Saudi Aramco: Always Exploring

Photographer: Ralph Wells

The first shot-hole rig for the California Arabian Standard Oil Company, or Casoc, Aramco’s predecessor, in 1937.
 

 

Photographer: S. B. 'Krug' Henry

Early traces of oil blowing at the top of an early well in the Kingdom. After five years, drillers finally struck oil in commercial quantities at Dammam Well No. 7 in March 1938.

 

Photographer: Tom Barger

Famous Aramco pioneers Tom C. Barger and Khamis ibn Rimthan, and other Casoc explorers in ’Ain al-Tarfa, Eastern Province, February 1938.

 
A seismic crew and shot-hole drill deploy at Abu Hadriya about 160 kilometers (100 miles) northwest of Dhahran in 1939.

 
An offshore structure drill in operation at the Safaniya, the first offshore oil field discovered in the Arabian Gulf and largest such field in the world, in 1950, one year before discovery.

 

Photographer: Owen Oxley

Shedgum Well No. 12, the first well brought in by an all-Saudi crew. From left, photographed in December 1953: Ali ibn Ahmed Sulaiman, ‘Abd allah Jassim Al-Kishi, Jassim ibn Mohammad Sulaiman, Jassim ibn Mohammad Guidehay.

 

Photographer: M. Mercer

Seismic readings being taken from atop a sand dune at Shaybah, 1993. First discovered in 1968, the Shaybah field was held in inventory until economic conditions and improvements in drilling made exploitation feasible. Shaybah is located in some of the harshest terrain on the globe, in the Rub‘ al-Khali or Empty quarter, 500 miles southeast of Dhahran, The field holds more than 14 billion barrels of oil – roughly equivalent to the reserves of the North Sea and some 25 TCF of natural gas. By the end of 2008, the expansion of Shaybah’s capacity by 250,000 bpd, currently underway, will bring its total capacity to 750,000 bpd.
 
Using advanced tools such as 3-D imaging, geoscientists in Dhahran have improved recovery rates for oil ad gas fields by up to 50% and greatly enhanced the search for new petroleum deposits. This model of the Ghawar reservoir vividly presents the largest oil field in the world, which lies 1,648 meters (5,000 feet) to 2,472 meters (7,500) feet beneath the earth’s surface. The colors represent depths below sea level, from red down through yellow and green.