The roots of Saudi Aramco go back nearly seven decades.

In 1933, shortly after Saudi Arabia was unified, the Government granted a concession to Standard Oil of California who recognised the potential of oil as a valuable export commodity and a source of revenue to begin building our 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 Abdul 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.
Timeline Details
1933
Saudi Arabia grants oil concession to California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc), affiliate of Standard Oil of California (Socal, today's Chevron). Oil prospecting begins on Kingdom's east coast.

1936
Texas Company (known as Texaco, now part of Chevron) acquires 50 per cent interest in Socal's concession.

1938
Kingdom's first commercial oilfield discovered at Dhahran. Crude is exported by barge to Bahrain.

1939
First tanker load of petroleum is exported.

1944
Casoc changes its name to Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco).

1945
Ras Tanura Refinery begins operations.

1948
Standard Oil of New Jersey and Socony-Vacuum Oil (both now ExxonMobil) join Socal and Texaco as owners of Aramco.

1950
1,700km Trans-Arabian Pipe Line (Tapline) is completed, linking Eastern Province oil fields to Lebanon and the Mediterranean.

1951
Safaniya field, the world's largest offshore oil field is discovered.

1956
Aramco confirms scale of Ghawar and Safaniya, world's largest oilfield and largest offshore field, respectively.

1961
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) – propane and butane – is first processed at Ras Tanura and shipped to customers.

1966
Tankers begin calling at "Sea Island," new offshore crude oil loading platform off Ras Tanura.

1973
Saudi Arabia's Government acquires a 25 per cent participation interest in Aramco.

1975
Master Gas System project is launched.

1980
Saudi Government acquires 100 percent participation interest in Aramco, purchasing almost all of the company's assets.

1981
East-West Pipelines, built for Aramco's natural gas liquids (NGL)and crude oil, link the Eastern Province with Yanbu' on Red Sea.

1982
Exploration and Petroleum Engineering Center (EXPEC) opens in Dhahran.

1984
Company acquires its first four supertankers.

1987
East-West Crude Oil Pipeline expansion is completed, boosting capacity to 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd).

1988
Saudi Arabian Oil Company, or Saudi Aramco, is established.

1989
High-quality oil and gas are discovered south of Riyadh, the first find outside the company's original operating area. Saudi Aramco and Texaco launch the Star Enterprise refining and marketing joint venture.

1991
Company plays major role combating the Gulf oil spill.

1992
East-West Crude Oil Pipeline capacity boosted to five million bpd. Saudi Aramco affiliate purchases 35 percent interest in SsangYong Oil Refining Company (now S-Oil Corporation) of the Republic of Korea.

1993
Saudi Aramco takes charge of Kingdom's domestic refining, marketing, distribution and joint-venture refining interests.
1994
Maximum sustained crude-oil production capacity is returned to 10 million bpd. Company acquires a 40 percent equity interest in Petron, largest refiner in the Philippines.

1995
Company completes programme to build 15 very large crude carriers. Saudi Aramco President and CEO Ali Al Naimi is named Kingdom's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.

1996
Saudi Aramco acquires 50 per cent of Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries and Avinoil. Company also assumes controlling interest in two Jiddah-based lubricants companies, now known as Saudi Aramco Lubricating Oil Refining Company (Luberef) and Saudi Arabian Lubricating Oil Company (Petrolube).

1998
Saudi Aramco, Texaco and Shell establish Motiva Enterprises LLC, a major refining and marketing joint venture in the southern and eastern United States.

1999
Crown Prince Abdullah inaugurates the Shaybah field in the Rub' al-Khali desert, one of the largest projects of its kind in the world goes on stream.
The Dhahran-Riyadh-Qasim multi-product pipeline and the Ras Tanura Upgrade project are completed.

The second Saudi Aramco-Mobil lubricating oil refinery (Luberef II) in Yanbu' commences operations.

2000
Petroleum Intelligence Weekly ranks the company No 1 in the world for the 11th straight year, based on the Kingdom's crude oil reserves and production.

Aramco Gulf Operations Limited is established to assume management of the government's petroleum interest in the Offshore Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

New facilities are under construction in the Haradh and Hawiyah gas plant projects to process gas for delivery to the Master Gas System and on to domestic markets.

2001
Hawiyah Gas Plant, capable of processing up to 1.6 billion standard cubic feet per day of non-associated gas, comes onstream.

2003
Haradh Gas Plant completed two and a half months ahead of schedule.