Saudi Aramco

Saudi Arabia's national oil company, Saudi Aramco, is a fully integrated petroleum company with operations in exploration and production, refining and marketing, and petrochemical manufacturing. In 1933, shortly after Saudi Arabia was unified, the Government granted a concession to Standard Oil of California who recognized the potential of oil as a valuable export commodity and a source of revenue to begin building the nation. Standard Oil of California, the parent company of Chevron, was joined later by several other major oil companies and the venture became known as Aramco - the Arabian American Oil Company. In 1938, after five long years of exploration, oil was discovered in commercial volume when a well named Dammam Number 7, near today's headquarters in Dhahran, began to flow -- and ushered in a new era for Saudi Arabia. Things moved quickly, and in 1939 King 'Abd al-'Aziz visited Ras Tanura to inaugurate the first shipload of Saudi crude oil ever exported. The young Kingdom was now officially launched into the international petroleum industry.

Saudi Aramco is a fully integrated petroleum company with operations in exploration, production, refining, petrochemicals marketing and international shipping. Saudi Aramco owns and operates an extensive network of refining and distribution facilities, and is responsible for the gas processing and transportation installations that fuel Saudi Arabia's industrial sector. An array of international subsidiaries and joint ventures, including one of the world's largest and newest fleet of supertankers, deliver crude oil and refined products to customers worldwide. Saudi Aramco is also the world’s top exporter of natural gas liquids (NGL).