The end of summer means high humidity and the return of school, as well as business as usual over the long history of Aramco.
Here are a few stories looking back through the years and editions of The Arabian Sun.
An artist's rendition shows what Aramco expected in 1955 as work began to erect a new administration building in Dhahran. The building is now known as the North Admin Building.
Sept. 7, 1955
New Office Building in Dhahran
Soil boring tests are being carried out as part of the initial stage in site preparation for a 130,000-square-foot office building to be built during 1956 on a site north of the present Administration Building in Dhahran.
Tentative schedules call for completion of the three-story, hollow square building in late 1957.
Shown above is a model of one quarter of the new building. An interesting structural feature of the projected building, one entrance of which will be open on a drive leading to the Al Khobar Road, is the use of under-floor ducts for power and communications lines, and movable metal partition to provide flexibility of office space.
The new building will allow the consolidation of all Dhahran offices — G.O. and District — in one area, although some portables may continue in use. The proposed project was approved in May and design and drafting work are now underway.
A teacher at Aramco's Dhahran Elementary School takes attendance on the first day of school in 1976. Enrollment that year reached a record-high 1,423 students at the time.
September 8, 1976
Enrollment in Aramco Schools at Record High on Opening Day
Enrollment reached a record 1,423 pupils in Aramco Schools last week as Monday, Aug. 30, marked the first day of the 1976-77 school year for the youth of Dhahran, Abqaiq, and Ras Tanura.
Dhahran School this year accommodates 927 pupils compared to 855 last year; Abqaiq has 242, just slightly above last year's 240; and Najmah School, where 246 pupils were enrolled at this time last year.
September 3, 1986
Meteorological Terms Help Gauge Heat-Humidity Discomfort Levels
As the humidity lingers, Aramcons who like to give vocal vent to their feelings about the weather might be well-advised to add a few terms to their meteorological vocabulary.
The terms are relative humidity, wet bulb temperature, al-Kulaybayn (those who have been watching the weather for any period of time will already be familiar with al-Kulaybayn), and perhaps most interesting of all, the U.S. weather service index for heat and humidity discomfort.
Each of these terms is used to describe that combination of heat and humidity that Aramcons have been experiencing since the beginning of August.
"The bad days are over," states our resident weather watcher, referring to the near-drenching days of high humidity that prevailed throughout much of August. "But the humidity will continue to be high. In fact, it is the highest of all in September."
Early ground work begins on the giant Khurais Increment Program in 2006.
September 5, 2006
Khurais Rising From Sand
Progress is swift at the Khurais Crude Increment Program, the largest crude increment undertaken in the history of Aramco and one of the largest projects being executed in the world.
Abd Allah S. Al-Saif, senior vice president of Exploration and Producing, on Aug. 28, visited the site to see the amount of work that has been done on site preparation and temporary facilities.
"This project is vital to sustaining our role as one of the world's leading energy providers," Al-Saif said. "It's impressive to see how far things have come in such a short time."
— The Arabian Sun: September 05, 2021