JANUARY
• The Haradh Natural Gas and Oil Development Project was inaugurated on January 18.
• The first meeting of the Board of Directors of the South Rub Al-Khali Co, the Kingdom's first upstream natural-gas joint venture, was held January 10 in Dhahran. The company was formed to explore, evaluate, develop and produce nonassociated gas, gas liquids and field condensates in two promising areas of the Rub' al-Khali. The venture agreement covers 209,160 square km.
• Haradh GOSP-3, 170 km south of Al-Hasa and seven km east of Haradh village, will be the 33rd gas-oil separation plant (GOSP) under Southern Area Oil Operations and the final phase of the three-part Haradh Oil Field development project. The GOSP, to be operational by the second quarter of 2006, will yield 300,000 barrels of Arabian Light crude oil and 143 million scfd of associated gas.
• Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Head of the National Guard, on January 18 inaugurated the Haradh Natural Gas and Oil Development Project.
• Saudi Aramco announced on January 27 that it will join with Russian oil company LUKoil and Chinese oil and petrochemical company Sinopec to find and develop gas reservoirs as part of the Kingdom's Upstream Gas Offering. •A consortium of Italy's Eni and Spain's Repsol-YPF on January 28 won the bidding to partner with Saudi Aramco in locating and developing natural gas reservoirs in a 52,000-sq-km area of the Rub Al-Khali.
FEBRUARY
• Vela International Marine Ltd, owner of one of the world's largest tanker fleets and a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, took the lead in new procedures to ensure security aboard its ships, both in port and at sea. In response to international security concerns, the United Nations, through its International Maritime Organisation (IMO), attached the addendum titled 'The International Ship and Port Security Code' to its Safety of Life at Sea Convention.
MARCH
• Mahmoud Abdul-Baqi, vice president of Exploration, and Nansen G Saleri, manager of Reservoir Management, presented the company's 50-year crude oil production outlook to a standing-room-only crowd. Invited by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, the two Saudi Aramco representatives presented the company's role as a reliable long-term supplier of oil to global markets and the company's ability to increase production if markets require additional supplies.
• Ali Al-Naimi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and Abdallah S Jum'ah, President and CEO of Saudi Aramco, formally signed upstream gas agreements with Russian, Chinese, Italian and Spanish companies. At separate ceremonies for each of three contract areas in the North Rub Al-Khali, joint venture companies were created. Saudi Aramco is a 20 per cent partner in each of the joint ventures.
• A delegation from Sinopec toured company facilities March 8-9 and signed a memorandum of understanding covering a 38,000 sq km sector of the Rub Al-Khali.
• On March 16, the new Shaybah-700 well flowed at a rate of 20 million cubic feet of gas and 650 barrels of condensate per day from a cased-hole test conducted in the Arab-C Reservoir at a depth of 2,382 metres.
April
• Some of the Kingdom's business leaders came together in the Rub Al-Khali for the Shaybah Cafe, a brainstorming session to consider the role of the private sector in supporting the economic growth of the Kingdom in coming years. The event was sponsored by the Gulf chapter of the Society for Organizational Learning and Saudi Aramco.
• Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries MOH), the Greek refining and marketing company in which Saudi Aramco holds an indirect 42 per cent interest, completed a new truck-loading terminal at its Ag Theodori, Corinth, refinery. The new terminal is a major improvement in MOH's sales distribution system and helps increase its Greek market share.
• The Help Desk Institute (HDI) named Saudi Aramco's EXPEC Computer Center (ECC) as the best in class for providing computer support services by awarding it the 2003 HDI Internal Team Excellence Award at its 15th annual conference.
Saudi Aramco, the first non-US company to win the award, was chosen from a field of 2,000 HDI members representing more than 200 companies from 22 countries.
• Jum'ah and Al Naimi reassured leading US policymakers of Saudi Arabia's ability to remain a reliable supplier of energy for decades to come. In remarks made at an April 27 conference on US-Saudi Arabia Relations and Global Energy Security, Jum'ah and Al-Naimi discussed Saudi Aramco's reliability as a supplier and its ability to meet current and future demands for energy.
MAY
• The top executives of Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical Co Ltd on May 9 signed a landmark memorandum of understanding for a joint feasibility study of the development of an integrated refining and petrochemical complex at Rabigh, on the Red Sea coast.
The new plant is projected to open in 2008 and will be Saudi Aramco's first major investment in a dedicated petrochemical facility in the Kingdom.
• The first-ever Saudi Arabian Gas Conference was held at the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce. The three-day forum was attended by some 500 foreign and domestic business leaders.
• Saudi Aramco and Institut Francais du Petrol (IFP) signed a memorandum of understanding on May 16 that links the world's largest oil producer with one of the world's most sophisticated petroleum research and engineering organisations. The memorandum paves the way for a variety of cooperative ventures, from reservoir engineering and drilling to training.
• On May 24, Vela completed compliance with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code for its fleet of VLCCs.
• In a ceremony May 6 at Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea, the new state-of-the-art well-services and maintenance support vessel was named the Qatif, signaling its readiness for delivery. A sister ship, the Abu Sa'fah, was to be completed in August.
JUNE
• Saudi Aramco's port facilities met the requirements of the International Maritime Organization's International Ship and Port Security Code before the July 1 deadline.
• Salim S Al-Aydh, senior vice president of Engineering and Operations Services, spoke to four separate audiences in Washington, DC, assuring them that Saudi Aramco continues to fulfill its role as a reliable supplier of energy to the world. He also touched on the issues of the security of petroleum supplies and of the company's people and facilities.
JULY
• Saudi Aramco signed an agreement on July 5 with Royal Dutch Shell Group to acquire a 9.96 per cent strategic holding in Showa Shell, a publicly traded Japanese refining and marketing company. As part of the transaction, Saudi Aramco will supply a minimum of 300,000 barrels per day of crude oil. When considered with Saudi Aramco's other supply commitments to Japan, the transaction makes the company the top supplier of crude oil to Japan.
Saudi Aramco also agreed in principle to acquire an additional 4.9 percent of Showa Shell from the Royal Dutch Shell Group, subject to satisfaction of certain commercial conditions.
AUGUST
• 'Patterns for Prosperity and Progress,' in Singapore, was an opportunity for that country's people to get a glimpse of Saudi Arabia and its national oil company.
September
• Saudi Aramco, through its Aramco Overseas Co arm, reached an agreement with Fujian Petrochemical Co Ltd, and ExxonMobil China Petroleum and Petrochemical Co Ltd to jointly fund the design work for a refinery expansion and chemical complex at the existing refinery in Fujian Province.
• Saudi Aramco took part in the 19th World Energy Congress in Sydney, Australia, September 5-9.
• Saudi Aramco reached maximum production capacity at Haradh Gas Plant, part of the Master Gas System, less than six months after the facility's inauguration.
• Al Naimi was a keynote speaker at the OPEC International Seminar in Vienna. More than 500 of the world's leading figures in the petroleum industry, including more than 17 ministerial delegations, and delegate CEOs, analysts and decision makers from more than 40 countries, gathered for the event.
OCTOBER
• Vela marked its 20th anniversary at celebrations in Dhahran and Dubai.
More than 300 employees, former Vela executives and dignitaries were among the guests.
NOVEMBER
• A new oilfield, Abu Sidr, was discovered in central Saudi Arabia. The field produces Arabian Super Light crude.
A new gasfield, the Midrikah field, was discovered in eastern Saudi Arabia.
• The company was selected by the Asian Regional Training and Development Organisation to receive the 2004 Human Resources Development Award for excellence
in developing and sharing best practices in human resources.
DECEMBER
• For the 16th straight year, Saudi Aramco took top ranking in the respected global energy trade journal Petroleum Intelligence Weekly.
Saudi Aramco led all major companies surveyed in crude-oil reserves and production, gas reserves and output, refinery capacity and product sales.
• Saudi Aramco received the International Project of the Year award for the Haradh Gas Plant Project from the Project Management Institute.
• Vela was the recipient of the 2004 Innovation in Shipping Award for an invention that offers an environmentally friendly and relatively inexpensive method of exchanging ballast water.
The award was given at the first Dubai International Maritime Awards dinner December 6, organised by Seatrade, a publications and events company specialising in maritime activity.
• The 800,000-barrel-per-day Qatif Producing Plants Project, the world's largest crude output facility, was officially inaugurated December 26 by Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.
