IN 1933, STANDARD OIL OF CALIFORNIA—SOCAL, NOW Chevron—won the right to explore for oil in Saudi Arabia. On March 4, 1938, a telegram was dispatched from Saudi Arabia to the San Francisco headquarters of Socal. It reported that in a test in the eastern province on a well called Damman #7, at a depth of 4,694 feet, oil had flowed at the rate of 1,585 barrels per day.
