Life in Saudi Aramco

Photographer: T.F. Walters

Over the years, Saudi Aramco has been closely linked with the development and prosperity of the Kingdom, early on in the Eastern Province and later throughout the nation. In the early days, the company built roads, schools and communities, started businesses and played a key role in the eradication of malaria in the Eastern Province. American agricultural experts teach a Saudi farmer specialized farming techniques as part of the al-Kharj agricultural project, 1950 (pictured). This project, carried out by Aramco at the request of the Saudi Government, has helped Saudi farmers grow crops in harsh conditions since the early 1940s.
  
A rough, nine-hole golf course was carved out of the desert in Dhahran in 1945, with hard packed earthen fairways and oiled sand greens.

 
 
Eighteen of Dhahran’s 27 golf holes went “green” in 2004, when the company’s first grass course opened (the other nine holes remain dirt for nostalgic Arabian-golf purists.

 
Little League Baseball has been a fixture in Dhahran officially since 1952, when the Kingdom became a member of the international Little League Organization. More than 180 Dhahran children participate in local youth baseball programs, including Tee Ball and Pee Wee leagues, and players hail from 14 different countries; 20 players are Saudi. The Dhahran Little League program routinely shines in international competition. Since 1983, Dhahran's Arabian American Little League has represented the European or Transatlantic region at the Little League World Series 18 times. In 2007, the team won the regional title for the eighth straight year.
 
Saudi Aramco’s community activities include involvement in developing mangrove habitats for shrimp and other creatures on the Arabian Gulf coast near the Ras Tanura Refinery. The company took the program a step further by helping the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development to transplant an additional 1,000 new seedlings. Schoolboys from the nearby Safwa school system took part in the transplant effort – showing the growing awareness among young people in the Kingdom of the importance natural habitats.