space for art, and the artists involved cannot help but take inspiration from the stark beauty of the surrounding plains and sandstone cliffs.
The life and career of Ali Al-Baluchi has been richly interwoven with those of his many friends from around the globe. Consequently, he has attended nearly every Aramco Expat reunion held in the United States since inception in 1958. When the idea of an expat reunion in Saudi Arabia was mooted in 1998...
From a very young age, Ritaj Alhazmi had discovered that she had a passion for writing. Her writing journey started when she visited a library with her father, Hussain Alhazmi, who works as an engineer at Aramco.
Charles F. Rocheville, with 30 years of experience as a pilot, is setting up "shop" at the Dhahran airport to handle Aramco's air transportation. In 1916-17, he served as an instructor for the Royal Flying Corps in Toronto, Canada, and when America entered the War, he transferred to the U.S. Navy and was assigned to aviation. He served in both World War I and II.
With its EXPEC Advanced Research Center (EXPEC ARC), Aramco is creating game changing technologies and solutions that add immense value to operations. Recently, EXPEC ARC’s capabilities were taken to the next level with a newly constructed state-of-the-art building in Dhahran. The new facility is custom-fit to help EXPEC ARC become the preeminent center for Upstream R&D...
Aramaco is exploring further collaboration with Thailand’s national oil company, PTT, as it expands its downstream presence in Asia. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding at a ceremony in Bangkok on Wednesday, May 11.
While growing up in Saudi, I distinctly remember one feature of the compounds that I have never encountered anywhere else: snack bars. No matter which compounds you were on: Dhahran, Abqaiq, Ras Tanura, or Udhailiyah, the snack bar was the stop in town to catch a tasty meal after swimming or an afterschool sport.
These are the wishes my wife Amira and I hope to share with each of you in October when so many of our Aramco annuitant friends will board together for the upcoming Hafla Cruise.
By the late 1970s, Ali Al-Baluchi had risen through Aramco’s Community Services to become Manager of the Food Distribution Department, where he was proud to employ one of the company’s first Saudi female employees. The following extract from Heart and Soul details how this opened a door to further training in the United States.
A Saudi shopping mall was on fire Friday engulfed in smoke after a blaze broke out in the early hours of the morning. Plumes of smoke could be seen billowing from the Mall of Dhahran in Alkhobar — the largest commercial market in the Eastern Province — as emergency crews battled to contain the fire.
Brenda Neal, Aramco 1979-1986, will celebrate her 72nd birthday on June 8th. Brenda lived in Dhahran with her family. She worked as a Resource Analyst in a Community Services Department. Her husband, Gary Neal, worked for Aramco as an Engineer. Gary passed away in 2016.
Brian and Susan Bahr are pleased to announce the graduations of daughter Victoria (Tori) Bahr and son Xander Bahr. Both children were born in Saudi Arabia. Brian worked for Aramco from 1992 to 2009.
Kayla Vivian Otoo, an 8th Grader with the Dhahran School and a member of the BSA Dhahran Troop One Scouting Program earned her Eagle Scouting Rank on 5/10/2022. Kayla Otoo joined the Scouting Program in the 6th Grade and has been working alongside other scouts for the past few years.
AramcoWorld, Saudi Aramco's flagship publication, is widely recognized as a leading source of nonpolitical coverage of the history, geography, arts and cultures of Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and the wider Islamic world, with an emphasis on the interweavings of the plural cultures of East and West, past and present.
Some 50 countries exhibited in Expo 2020 Dubai’s Sustainability District, which centered on the slanted oval of Terra—the Sustainability Pavilion. Two other themed districts—Opportunity and Mobility—comprised three “petals” of the expo’s nearly five square kilometers. Along walkways leading to the district’s entry portals, designers inscribed the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015 by 193 countries of the United Nations.
In this piece, Mark Lowey, “Abu Jack,” is escorted deep into the Rub Al Khali (Empty Quarter) to meet, for the first time, the son of an old acquaintance.
Ziad T. Al Murshed has been appointed as chief financial officer and senior vice president of Strategy and Development effective May 1, 2022. Previous to this, Al Murshed was acting service line head for Finance, Strategy & Development effective Aug. 6, 2021.
As Ali Al-Baluchi worked hard to establish his credentials within the Aramco workforce, opportunities to study overseas began to arrive. With his cordial personality and winning Saudi charm, Ali quickly formed friendships wherever he went, and even found himself representing the Kingdom in international student forums.
Catching the daily flight to Bahrain, traveling to Makkah with the Oil Exhibit, hosting a pioneering astronaut, earning global recognition, and the appointment of three new senior vice presidents are highlighted in this week's look back.