In this series, Mark Lowey, known as “Abu Jack” (Father of Jack) to his Saudi friends, tells the story of Bdah Al Hajri, whom he first encountered in the desert as a baby in 1979. Reunited in 2013, Abu Jack and Bdah have become close friends. In late 1978, Bdah Al Hajri was born in a Bedouin tent at the northern extremity of the Eastern Province oil fields, near the remote Aramco construction site at Fazran.
Please help the committee by encouraging your family and friends to join the Hafla Reunion Cruise. We are down to the wire and have five staterooms left. Call your best friends to join the party, and give them Roland's telephone number, (305) 248-4649. The more, the merrier!
Here is a wonderful collection of photographs taken by Aramco photographer Bert Seal that will take you down memory lane while envisioning those happy golden days of the 1950s.
Max Steineke was famously responsible for the injunction to “drill deeper” at Dammam Well-7, where the first commercially viable Saudi Arabian oil was discovered. The real jewel in Saudi Arabia, though, is Ghawar, the world’s largest mega-field. But what exactly was Steineke’s role in Ghawar?
It might seem things slow down in summer in the Kingdom, but not Aramco. Here’s a long line of headlines about company activities during the hottest month of the year over the decades. Dhahran’s new theater will have its formal opening Aug. 20, 1950.
Aramco this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) covering multiple areas of potential collaboration between the parties in Saudi Arabia.
Today, Aug. 4, Aramco and the SABIC Agri-Nutrients Company (SABIC AN) received the world’s first independent certifications recognizing “blue” hydrogen and ammonia production.
The first onshore rig, manufactured in-Kingdom and delivered by Aramco’s joint venture (JV), the Arabian Rig Manufacturing Company (ARM), has been successfully commissioned and started operations on the first well in Manifa on July 5.
One logistical aspect of life that the Aramco ExPat and the ExPat community at large is more than familiar with, for better or for worse—well mostly worse—is all the strenuous processes that come with moving. Packing up everything you have and moving across the country...
Our cruise date is approaching quickly, and we will have a HAFLA Reunion Blast! Please remember that your final payment is due on August 8th. Please call Roland at (305) 248-4649. The good news is that starting this week, you no longer have to have a Covid test within 48 hours of boarding. To board, you will need your Covid vaccination card.
A trio of intrepid young Aramcons have conquered Africa’s highest mountain and the tallest freestanding mountain in the world. The volcanic Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania stands at a jaw dropping 5,895 meters (19,341 feet).
Here are some headlines from across the decades highlighting the company's progress through history. Somehow, even the breeze at the airport seemed to be waiting. Housewives, men off shift, customs workers, airport hands, children, and company representatives gathered in twos and threes, talking idly, laughing, but always looking toward the sky.
Aramco signed an agreement with ENEOS Corporation (ENEOS) in June for oil storage in ENEOS’ Kiire terminal, located in the southwestern part of Japan, as the two energy companies aim to enhance cooperation. The first crude oil shipment was carried out by Bahri’s very large crude carriers (VLCC) “SAHAM”, and the cargo finished discharging on June 20.
“Valvoline’s brand strength and global recognition will continue to be developed and extended under Aramco’s stewardship,” Al-Qahtani said. “We are also very excited to have the outstanding people of VGP join the Aramco family as we continue to execute on our ambitious strategy.”
Finding a purpose in life that speaks to one’s heart and soul can sometimes prove difficult. It can take time to find something that ignites your passion. This was certainly the case for Wael growing up in Al-Baha, a city in the southwestern part of Saudi Arabia. As a child, he daydreamed about his perfect future, but what that was exactly remained unclear.
I hate knives! In the cinema, whenever there is a scene with knives being flashed around, I get squeamish and must look away. I have no idea why I hate knives, but I find them truly scary. This makes it difficult to explain why I have a collection of jambiyas, the large, curved daggers of Arabia.
Sunil and Sapna Kokal are retiring after almost three decades at Saudi Aramco. They arrived from the extreme cold in Calgary, Canada, to the extreme heat of Saudi Arabia in 1993. Kokal’s journey and career in the company has paralleled the establishment of research and development (R&D) culture in the company.
An Aramco geologist and inventor’s rare Jurassic fossil find from when dinosaurs roamed the Earth has been featured in the Arabian Journal of Geosciences. Abdullah S. Al-Mojel discovered the first Jurassic rudist fossil in Saudi Arabia during his Ph.D. field study between 2014 to 2017. Rudists are a group of extinct box-, tube-, or ring-shaped marine heterodont bivalves.
Here’s a few headlines looking back over the decades. Probably the most popular “pen pal” in Dhahran is Maha Kasim, who recently received 21 letters from children in the United States. The reason for this deluge of mail was an article “Life in an Aramco Town” by Maha as told to Stephanie Dinkins, published in the Junior Scholastic April 12 issue.
Students sponsored through Aramco Training and Development (T&D) recently celebrated ‘Id around the world, with events for participants in the company’s Chapter 14 program sponsored on campuses in 16 countries.