Aramco Quotes

“When Abdul Aziz captured Riyadh in 1902, the city consisted of only one square kilometer; a century later, Riyadh had grown to 1,300 square kilometers. When Abdul Aziz consolidated his kingdom in 1932, Riyadh had a population of fewer than forty thousand. By the beginning of the 21st century, its population approached six million. Riyadh became a bustling,modern city with terrible traffic, upscale malls, and neighborhoods stratified by class and wealth. In 1932, the man who ruled Saudi Arabia from Riyadh had barely a riyal to his name, but Abdul Aziz’s sons, the succeeding rulers of Arabia, would enjoy immense wealth and come to own the most profitable company in the world—Saudi Aramco.”
― Ellen R. Wald, Saudi, Inc.

“Back in 1947, Saudi Arabia lacked basic modern infrastructure. At the time, IBI was already completing projects for Aramco, so the company had been the natural choice to contract for the public works campaign in 1947. By 1951, however, major cities were already electrified and transportation routes had been built. Sanitation services, hospitals, hotels, and even cafés had sprung up around Riyadh and Jeddah. The equipment, plans, and logistics for further expansions were in place. The easily accessible knowledge and personnel that, in the 1940s, made IBI such an advantageous choice now took a back seat to cost.”
― Ellen R. Wald, Saudi, Inc.

“Tim Barger, the son of Aramco geologist Tom Barger, was the seventh American born in Saudi Arabia. He explained that Dhahran, Aramco’s headquarters located in the region where oil was originally found, was “deliberately placed there, away from society” because “the King didn’t really want Americans to mingle with Saudis anyway.” His impression of Abdul Aziz was that the king “just wanted Americans to go there, stay out of his hair, and produce oil and make him rich.”
― Ellen R. Wald, Saudi, Inc.