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‘Abd al-‘Aziz Al Sa‘ud proclaims the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. |
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Concession agreement signed between Saudi government and Standard Oil of
California (SOCAL). Prospecting begins. SOCAL assigns concession to California Arabian Standard Oil Co. (CASOC). |
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First test well is drilled. |
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Texaco buys 50% interest in CASOC’s concession. |
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Dammam Well No. 7 discovers commercial quantities of oil. Barge exports begin to Bahrain. |
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First tanker-load of oil is exported aboard D.G. Scofield. |
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World War ii puts end to field mapping. |
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CASOC renamed Arabian American Oil Co. (Aramco). |
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First unit of Ras Tanura refinery begins production. |
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Standard Oil of New Jersey and Socony-Vacuum (both now ExxonMobil) buy interest in Aramco;
company headquarters moved from San Francisco to New York. |
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Trans-Arabian Pipeline completed from Eastern Province oil fields to Mediterranean coast. |
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Safaniya field, world’s largest offshore oil field, discovered. |
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Aramco headquarters moved from New York to Dhahran. |
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Company begins building government schools. |
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Several smaller fields found to be part of Ghawar field, which is confirmed as world’s largest onshore field. |
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Two Saudis elected to the board of directors. |
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Exports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) begin. |
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First company-built school for girls opens. |
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Sea Island offshore crude-oil loading terminal begins operations. |
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Saudi government buys 25% participation interest in Aramco. |
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Saudi government increases its participation interest to 60%. |
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Master Gas System launched to capture and put to use previously flared gas. |
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Saudi government acquires 100% participation interest in Aramco. |
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East–West ngl Pipeline commissioned. |
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Dammam No. 7 shut in after producing 32 million barrels of crude. |
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Ali I. Naimi elected first Saudi president. |
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First four supertankers acquired; Aramco takes over operation of East–West Crude Oil Pipeline. |
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Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) established. |
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Saudi Aramco and Texaco launch Star Enterprise joint venture in us. |
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Saudi Aramco buys 35% of SsangYong Oil Refining Co. in Korea. |
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Company buys 40% interest in refiner Petron Corp. in Philippines. |
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Last of a fleet of 15 new VLCC tankers placed in service by Vela International Marine, Ltd. |
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Joint venture with Texaco and Shell establishes Motiva Enterprises in us. |
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Geophysical data storage reaches 1200 terabytes. |
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Qatif–Abu Safah Producing Plants inaugurated, processing 800,000 barrels per day of crude oil and 370 million cubic feet of gas. |
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Joint-venture agreement for in-kingdom refining and petrochemical complex signed with Sumitomo Chemical Co. of Japan. |
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Company assigned to build King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Vela now owns 21 VLCC’s. |
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Joint ventures signed with ExxonMobil, Sinopec and government of Fujian Province (China) for refining,
petrochemicals production and marketing. |
