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Discovery! The Search for Arabian Oil
Illuminating a little-known but extremely significant period in world history—the discovery of oil in the Middle East and the beginnings of what is now the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco)—this captivating history explores the birth of the Middle Eastern oil industry. From the king and his royal court to the desert guides, scientists, and mechanics who built the original oil company, Aramco, the distant and desperately poor world of Depression-era Saudi Arabia is vividly brought to life. Written more than 50 years ago, this detailed account serves as a kind of time capsule and features the author’s prescient insights into the cultural and technological consequences of King Ibn Saud’s deliberate decision to choose America as his commercial ally.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1971
About the author
Wallace Stegner
214 books2,248 followersWallace Earle Stegner was an American historian, novelist, short story writer, and environmentalist. Some call him "The Dean of Western Writers." He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and the U.S. National Book Award in 1977.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 14, 2020
This history book records the search for oil in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the period between 1930-1945. It starts by talking about the negotiations between CASOC and the Saudi government to obtain the right for oil exploration in the Saudi eastern province. The motivation was the early discovery made in the Bahrain dome which stroke oil at a commercial rate.
After having a deal with the Saudi government, the company sent number of geologists (in 1933) to start the geological work in order to investigate the possibility of having hydrocarbon potential. The environment was hostile with cultural complexity that put two different people-Arab & American into one basket. The geologists had to work with the locals using them as guides, workers and in other essential jobs. So, the author describes the difficulties faced by the early American navigating into unknown lands. He called them the Pioneers. So he talks about Max Steineke the chief geologist along with Thomas Barger, Khamis bin Rimthan and others. Their presence led to much innovation including designing car tires for desert driving, experimenting on animal breeding, and agricultural enhancements.
The author mentions that during the early geology work, the geologist depended on the surface geology, mapping apparent dips, using airplanes, observing the orientation of sand dunes, and driving across Arabia to understand its rocks. They did not have subsurface data like wells or seismic data. From the start, they grow convinced, that Dammam was a dome and they had to drill it. So, by taking a risk and with a bit of faith they decided to drill it. They drilled 6 wells in Dammam all of them were shallow- focusing on the zone drilled in Bahrain and found some encouraging results and some disappointments, but nothing impressive.
In 1938, the seventh well -after Max Steineke convinced the management in California- was drilled to the Arab zone, which was the zone Steineke believed, will be a big hit- and so it was. Dammam-7 was a huge success and would be the point that will change the history of the entire Middle East. Suddenly, major companies were interested in a concession in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, Saudi Arabia got offers from Japan to explore for oil as well as from Nazi Germany, which were all declined.
Then the story shifts to the time of WWII in which the Italian bombed Dhahran and Bahrain, which led to a major change in the lifestyle of the American in Dhahran. Only a hundred left during that difficult period- in what is known as the time of the Hundred Men. Many difficulties were faced including a shortage in supplies and food. They had to be innovative and had to depend on their own resources to supply food and drinks. During wartime, the Saudi government kept asking the company for logistical help in order to supply the need of the country.
And the book goes on listing the history which was already known to me. In my opinion, the book was OK, but I guess I read better books about the same topic. If you want to have a colorful idea about the same history with better stories and more enjoyable reading, I would encourage you to read the following books (some of them are difficult to obtain):
1-Out in the Blue: Letters from Arabia 1937-1940- Thomas C. Barger – The book is available in Amazon
2-The Hundred Men- McConnell, Philip C. - This book is very difficult to obtain, Amazon claims they have three used copies but I doubt it.
3-The Caravan Goes on- Jungers, Frank This one is available in Jarir- but expensive.
I think this is an essential history that every Saudi need to be aware of. Not a bad book.
After having a deal with the Saudi government, the company sent number of geologists (in 1933) to start the geological work in order to investigate the possibility of having hydrocarbon potential. The environment was hostile with cultural complexity that put two different people-Arab & American into one basket. The geologists had to work with the locals using them as guides, workers and in other essential jobs. So, the author describes the difficulties faced by the early American navigating into unknown lands. He called them the Pioneers. So he talks about Max Steineke the chief geologist along with Thomas Barger, Khamis bin Rimthan and others. Their presence led to much innovation including designing car tires for desert driving, experimenting on animal breeding, and agricultural enhancements.
The author mentions that during the early geology work, the geologist depended on the surface geology, mapping apparent dips, using airplanes, observing the orientation of sand dunes, and driving across Arabia to understand its rocks. They did not have subsurface data like wells or seismic data. From the start, they grow convinced, that Dammam was a dome and they had to drill it. So, by taking a risk and with a bit of faith they decided to drill it. They drilled 6 wells in Dammam all of them were shallow- focusing on the zone drilled in Bahrain and found some encouraging results and some disappointments, but nothing impressive.
In 1938, the seventh well -after Max Steineke convinced the management in California- was drilled to the Arab zone, which was the zone Steineke believed, will be a big hit- and so it was. Dammam-7 was a huge success and would be the point that will change the history of the entire Middle East. Suddenly, major companies were interested in a concession in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, Saudi Arabia got offers from Japan to explore for oil as well as from Nazi Germany, which were all declined.
Then the story shifts to the time of WWII in which the Italian bombed Dhahran and Bahrain, which led to a major change in the lifestyle of the American in Dhahran. Only a hundred left during that difficult period- in what is known as the time of the Hundred Men. Many difficulties were faced including a shortage in supplies and food. They had to be innovative and had to depend on their own resources to supply food and drinks. During wartime, the Saudi government kept asking the company for logistical help in order to supply the need of the country.
And the book goes on listing the history which was already known to me. In my opinion, the book was OK, but I guess I read better books about the same topic. If you want to have a colorful idea about the same history with better stories and more enjoyable reading, I would encourage you to read the following books (some of them are difficult to obtain):
1-Out in the Blue: Letters from Arabia 1937-1940- Thomas C. Barger – The book is available in Amazon
2-The Hundred Men- McConnell, Philip C. - This book is very difficult to obtain, Amazon claims they have three used copies but I doubt it.
3-The Caravan Goes on- Jungers, Frank This one is available in Jarir- but expensive.
I think this is an essential history that every Saudi need to be aware of. Not a bad book.
September 26, 2015
I have read many of Stegner's novels over the years (All the Little Live Things is an all-time favorite) but a year or so ago when I edited a history book about the oil industry in Saudi Arabia I discovered that he wrote this history of those times and it had been used as a source of material by the client. Along with admiring Stegner the novelist, I'd always admired him as historian and conservationist too. I immediately ordered this book and it finally got to the top of the queue of my reading list. Truly loved this book--this is the way history should be taught. People, people, people--history is their story. A top-notch read!
February 3, 2014
Read this while working at aramco and was struck by the contrast between problem solvers of the early years and bureaucrats of the latter years
October 17, 2009
Very slight -- good beach-reading (so to speak). Gave up after 45 pages. The book was actually commissioned by ARAMCO -- though they sat on it for a decade. Worthwhile, I guess, if you've got time to burn.
Ghawar.... A word that will soon be on everyone's lips....
Interestingly..., Scopes, who was simply the local Dayton, Tenn. high school science teacher, and who wanted nothing to do with his trial, sitting at the defense table without uttering more than a single, brief comment -- both during the trial itself, and during the appeal before the Tenn. Supreme Court ("I furnished the body that was needed to sit in the defendant's chair," he later wrote )... afterwards had no interest in pursuing biology and instead went to graduate school (at the Univ. of Chicago) in geology, ending up as a petroleum engineer -- working for some time in Venezuela. It was his achievements in this area that he was most proud of.
(Presumably he worked on conventional oil -- Venezuela, which owns Citgo, being one of the great producers -- though their conventional production has probably peaked. The Orinoco deposits, however, like the tar sands in Alberta, are one of the great UNCONVENTIONAL reserves in the world -- containing nearly 200 billion barrels of oil in place -- but these deposits, a tar-like substance embedded in sand are extremely difficult to extract, requiring great technical efforts and infrastructure build-up, and are not economical at anything under $80-100 oil. To give you some idea of how tar sands work -- it needs either to be scooped up with giant shovels and then melted off from the sands, or melted in situ and THEN processed -- Canada will spend probably some $500 billion between now and 2020 to get oil sand production up from the current measely 1 mm bbls/day up to a maximum of, maybe, 5mm bbls/day. That is, just double what OPEC has cut this month.)
At any rate, Stegner's book is supposed to be something of a classic. For anyone interested in Saudi oil, the "must read", of course, is Matt Simmons' Twilight in the Desert: http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Desert... (though this book is not easily accessible to the novice; it took me several years of studying the topic, including books on petroleum geology, before I could appreciate the originality and sheer intelligence of Simmons' book).
Ghawar.... A word that will soon be on everyone's lips....
Interestingly..., Scopes, who was simply the local Dayton, Tenn. high school science teacher, and who wanted nothing to do with his trial, sitting at the defense table without uttering more than a single, brief comment -- both during the trial itself, and during the appeal before the Tenn. Supreme Court ("I furnished the body that was needed to sit in the defendant's chair," he later wrote )... afterwards had no interest in pursuing biology and instead went to graduate school (at the Univ. of Chicago) in geology, ending up as a petroleum engineer -- working for some time in Venezuela. It was his achievements in this area that he was most proud of.
(Presumably he worked on conventional oil -- Venezuela, which owns Citgo, being one of the great producers -- though their conventional production has probably peaked. The Orinoco deposits, however, like the tar sands in Alberta, are one of the great UNCONVENTIONAL reserves in the world -- containing nearly 200 billion barrels of oil in place -- but these deposits, a tar-like substance embedded in sand are extremely difficult to extract, requiring great technical efforts and infrastructure build-up, and are not economical at anything under $80-100 oil. To give you some idea of how tar sands work -- it needs either to be scooped up with giant shovels and then melted off from the sands, or melted in situ and THEN processed -- Canada will spend probably some $500 billion between now and 2020 to get oil sand production up from the current measely 1 mm bbls/day up to a maximum of, maybe, 5mm bbls/day. That is, just double what OPEC has cut this month.)
At any rate, Stegner's book is supposed to be something of a classic. For anyone interested in Saudi oil, the "must read", of course, is Matt Simmons' Twilight in the Desert: http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Desert... (though this book is not easily accessible to the novice; it took me several years of studying the topic, including books on petroleum geology, before I could appreciate the originality and sheer intelligence of Simmons' book).
April 13, 2011
The beginning of something big often starts out small….
There was a time when the Persian Gulf was simple, quiet and undisturbed. Where religious pilgrimages were made with little interruption and life went on as it had for centuries. But then came change….
It was gradual and slow to start. The government leaders were cautious, skeptical of the advanced nations. Yet they desired the betterment of their people and country. There were many voices and the choices were vast. Who should they trust? What country offered the most?
King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud allowed numerous companies the opportunity to explore for oil. But it was the influence of St. John Philby, a former English intelligence office and Muslim convert that opened doors for the Americans.
During the 1930’s depression, taking risks could be disastrous. However, the American oil company was successful. After many negotiations the Saudi King granted a partnership. The Americans agreed to share profits, build roads and towns, and most importantly train employees. There was much the Saudi people needed to learn and it would take many years before Aramco could stand on its own.
The American families who came will never be forgotten. Their influence had a lasting effect on those who they trained, helped and befriended. However, there were struggles and challenges along the way, which no one could have foreseen.
Discovery! The Search of Arabian Oil, summarizes the blossoming of a lasting business affiliation between King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud and the United States, spanning the depression of the 1930’s to the end of World War II
This intriguing, and vividly descriptive story, was compiled and written some fifty years ago. Page by page you are transported back through the passing of history. The experience will definitely give you with a new perspective!
There was a time when the Persian Gulf was simple, quiet and undisturbed. Where religious pilgrimages were made with little interruption and life went on as it had for centuries. But then came change….
It was gradual and slow to start. The government leaders were cautious, skeptical of the advanced nations. Yet they desired the betterment of their people and country. There were many voices and the choices were vast. Who should they trust? What country offered the most?
King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud allowed numerous companies the opportunity to explore for oil. But it was the influence of St. John Philby, a former English intelligence office and Muslim convert that opened doors for the Americans.
During the 1930’s depression, taking risks could be disastrous. However, the American oil company was successful. After many negotiations the Saudi King granted a partnership. The Americans agreed to share profits, build roads and towns, and most importantly train employees. There was much the Saudi people needed to learn and it would take many years before Aramco could stand on its own.
The American families who came will never be forgotten. Their influence had a lasting effect on those who they trained, helped and befriended. However, there were struggles and challenges along the way, which no one could have foreseen.
Discovery! The Search of Arabian Oil, summarizes the blossoming of a lasting business affiliation between King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud and the United States, spanning the depression of the 1930’s to the end of World War II
This intriguing, and vividly descriptive story, was compiled and written some fifty years ago. Page by page you are transported back through the passing of history. The experience will definitely give you with a new perspective!
July 10, 2008
I bought this book because of my interest in oil and because of my respect for Stegner's writing. Angle of Repose and Crossing to Safety are two of my favorite books, which I hoped would bode well for Discovery!.
Stegner was commissioned to write Discovery! in the 1950's as a history of the early Aramco and the story of the first discoveries of oil in Saudi Arabia. In writing the book, Stegner expressed the conflict of interest in trying to be honest about the history of Aramco while still being paid by them. In the end, the manuscript was shelved by Aramco until the 1970's when it was released in partial form in a magazine. The full version was released 2007.
Discovery! proved to be a bit of a disappointment. Stegner clearly has a love for the frontier man, reflected in his writing in Angle of Repose and in this book. Even with Stegner's skillful writing, he could not keep me hooked on the story. There were occasional sections where I really enjoyed hearing about the enterprising men who conquered the desert. They certainly were bold and resourceful in their efforts, but the story just wasn't engaging enough for an entire book.
Stegner was commissioned to write Discovery! in the 1950's as a history of the early Aramco and the story of the first discoveries of oil in Saudi Arabia. In writing the book, Stegner expressed the conflict of interest in trying to be honest about the history of Aramco while still being paid by them. In the end, the manuscript was shelved by Aramco until the 1970's when it was released in partial form in a magazine. The full version was released 2007.
Discovery! proved to be a bit of a disappointment. Stegner clearly has a love for the frontier man, reflected in his writing in Angle of Repose and in this book. Even with Stegner's skillful writing, he could not keep me hooked on the story. There were occasional sections where I really enjoyed hearing about the enterprising men who conquered the desert. They certainly were bold and resourceful in their efforts, but the story just wasn't engaging enough for an entire book.
March 30, 2009
I have loved Wallace Stegner since reading Angle of Repose and Wolf Willow a few years ago. In this book he fights an uphill battle to make the the historical facts of Standard Oil's Arabian venture an interesting read. It is indeed interesting but rarely enthralling.
Currently Reading
June 30, 2008Having lived in Saudi Arabia as an American expat, the topic of this book is near and dear to my heart. it is also surrounded by a moderate controversy, as it was written years ago and never published. I'll let you know how it goes!
July 25, 2013
I thought it was a great account of the early effort to find oil in Saudi Arabia. It was commissioned by ARAMCO, so sometimes he uses technical terms that go over the head of someone not familiar with the terminology of the oil field.
November 13, 2016
It's just not quite what I was looking for. I think you'd be hard put to find this an interesting read unless you're really interested in oil exploration. There's not much about the government of Saudi Arabia at the time, although there's some local color and current events.
September 29, 2010
A nice chronicle on the early days of wildcatting in the desert.
June 21, 2012
Especially interesting, since my Uncle Walt was mentioned.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews