1983
Yanbu was the site of the first oil achievement in King Fahd's reign when he inaugurated at the beginning of the year new facilities which would become the nucleus of Yanbu Industrial City.
Facilities included a natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation plant (part of the Master Gas System (MGS)), and the 1,200 km long East-West NGL pipeline, which remains one of the longest gas pipelines ever constructed anywhere.
The Yanbu NGL plant marked completion of the first construction phase of the MGS, which now included Berri, Shedgum and Uthmaniyah Gas Plants, Ju'aymah Gas Fractionation Plant, about 40 gasoil separation plants (GOSPs), and a large number of pipelines.
King Fahd inaugurated the Exploration and Petroleum Engineering Centre (EXPEC), Saudi Aramco's main petroleum operations coordination centre in Dhahran. Sophisticated, the centre was designed to serve as a bridge for the transfer of advanced technology to the Kingdom, controlling automatically the largest petroleum network in the world.
1983-84
Ali Al Naimi was appointed the first Saudi president of Saudi Aramco on January 1, 1984, after rising through the company ranks. The appointment of a Saudi to the top job of a major oil company such as Saudi Aramco represented a key objective of King Fahd.
A new gas compression plant was inaugurated at Safaniyah with an initial capacity of 250,000 cu ft of gas per day.
1984-85
Crown Prince Abdallah bin Abdulaziz visited Yanbu to inspect Saudi Aramco's crude oil and gas facilities in Yanbu Industrial City.
1985-86
King Fahd launched the PetrominShell refinery in Jubail Industrial City, the largest refinery ever built by Shell in a single phase. This refinery boosted the Kingdom's refining capacity at that time by more than one third.
The construction, operation and maintenance of a new 67,500 barrel facility for loading liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was established near Qatif for Petromin Marketing.
1986-87
King Fahd attended the inauguration of a new Training Centre and upgraded refinery at Ras Tanura on December 23, 1986. The Training Centre was an extension of the company's comprehensive training programmes for industrial maintenance skills. The refinery upgrade project called for the construction of a 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude oil plant as well as a 300 tonnes per day (tpd) sulphur production plant.
The Saudi Aramco Exhibit was completed in Dhahran.
1987-88
April 6, 1988 marked a historic change in the chairmanship of Saudi Aramco's Board of Directors when Hisham M Nazir, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and acting Minister of Planning at that time, was appointed as the first Saudi to chair the company's Board.
Ali Al Naimi was assigned chief executive officer, thereby becoming the first Saudi to fill the position of president and CEO.
On March 3, 1988 the Kingdom celebrated the 50th anniversary of the discovery of oil in the country.
1988-89
On November 8, 1988, the Council of Ministers issued a decision approving the Articles of Incorporation of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), a company wholly-owned by the Saudi government, to assume the management and operation responsibilities previously undertaken by the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco).
The company discovered a new oilfield in Hawtah, 190 km South of Riyadh. Productivity of the well, which was called Hawtah No. 1, was initially estimated by Saudi Aramco at 8,000 bpd of high value Arabian Light crude, the fifth Saudi grade.
Saudi Aramco entered on November 10, 1988 its first international operations venture as part of a long-term strategy to spread its operations worldwide and to provide another outlet for Saudi oil exports. An agreement with Texaco was signed to establish a downstream joint venture, Star Enterprise, in the eastern US and the Gulf of Mexico. Later, this project was called 'Motiva' after Shell oil company joined it. The venture represented the largest refining and distributing company in the US.
This international joint venture gave birth to one of the largest oil companies within the US, a company which has continued to grow, both in structure and size, up to the present day.
1989-90
On October 11, 1989 the company discovered a new gasfield 75 km southeast of Riyadh. Less than a month later, it announced the discovery of a new oil zone, where Dilam1 test well was being drilled.
On January 9, 1990 the company announced the discovery of a new oil and gasfield in Ar Raghib, about 122 km southeast of Riyadh.
On April 10, 1990, the discovery of a new oilfield was announced after drilling Nu'ayyim1 well, located 45 km East of Hawtah and 190 km southeast of Riyadh.
On June 11, 1990, Saudi Aramco announced the discovery of a new gasfield in Al Hilwah, 137 km South of Riyadh.
An agreement extending a research deal between Saudi Aramco and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) Research Institute was signed on September 4, 1989.
''The company has always sought to reconcile its operational requirements with those services and products that the national economy support sectors can provide. We find KFUPM's Research Institute an ideal facility for this purpose,'' said Abdallah Ghanim Al Ghanim, then Saudi Aramco senior vice president for Operations Services, on the occasion.
1990-91
The Kingdom's petroleum industry overcame one of the most significant challenges in its history when the Gulf crisis resulted in the loss from the region of five million bpd of crude oil production.
As the world's attention turned to the Kingdom to avert global economic catastrophe, Saudi Aramco increased production to meet this shortfall within three months a task that usually requires a whole year.
Oil discoveries continued in central Arabia. Saudi Aramco announced on July 24, 1990 the discovery of a new oilfield, following the completion of Hazmiyah-1 well. Located South of Riyadh, this field was the sixth to be discovered within 13 months outside the company's traditional concession area.
Faced with dangers of a large oil slick in the Gulf, Saudi Aramco implemented an emergency response plan drawn in advance by the company's Oil Spill Response Committee.
The plan enabled Saudi Aramco to play an important role in safeguarding the Kingdom's coasts and many of its vital facilities against environmental catastrophe. Analysis and research conducted 10 years after this disaster indicated that the Gulf's ecosystems had regenerated.
1991-92
The South Korean government approved a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and South Korea's Ssangyong Oil Refining Company Ltd (now S-Oil Corporation), the largest refiner and distributor of petroleum products in East Asia.
This was Saudi Aramco's second international venture after an earlier deal with Texaco in the US.
Through these two projects, the Kingdom had secured an export market of approximately one million bpd for its crude oil, in addition to the refining and marketing profits it expected from the two projects.
1993-94
In early 1993, Saudi Aramco announced its first oil discovery in Median on the northern Red Sea coast the first oil find in this area of the Kingdom. Saudi Aramco also discovered two new oilfields in the vicinity of the Hawtah formation.
A major turning point in the history of the Kingdom's petroleum industry was recorded when, under Royal Decree, all of Petromin's refineries, petroleum product distribution facilities and rights in joint venture refineries were merged into Saudi Aramco.
Saudi Aramco and its subsidiary, Aramco Overseas Company, signed an agreement on February 3, 1993 with the Philippine National Oil Company to acquire a 40 per cent stake in Petron, which refines oil and distributes refined products in the Philippines.
On May 29, Saudi Aramco commemorated 60 years of progress from the launch of the Saudi petroleum industry.
Saudi Aramco's maximum sustained oil production capacity was raised to 10 million bpd, the largest production capacity in the world.
Saudi Aramco received the new ultra large crude carrier (ULCC) Al Mizan, the first of 15 ULCCs proposed under the company's Carrier Construction Program, the world's largest ship construction programme over the previous 20 years. Al Mizan was built for Vela Marine International Ltd. (Vela), a wholly-owned Saudi Aramco subsidiary established in 1984.
In Olsan, South Korea, a ceremony was organised in December 1993 to name two new crude carriers built for Vela by Hyundai Heavy Industries Company the 1-Mirfaq and Al Hamal. Those two carriers represented the first batch of six very large crude carriers (VLCCs) to be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries for Vela.
1994-95
The Kingdom started selling Super Light oil produced in central Arabian fields by the middle of November 1994 with the first consignment of 900,000 barrels of crude sold to a Japanese company for export via Yanbu.
New discoveries of Super Light oil were announced following the completion of Burmah No. 1, located 165 km South of Riyadh and 25 km North of Hawtah.
Saudi Aramco acquired its fourth international venture, when it signed an agreement with Vardinoyannis Industrial Group of Greece to acquire a 50 per cent share of the Greek petroleum refining company Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries SA and its affiliated marketing company, Avinoil S.A.
1995-96
Ali Al Naimi became the Kingdom's Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources and chairman of the Saudi Aramco Board. Al Naimi appointed Abdallah S Jum'ah as president and chief executive officer of Saudi Aramco.
1996-97
Saudi Aramco acquired the shares of the General Petroleum and Minerals Organization (Petromin) in Petromin Lubricating Oil Refining (Luberef) and Petromin Saudi Arabian Lubricating Oil Company (Petrolube). This transfer completed the integration of the Kingdom's refining and distribution facilities.
On July 17, 1996, the company made a new oil discovery in central Arabia at Asilah No. 1, 235 km South of Riyadh.
On December 4, 1996 an agreement was signed between Saudi Aramco and the Indian Petroleum Company for the supply of NGLs.
1997-98
On November 11, 1997 Crown Prince Abdallah patronised the official opening ceremony of oil producing facilities in the Riyadh Area, the first of their kind by Saudi Aramco outside its traditional areas of operation.
In his speech at the official opening of the facilities, Saudi Aramco's president and chief executive officer Abdallah S Jum'ah said that since the first oil discovery in this area, 17 more oil and/or gas strikes had been made.
As part of the company's ongoing drive to penetrate downstream operations on a global level, a declaration of intent was signed by Saudi Aramco on June 10, 1997, with China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Corporation) to export Saudi crude oil to China and explore possibilities of participating in downstream projects in that country.
1998-99
The Kingdom celebrated the centennial anniversary of its foundation by the late King AbdulAziz bin Abdulrahman Al-Saud on January 22, 1998 and Saudi Aramco organised several events to commemorate the company's progress.
On February 23, 1999 Crown Prince Abdallah marked the inauguration of a strategic storage project in Riyadh, one of five strategic storage locations also including Jeddah, Abha, Medina and Qasim managed and operated by Saudi Aramco as part of its Distribution and Supply Organisation.
On March 10, 1999, the Shaybah oil development project was opened. The crude oil reserves of Shaybah field exceed 14 billion barrels and add half a million bpd of Extra Light crude to the company's daily capacity. Completion of the Shaybah Project overcame unprecedented challenges such as sheer size, extremely tight timeframe for completion, and cost-effectiveness in light of major logistical difficulties and the project's remote location.
Crown Prince Abdallah inaugurated a petroleum products pipeline from Dhahran to Riyadh and Qasim, seen as an important addition to the local refined products distribution network. The Crown Prince also dedicated the Ras Tanura Refinery Upgrade Project.
1999-2000
A fundamental change in the Kingdom's economic structure took place on January 4, 2000 when a Royal Decree was issued providing for the formation of the Supreme Council for Petroleum and Minerals Affairs (SCPMA).
The Royal Order tasked SCPMA with the responsibilities of deciding all matters pertaining to oil, gas and other hydrocarbons, including determination of production levels, approval of the Kingdom's various fuel and feedstock pricing plans and formulation of Saudi Aramco's general policy.
Aramco Gulf Operations Company (AGOC) was formed in 1999 in Khafji, and was granted full rights and assigned all the obligations of its Japanese predecessor, Arabian Oil Company (AOC), in the northwestern offshore area of the Arabian Gulf, a partitioned zone equally divided between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
On October 26, 1999, Crown Prince Abdallah patronised the inauguration ceremony of Petrolube's second lube refinery at Yanbu Industrial City.
Saudi Aramco discovered two new gas and condensates fields at Niban, a formation 90 km southeast of the Ghawar Field.
On January 1, 2000, an operations centre which Saudi Aramco set up in Dhahran to coordinate and deal with potential Y2K problems announced that the rollover to the third Millennium had been accomplished successfully.
Saudi Aramco reopened its Dhahran Exhibit to the public after upgrade and renovation.
The Council of Ministers issued in 2000 a decision based on a recommendation by the Ministerial Committee on Privatization, that provided for the formation of a Saudi joint stock company to provide services in the industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu. The partners who contributed to the formation of this company would be the State, represented by the General Investments Fund (GIF); the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu; Saudi Aramco; Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and other interested industrialist beneficiaries.
2000-2001
At a meeting on August 30, 2000 the SCPMA approved Saudi Aramco's 20012005 Business Plan. During the meeting, the Council approved many items related to company operations, including: applying several new technologies in its daily operations, increasing sales gas and feedstock supplies in support of the Kingdom's industrial development, maintaining an appropriate level of production capacity to enable the Kingdom to meet global demand and overcome any negative impacts on the international oil market, and continuing to develop Saudi employees' skills. Saudi regular employees are expected to account for 87 per cent of company's manpower by the end of the Plan period in 2005.
Saudi Aramco's new corporate identity campaign was launched at its headquarters in Dhahran. The new identity, a brightly-coloured logo expressing an outburst of clean energy on a backdrop of blue and green, were a reflection of five Saudi Aramco characteristics: energy, innovation, partnership, performance and reliability.
Saudi Aramco discovered a new gasfield in the Eastern Province. Al Manjourah1 well flowed at approximately seven million cu ft per day of gas and 200 bpd of condensates during a wellhead test.
Saudi Aramco completed a major pipeline as part of the Hawiyah Gas Plant Project, to extend the MGS from the Eastern Province to the Riyadh area. This project was considered a significant step towards switching the Saudi Electric Company's Central Province Branch (Sceco Central) to using gas instead of crude oil in power plants, also freeing up additional quantities of higher value crude oil for export. On May 2, 2000, a gas pipeline from the MGS was tied into Sceco Central Power Plant No. 9, via a pipeline originating from the Shedgum Gas Plant area.
Saudi Aramco's organisations began implementing the early phases of SAP R3 rollout program. To achieve this end, the most advanced computer programs and systems were used to streamline processes, contain costs and increase profitability.
Saudi Aramco president and CEO Abdallah S Jum'ah launched Phase I of the company's Research and Development Centre at the company's headquarters in Dhahran on March 19, 2001.
''We hope that the Research and Development Center Project, Phase I will provide a more appropriate environment to company scientists and engineers, by boosting their innovative and creative skills,'' said Jum'ah.
The Shaybah development ... unprecedented challenges were overcome at the remote location
