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Saudi Aramco ( ar, أرامكو السعودية '), officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (formerly Arabian-American Oil Company) or simply Aramco, is a Saudi Arabian public
petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...
and
natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon d ...
company based in Dhahran. , it is one of the largest companies in the world by revenue. Saudi Aramco has both the world's second-largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than , and largest daily oil production of all oil-producing companies. It is the single greatest contributor to global carbon emissions of any company in the world since 1965. On 11 May 2022, Saudi Aramco became the largest (most valuable) company in the world by market cap, surpassing Apple Inc. Saudi Aramco operates the world's largest single hydrocarbon network, the Master Gas System. In 2013 crude oil production total was , and it manages over one hundred oil and gas fields in Saudi Arabia, including 288.4
trillion ''Trillion'' is a number with two distinct definitions: *1,000,000,000,000, i.e. one million million, or (ten to the twelfth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the meaning in both American and British English. * 1,000,000,000,00 ...
standard cubic feet (scf) of
natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon d ...
reserves. Saudi Aramco operates the Ghawar Field, the world's largest onshore oil field, and the Safaniya Field, the world's largest offshore oil field.Aramco Overseas Company - About Saudi Aramco
, aramcooverseas.com. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
On 11 December 2019, the company's shares commenced trading on the Tadawul stock exchange. The shares rose to 35.2 Saudi riyals, giving it a market capitalisation of about US$1.88 trillion, and surpassed the US$2 trillion mark on the second day of trading. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Saudi Aramco was ranked as the 5th-largest public company in the world. In March 2021, Saudi Aramco announced that earnings in 2020 fell by nearly 45% compared with 2019, as lockdowns around the world following the COVID-19 pandemic curbed demand for oil.


History

Saudi Aramco's origins trace to the oil shortages of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...
and the exclusion of American companies from
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
by the United Kingdom and France under the San Remo Petroleum Agreement of 1920. The US administration had popular support for an "
Open Door policy The Open Door Policy () is the United States diplomatic policy established in the late 19th and early 20th century that called for a system of equal trade and investment and to guarantee the territorial integrity of Qing China. The policy wa ...
", which
Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gre ...
, secretary of commerce, initiated in 1921. Standard Oil of California (SoCal) was among those US companies seeking new sources of oil from abroad. Through its subsidiary company, the Bahrain Petroleum Co. (BAPCO), SoCal struck oil in
Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...
on May 30, 1932. This event heightened interest in the oil prospects of the Arabian mainland. On 29 May 1933, the Saudi Arabian government granted a concession to SoCal in preference to a rival bid from the Iraq Petroleum Co. The concession allowed SoCal to explore for oil in Saudi Arabia. SoCal assigned this concession to a wholly owned
subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a ...
, California-Arabian Standard Oil (CASOC). In 1936, with the company having had no success at locating oil, the Texas Company (Texaco) purchased a 50% stake of the concession. After four years of fruitless exploration, the first success came with the seventh drill site in Dhahran in 1938, a well referred to as ''Dammam No. 7''. This well immediately produced over , giving the company confidence to continue. On 31 January 1944, the company name was changed from California-Arabian Standard Oil Co. to Arabian American Oil Co. (or Aramco). In 1948, Standard Oil of New Jersey (later known as Exxon) purchased 30% and Socony Vacuum (later Mobil) purchased 10% of the company, with SoCal and Texaco retaining 30% each. The newcomers were also shareholders in the Iraq Petroleum Co. and had to get the restrictions of the
Red Line Agreement The Red Line Agreement is an agreement signed by partners in the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC) on July 31, 1928, in Ostend, Belgium. The agreement was signed between Anglo-Persian Company (later renamed British Petroleum), Royal Dutch/Shell, Com ...
lifted in order to be free to enter into this arrangement. In 1949, ARAMCO had made incursions into the
Emirate of Abu Dhabi The Emirate of Abu Dhabi (, , or ; ar, إِمَارَةْ أَبُوظَبِي , ) is one of seven emirates that constitute the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is by far the largest emirate, accounting for 87% of the nation's total land area o ...
, leading to a border dispute between Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. In 1950, King Abdulaziz threatened to nationalize his country's oil facilities, thus pressuring Aramco to agree to share profits 50/50. A similar process had taken place with American oil companies in
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
a few years earlier. The American government granted US Aramco member companies a tax break known as the
golden gimmick The Golden Gimmick refers to a foreign tax credit deal enacted in November 1950 by the U.S. Government under President Harry Truman between King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian-American Oil Company (ARAMCO), a consortium comprising Stand ...
equivalent to the profits given to King Abdulaziz. In the wake of the new arrangement, the company's headquarters were moved from New York to Dhahran. In 1951, the company discovered the Safaniya Oil Field, the world's largest offshore field. In 1957, the discovery of smaller connected oil fields confirmed the Ghawar Field as the world's largest onshore field. In 1975, the Saudi Arabia second five-year economic plan included a Master Gas Plan. Natural gas would be used to generate power, rather than flaring the gas. The plan counted on using the associated gas, but by 1985, Aramco was able to include a billion standard cubic foot per day (Bscfd) of non-associated gas. This non-associated gas was produced from the Kuff
Formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...
, which is a
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...
layer below the oil producing Arab Zone. In 1994, Aramco discovered more non-associated gas in the deeper Jawf
sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...
formation, and built plants in Hawiyah and Haradh to process it. This increased the capacity of the Master Gas System to 9.4 billion scfd.


Yom Kippur War

In 1973, following US support for Israel during the
Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by E ...
, the Saudi Arabian government acquired a 25% "participation interest" in Aramco's assets. It increased its participation interest to 60% in 1974 and acquired the remaining 40% interest in 1976. Aramco continued to operate and manage the former Aramco assets, including its concessionary interest in certain Saudi Arab oil fields, on behalf of the Saudi Arab Government until 1988. In November 1988, a royal decree created a new Saudi Arab company, the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, to take control of the former Aramco assets (or Saudi Aramco) and took the management and operations control of Saudi Arabia's oil and gas fields from Aramco and its partners. In 1989–90, high-quality oil and gas were discovered in three areas south of Riyadh: the Raghib area about southeast of the capital.


Gulf War

In Sept. 1990, after the start of the
Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
, Aramco was expected to replace much of the oil production removed from the global market due to the embargo of Iraq and occupied Kuwait. This amounted to producing an extra 4.8 million barrels per day (Mbpd) to keep the global oil market stable. In addition, Aramco was expected to provide all of the
coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...
aviation and diesel needs. Aramco recommissioned 146 Harmaliyah, Khurais, and Ghawar oil wells with associated gas oil separation plants, and saltwater treatment pipeline, that had been mothballed during the 1980s oil price collapse. Daily production increased from 5.4 Mbpd in July to 8.5 Mbpd in December 1990 after a three-month de-mothball effort. Starting in 1990, Aramco embarked on an expansion of crude oil sales in the Asian market. Agreements with
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
, the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
, and China resulted. By 2016, about 70% of Aramco's crude oil sales were to Asia.


2000s

In May 2001, Saudi Arabia announced the Gas Initiative, which proposed forming three joint ventures with eight IOCs for gas exploration on pure upstream acreage. Core Venture 1 included south Ghawar and north Rub' Al-Khali, Core Venture 2 included the
Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...
, while Core Venture 3 involved Shaybah and Kidan. In 2003,
Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...
and
TotalEnergies TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and ...
formed a partnership with Saudi Aramco in Core Venture 3. In 2004, Core Venture 1 became three separate joint ventures with Saudi Aramco holding 20%, one with
Lukoil The PJSC Lukoil Oil Company ( stylized as LUKOIL or ЛУКОЙЛ in Cyrillic script) is a Russian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Moscow, specializing in the business of extraction, production, transport, and sale of petrol ...
, a second with
Sinopec China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (中国石油化工股份有限公司) or Sinopec (), is a Chinese oil and gas enterprise based in Beijing. It is listed in Hong Kong and also trades in Shanghai. Sinopec Limited's parent, Sinopec ...
, and a third with Repsol. By 2004, Aramco was producing 8.6 million barrels per day (mbpd) out of a potential 10 mbpd. In 2005, Aramco launched a five-year plan to spend US$50 billion to increase their daily capacity to 12.5 mbpd by increasing production and refining capacity and doubling the number of drilling rigs. In 2005, Saudi Aramco was the world's largest company with an estimated market value of US$781 billion. In June 2008, in response to crude oil prices exceeding US$130 a barrel, Aramco announced it would increase production to 9.7 million barrels per day (mbpd). Then as prices plummeted, Aramco stated in January 2009, that it would reduce production to 7.7 mbpd. In 2011, Saudi Aramco started production from the Karan Gas Field, with an output of more than 400 million scf per day. In January 2016, the Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, announced he was considering listing shares of the state-owned company, and selling around 5% of them in order to build a large sovereign wealth fund. On 26 April 2017, Saudi security forces thwarted an attempted attack on an Aramco oil distribution center involving an unmanned boat from Yemen.
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
reported in September 2018, Aramco was considering a US$1 billion venture-capital fund to invest in international technology firms. In June 2019, a report by
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
claimed that Aramco had been bearing the ministry-related expenses; boosting the finance ministry budget allocation. It also included Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih’s company-related and diplomatic trips, as well as his stays in luxurious hotels. However, an ally mentioned that Falih’s policies have delivered additional oil revenues that far exceeded his expenses. In September 2019, Saudi Arabia appointed Yasir Al-Rumayyan as the Chairman of Aramco. Al-Rumayyan became head of the country’s sovereign wealth fund by replacing
Khalid Al-Falih Khalid A. Al-Falih ( ar, خالد الفالح '; born 1960) is Minister of Investment of Saudi Arabia since 25 February 2020. He served as Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia and chairman of Saudi Aramco. He also has previously served as the ...
, who was holding the position since 2015.


2012 cyber attack

Aramco computers were attacked by a virus on 15 August 2012. The following day Aramco announced that none of the infected computers were part of the network directly tied to oil production, and that the company would soon resume full operations. Hackers claimed responsibility for the spread of the computer virus. The virus hit companies within the oil and energy sectors. A group named "Cutting Sword of Justice" claimed responsibility for an attack on 30,000 Saudi Aramco workstations, causing the company to spend months restoring their services. The group later indicated that the Shamoon virus had been used in the attack. Due to this attack, the main site of Aramco went down and a message came to the home page apologizing to customers. Computer security specialists said that "The attack, known as Shamoon, is said to have hit "at least one organization" in the sector. Shamoon is capable of wiping files and rendering several computers on a network unusable." Richard Clarke suggests the attack was part of Iran's retaliation for the US involvement in Stuxnet. Security researcher Chris Kubecka, who helped the company establish security after the attack, detailed the level of sophistication in her Black Hat USA 2015 presentation and episode 30 of Darknet Diaries.


2019 drone attack

On 14 September 2019, there was a drone attack on two Saudi Aramco plants: the
Abqaiq Abqaiq ( ar, بقيق, Biqayq) is a Saudi Aramco gated community and oil-processing facility located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, located in the desert 60 km southwest of the Dhahran-Dammam-Khobar metropolitan area, and north o ...
oil processing facility and
Khurais oil field Khurais oil field ( ar, حقل خريص) is an oil field in Saudi Arabia that went online on June 10, 2009, adjacent to the world's largest, the Ghawar trend. The Khurais field, with an area of 2,890 km2 and 127 km long, is located abou ...
. Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack cut 5.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of Saudi crude output, over 5% of the world's supply. There were discussions by Saudi Arabian officials on postponing Aramco's IPO, because the attacks "sidelined more than half of the kingdom's output" of oil.


2019 Initial public offering (IPO)

Since around 2018, Saudi Arabia had been considering to put a portion of Saudi Aramco's ownership, up to 5%, onto public trading via a staged
initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...
(IPO), as to reduce the cost to the government of running the company. While the IPO had been vetted by major banks, the IPO was delayed over concerns of Aramco's corporate structure through 2018 into 2019. The September 2019 drone attacks on Aramco's facilities also delayed the onset of the IPO. On 9 April 2019, Aramco issued bonds collectively valued at US$12 billion. Its first international bond issue received more than US$100 billion in orders from foreign investors, which breaks all records for a bond issue by an emerging market entity. Aramco announced on Sunday 3 November 2019 its plan to list 1.5% of its value as an IPO on the Tadawul stock exchange. On 9 November 2019, Saudi Aramco released a 600-page prospectus giving details of the IPO. According to the specifications provided, up to 0.5% of the shares were locked for individual retail investors. On 4 December 2019, Saudi Aramco priced its offering at 32 Saudi riyals (approximately US$8.53 at the time) per share. The company generated subscriptions of total amount equals US$119 billion representing 456% of total offer shares. It raised US$25.6 billion in its IPO, making it the world's largest IPO, succeeding that of the Alibaba Group in 2014. The company commenced trading on Tadawul on 11 December 2019, with shares rising 10% to 35.2 riyals, giving the company a market capitalisation of about U$1.88 trillion, and making Saudi Aramco the world's largest listed company.


Global Medium Term Note Programme

According to a bourse filing made by Aramco, the like of
Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, Ho ...
,
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tr ...
,
Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...
, JPMorgan, and NCB Capital were hired by the company for organizing investor calls prior to the planned transaction. The document published by one of the other banks said to be involved in the deal showed that the deal included BNP Paribas, MUFG, BofA Securities, SMBC Nikko, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Societe Generale, and BOC International. The company has reported a fall in the net profit of its third-quarter for November 2020, due to increased crude prices and a drop in its demand following the COVID-19 pandemic.


2020s

On 10 March 2020 Saudi Aramco announced a global partnership with
Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
landing a multi year deal. On 17 June 2020, Saudi Aramco acquired a 70% share in SABIC, a chemicals manufacturing company. In June 2020, Saudi Aramco laid off nearly 500 of its more than 70,000 employees, as global energy firms reduced their workforce due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. Most of the workers who lost their job at Aramco were foreigners. On 31 July 2020, Saudi Aramco lost its title as the world’s largest listed company by market capitalization to
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...
. On 9 August 2020, Saudi Aramco reported a 50% fall in net income for the first half of its financial year, as demand for oil and prices continued to fall due to the coronavirus crisis. On 3 November 2020, Saudi Aramco reported a 44.6% drop in third-quarter net profit amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On 14 December 2020, Saudi state TV announced that an oil tanker carrying over 60,000 metric tons of unleaded gasoline from an Aramco refinery at Yanbu, had been attacked by a smaller boat rigged with explosives. On 19 March 2021, an Aramco refinery was attacked by six bomb-laden drones. The attack, which was claimed by Houthi rebels, started a fire but caused no injuries or damage, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. On 21 March 2021, Saudi Aramco signed an agreement to secure China's energy supplies for the next 50 years, and also to develop new technologies to combat climate change. More recently, they signed a deal with a consortium led by EIG. In July 2021, Saudi Aramco appointed former HSBC Holdings Plc Chief Executive Officer
Stuart Gulliver Stuart Thomson Gulliver (born 9 March 1959) is a British banker, and the former group chief executive of HSBC. He was succeeded on 21 February 2018 by John Flint. Early life and education He was born in Derby, England, in 1959. His father P ...
to the company's board of directors. In October 2021, Saudi Aramco announced plans to achieve net-zero carbon emissions from its wholly-owned operations by 2050. On 20 November 2021, Houthi fighters took credit for launching 14 drones at military targets in Riyadh, Abha, Jizan, Najran, and Jeddah, and Aramco's refineries in Jeddah. In 2021, ''The Guardian'' reported that Aramco was not trying to diversify at the same rate as other oil companies, such as Shell and BP. Rather, Aramco announced in 2021 that the company intended to increase crude capacity from 12m barrels a day to 13m barrels by 2027. In February 2022, following crude's ascent to nearly $95 per barrel, Saudi Arabia's Aramco boosted oil prices for clients in Asia, the United States, and Europe. In March 2022, Houthis fighters hit an Aramco's storage site in Jeddah during the
2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix The 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2022) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 27 March 2022 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia. It was the second edition of the ...
, causing a fire in two storage tanks. In August 2022, Saudi Aramco announced that it would acquire Valvoline's petroleum unit for $2.65 billion.


Operation

Saudi Aramco is headquartered in Dhahran, but its operations span the globe and include exploration, production, refining, chemicals, distribution and marketing. All these activities of the company are monitored by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources together with the Supreme Council for Petroleum and Minerals. However, the ministry has much more responsibility in this regard than the council.


Board of directors

* Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan (chairman), member of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs (Saudi Arabia) *
Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Assaf ( ar, إبراهيم بن عبد العزيز بن عبد الله العساف; born 28 January 1949) is a Saudi politician who served as finance minister, foreign minister, and state minister of Saudi ...
, former
Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...
and
Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...
*
Mohammed Al-Jadaan Mohammed Al-Jadaan ( ar, محمد بن عبد الله الجدعان; born 1963) is a commercial lawyer and co-founder of Al-Jadaan and Partners Law Firm who has served as Saudi Arabia's minister of finance since November 2016 and concurrently as ...
, current
Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...
* Mohammad M. Al-Tuwaijri, former Minister of Economy and Planning *
Nabil Al-Amoudi Nabil bin Mohammed Al-Amoudi was Saudi Arabia’s transport minister from October 2017 to 23 October 2019. Al-Amoudi holds a bachelor's degree in Chemical engineering from Stanford University in the United States in 1995. In 2001 Al-Amoudi award ...
, former Minister of Transport *
Mark Moody-Stuart Sir Mark Moody-Stuart KCMG (born 15 September 1940) is a British businessman, He was appointed non-executive chairman of Anglo American PLC in 2001, serving until 2009. He has been chairman of Hermes Equity Ownership Services since 2009. He is ...
, former chairman of Anglo American,
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tr ...
, and the Foundation for the United Nations Global Compact *
Andrew N. Liveris Andrew N. Liveris (born 5 May 1954) is an Australian former CEO and chairman of The Dow Chemical Company of Midland, Michigan. Liveris has been a member of Dow's board of directors since February 2004, CEO since November 2004 and was elected as ...
, former chairman and CEO of
Dow Chemical The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastics ...
* Lynn Elsenhans, former chairwoman and CEO of
Sunoco Sunoco LP is an American master limited partnership organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that is a wholesale distributor of motor fuels. It distributes fuel to more than 5,500 Sunoco-branded gas stations ...
* Peter Cella, former president and CEO of Chevron Philips Chemical *
Mark Weinberger Mark A. Weinberger (born 1964/1965) is an American businessman. He is the former global Chairman and CEO of EY (formerly known as Ernst & Young). Weinberger currently sits on several boards of directors, including those of Metlife, Johnson & Joh ...
, former chairman and CEO of
Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewat ...
*
Amin H. Nasser Amin Hassan Nasser (Arabic: أمين حسن الناصر‎) is the President and CEO of the Saudi Arabian oil company (Saudi Aramco), the world’s largest oil producer. He was acting president and chief executive until September 2015, when he a ...
, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco


Exploration

A significant portion of the Saudi Aramco workforce consists of geophysicists and
geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
s. Saudi Aramco has been exploring for oil and gas reservoirs since 1982. Most of this process takes place at the EXPEC Advanced Research Center. Originally, Saudi Aramco used
Cray Cray Inc., a subsidiary of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, is an American supercomputer manufacturer headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It also manufactures systems for data storage and analytics. Several Cray supercomputer systems are listed i ...
Supercomputers ( CRAY-1M) in its EXPEC Advanced Research Center (ECC) to assist in processing the colossal quantity of data obtained during exploration and in 2001, ECC decided to use
Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, whi ...
clusters as a replacement for the decommissioned Cray systems. ECC installed a new
supercomputing A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instruction ...
system in late 2009 with a disk storage capacity of 1,050 terabytes ( i.e, exceeding one petabyte), the largest storage installation in Saudi Aramco's history to support its exploration in the frontier areas and the Red Sea."Saudi EXPEC Computer Center Deploys Supercomputer"
24 February 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2014.


Refining and chemicals

While the company did not originally plan on refining oil, the Saudi government wished to have only one company dealing with oil production. Therefore, on 1 July 1993, the government issued a royal decree merging Saudi Aramco with Samarec, the country's oil refining company. The following year, a Saudi Aramco subsidiary acquired a 40% equity interest in
Petron Corporation Petron Corporation is the largest oil refining and marketing company in the Philippines, supplying more than a third of the country's oil requirements. It operates a refinery in Limay, Bataan with a rated capacity of . From the refinery, Petro ...
, the largest crude oil refiner and marketer in the Philippines. Since then, Saudi Aramco has taken on the responsibility of refining oil and distributing it in the country. In 2008, Saudi Aramco sold its entire stake to the Ashmore Group, a London-listed investment group. Ashmore acquired an additional 11% when it made a required tender offer to other shareholders. By July 2008, Ashmore, through its SEA Refinery Holdings B.V., had a 50.57% of Petron's stock. Ashmore's payment was made in December 2008. In December 2008, Ashmore acquired PNOC's 40% stake. In the same month, San Miguel Corporation (SMC) said it was in the final stages of negotiations with the Ashmore Group to buy up to 50.1% of Petron. In 2010, SMC acquired majority control of Petron Corporation. Currently, Saudi Aramco's refining capacity is (International joint and equity ventures: , domestic joint ventures: 1,900 mpbd, and wholly owned domestic operations: .) Saudi Aramco's downstream operations are shifting emphasis to integrate refineries with petrochemical facilities. Their first venture into it is with Petro Rabigh, which is a joint venture with Sumitomo Chemical Co. that began in 2005 on the coast of the
Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...
. In order to become a global leader in chemicals, Aramco will acquire 50% of
Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...
's stake in their refiner in Saudi Arabia for US$631 million.


List of refineries

List of domestic refineries: * Jazan Refinery and terminal projects (JRTP) (), Jazan construction is ongoing. *
Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...
Refinery () Jeddah converted to product storage terminal in November 2017. * Ras Tanura Refinery () (includes a Crude
Distillation Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the he ...
Unit, a Gas Condensate Unit, a
hydrocracker In petrochemistry, petroleum geology and organic chemistry, cracking is the process whereby complex organic molecules such as kerogens or long-chain hydrocarbons are broken down into simpler molecules such as light hydrocarbons, by the breaking of ...
, and
catalytic reforming Catalytic reforming is a chemical process used to convert petroleum refinery naphthas distilled from crude oil (typically having low octane ratings) into high-octane liquid products called reformates, which are premium blending stocks for high-oc ...
) * The Saudi Aramco Jubail Refinery Co. (SASREF), Jubail () *
Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the ...
Refinery () * Yanbu Refinery () List of domestic refining ventures: * The Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Co. Ltd. (SAMREF), Yanbu () * Petro Rabigh, Rabigh () * Saudi Aramco Base Oil Co. (Luberef) * Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Co. (SATORP), Jubail () * Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refinery (YASREF), Yanbu () List of international refining ventures:Saudi Aramco Annual Review 2010
, saudiaramco.com. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
* Fujian Refining and Petrochemical Co. (FRPC),
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
* Sinopec SenMei (Fujian) Petroleum Co. Ltd. (SSPC), People's Republic of China * Motiva Enterprises LLC, United States, Port Arthur Texas * Showa Shell,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
* S-Oil,
Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its ea ...
* Saudi Refining Inc., United States * Reliance Industries, (no investment) India Saudi Aramco at one point had been exploring projects in Pakistan, including a $10 billion refinery project in Gwandar which has since been cancelled. In 2022 it was revealed that Saudi Aramco was creating a joint venture with North Huajin Chemical Industries group to create a new company called Huajin Aramco Petrochemical Company which would develop a 300,000 bpd refining facility with ethylene
steam cracking Steam cracking is a petrochemical process in which saturated hydrocarbons are broken down into smaller, often unsaturated, hydrocarbons. It is the principal industrial method for producing the lighter alkenes (or commonly olefins), including et ...
capabilities.


Shipping

Saudi Aramco has employed several tankers to ship crude oil, refined oil, and natural gas to various countries. It used to have its own created subsidiary company,
Vela International Marine Vela International Marine Limited ( ar, فيلا) is a Bahri-owned company. Vela, established in 1984, currently owns 29  oil tankers most of which are very large crude carriers (VLCCs). Vela International Marine's ship the MV Sirius ...
, which was merged with Bahri company, to handle shipping to North America, Europe, and Asia. It is a stakeholder in the King Salman Global Maritime Industries Complex, a shipyard that will be the largest in the world when complete.


Global investment

Saudi Aramco expanded its presence worldwide to include the three major global energy markets of Asia, Europe, and North America. In April 2019, Aramco has signed a deal to acquire a 13% stake in
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
n oil refiner Hyundai Oilbank for US$1.24 billion. Moreover, on 11 April 2019, Aramco signed an agreement with
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
’s leading oil refiner PKN Orlen to supply it with Arabian Crude Oil.


Liquefied natural gas

Aramco is planning to be a major producer of liquefied natural gas ( LNG) in the world. It sold its first cargo of LNG from Singapore to an Indian buyer. The company is looking globally for potential joint ventures and partnerships to achieve its goal regarding LNG market.


Saudization

The original concession agreement included Article 23; as Ali Al-Naimi pointed out, this was a "key building block in the shaping of Saudi society for decades to come." It reads, "The enterprise under this contract shall be directed and supervised by Americans who shall employ Saudi nationals as far as practicable, and in so far as the company can find suitable Saudi employees it will not employ other nationals." The first company school was started in May 1940 in the Al-Khobar home of Hijji bin Jassim, company interpreter, translator and first instructor. Al-Naimi pointed out, "From the beginning, the development of Aramco was directly tied to the betterment of Saudi Arabia." Another school was located in Dhahran in 1941, and was called the Jebel School. Boys hired into entry-level positions attended at 7 AM for four hours, followed by four hours of work in the afternoon. In 1950, Aramco built schools for 2,400 students. In 1959, Aramco sent the first group of Saudi students to college in the States. In 1970, Aramco started hiring its first high school graduates, and in 1979 started offering college scholarships. In 1965, Zafer H. Husseini was named the first Saudi manager and in 1974, Faisal Al-Bassam was named the first Saudi vice president. One of the early students was Al-Naimi, who was named the first Saudi president of Aramco in Nov. 1983. As Al-Naimi states, "The oil company committed itself to developing qualified Saudis to become fully educated and trained industry professionals." Al-Naimi acknowledged Thomas Barger's championing of Saudization, "You, of all of Aramco's leaders, had the greatest vision when you supported the training effort of Saudi Arab employees during its early days. That visionary support and effort is bearing fruit now and many executive positions are filled by Saudis because of that effort." In 1943, 1,600 Saudis were employed at Aramco, but by 1987, nearly two-thirds of Aramco's 43,500 strong workforce were Saudis. In 1988, Al-Naimi became
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
and
Hisham Nazer Hisham Nazer (31 August 1932 – 14 November 2015) was the third oil minister of Saudi Arabia after Abdullah Tariki and Zaki Yamani which he was named on 24 December 1986. He was also the first Saudi board chairman of Aramco, which was later cal ...
became
chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...
, the first Saudis to hold those positions. The "pinnacle of Saudization" occurred when the Shaybah oil field came on line in July 1998, after a three-year effort by a team consisting of 90% Saudis. The Aramco of 2016 still maintained an
expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...
workforce of about 15%, so Aramco can, in the words of Al-Naimi, "be sure it is getting access to the latest innovations and technical expertise." Saudi Aramco has emitted 59.26 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent since it began operations, accounting for 4.38% of worldwide anthropogenic emissions since 1965. In a letter sent to nine international banks reportedly hired by Aramco to assist it in arranging its US$2 trillion market debut, ten environmental groups warned about the listing causing a highly possible hindrance in the effort to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and ...
and end
human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
abuses committed by the Saudi regime. On 6 November 2019, Saudi Aramco joined the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
's initiative to reduce gas flaring to zero by 2030. The firm reported flaring of less than 1% of its total raw gas production in the first half of 2019.


Controversies


2007 Haradh gas pipeline explosion

On 18 November 2007, reports came out that a natural gas pipeline explosion had taken the lives of several workers, the death toll was later determined to be 34. Aramco asserts it was a purely maintenance-related incident.


Organizational culture

On 9 December 2020, the Financial Times published an article about an engineer, whose family claims that Saudi Aramco was negligent in handling his Covid-19 infection. According to his family, he had been asking the company and authorities for help, three weeks before his death, but was simply asked to keep his gloves and mask on. Saudi Aramco did not formally contact his family until approximately 14 hours after his death, refused to release his body, and allegedly erased information from his mobile phone. His grieving family had to do without financial support for almost five months, and only received $400,000 in benefits, back pay and insurance after the Financial Times had started asking questions. In the same article, five whistleblowers accuse Aramco of bullying and mismanagement. One former employee expressed his concerns about the company’s highly dangerous failure to pressure-test valves and mains units, detailing cracks in the refinery structure and sinking of roads and foundations. The refinery runs a real risk of becoming Aramco's Piper Alpha, said another expatriate employee, who also accuses Aramco of lacking a culture of challenge, facilitating ineptitude and laziness.


Treatment of workers

In March 2020, Saudi Aramco came under fire after photos of a migrant worker dressed as a large hand-sanitizer dispenser went viral on social media. People on
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
condemned the act as "modern-day slavery," "humiliating" and "dehumanizing." According to the company, the display was organized without the approval of Aramco officials.


Strong-arming investors

In 2019, sources told the
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
that wealthy families of
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...
had been coerced into joining the Saudi Aramco IPO. According to analysts, Aramco could realistically reach a market capitalization of $1 to $1.5 trillion but the Saudis wanted $2 trillion. Oddly, many of those who signed up have relatives that were part of the
2017–2019 Saudi Arabian purge The 2017–19 Saudi Arabian purge was the mass arrest of a number of prominent Saudi Arabian princes, government ministers, and business people in Saudi Arabia on 4 November 2017 and the following few weeks after the creation of an anti-corrupt ...
. According to four sources, the Saudi government "strong-armed", "coerced" or "bullied" some of the wealthiest families in the kingdom into becoming cornerstone investors.


Human rights

Saudi Aramco's majority shareholder is the government of Saudi Arabia, where human rights are a matter of concern. Saudi Arabia abstained from the United Nations vote adopting the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt ...
, saying it contradicted sharia law. The country holds a reservation to the Convention on the Rights of the Child against any provisions that are in conflict with sharia law. The government has been accused of routinely using torture and of violently oppressing critics, women, along with other social groups.


Lobbying and research projects

Saudi Aramco has funded almost 500 studies in last five years on energy issues and collaborated with the United States Department of Energy on projects to boost oil production, such as developing more efficient gasoline, enhanced oil recovery and methods to increase the flow of oil from wells. Since 2016, Saudi Arabia has spent around $140 million on lobbying to influence public opinion and policies in the US. In an effort to keep gasoline cars competitive, Saudi Aramco is working on a device which would trap some of the carbon dioxide upon attaching it to cars running on gasoline. Saudi Aramco has partnered with Hyundai to develop a fuel for gas-electric vehicles which will run on petroleum.


See also

* Ghawar * Max Steineke * Shamoon * List of oil fields: All of those located in Saudi Arabia are owned by Saudi Aramco. *
Abqaiq Abqaiq ( ar, بقيق, Biqayq) is a Saudi Aramco gated community and oil-processing facility located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, located in the desert 60 km southwest of the Dhahran-Dammam-Khobar metropolitan area, and north o ...
* Aramco Financial Services Company * Aramco Training Services Company *
Golden gimmick The Golden Gimmick refers to a foreign tax credit deal enacted in November 1950 by the U.S. Government under President Harry Truman between King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian-American Oil Company (ARAMCO), a consortium comprising Stand ...
* Thomas Barger * '' Discovery! The Search for Arabian Oil'' * Saudi Aramco Residential Camp in Dhahran * List of largest companies of Saudi Arabia *
List of corporations by market capitalization The following is a list of publicly traded companies having the greatest market capitalization. In media they are described as being the most valuable companies, a reference to their market value. Market capitalization is calculated from the shar ...
* Shaybah * Ras Tanura * Yanbu *
Udhailiyah Udhailiyah (Arabic: العضيلية ''ʿuḍayliyyah'') is a small oil company compound in the interior of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia located in the desert southwest of the Dhahran-Dammam-Khobar metropolitan area. Built by the nation ...
* Hui-Hai Liu


References


Bibliography

*


External links


Web site of Aramco Services Co. - Saudi Aramco's US Subsidiary


Much of it is about Saudi Aramco security.
Saudi Arabia's crude oil production chart (1980-2004)
- Data sourced from the US Department of Energy
CBS 60 Minutes (2008-12-07) "The Oil Kingdom: Part One"

CBS 60 Minutes (2008-12-07) "The Oil Kingdom: Part Two"
{{Authority control Oil and gas companies of Saudi Arabia Companies listed on Tadawul Oil pipeline companies National oil and gas companies Government-owned companies of Saudi Arabia Energy companies established in 1933 Energy companies established in 1988 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1933 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1988 1933 establishments in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian companies established in 1988 Dhahran Economic history of Saudi Arabia History of Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian brands Saudi Arabia–United States relations 2019 initial public offerings Multinational companies headquartered in Saudi Arabia