In 1933, the Kingdom signed a concession agreement with a major oil company, allowing for exploration in the country's Eastern Province. Other oil companies later joined the enterprise, which became the Arabian American Oil Company, or Aramco--predecessor of today's Saudi Aramco.

Despite initial optimism, early results were frustrating. Then, in 1938, Dammam Well Number 7 (located near today's company headquarters in Dhahran) yielded oil in commercial quantities: The foresight of the Kingdom's leaders and the persistence of the early explorers had been rewarded.

More milestones soon followed. The following year, King 'Abd al-'Aziz opened a valve to release the nation's first tanker-load of crude oil from the Arabian Gulf port of Ras Tanura, which became home to the Kingdom's first oil refinery a few years later. A decade after the discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia, the world's largest onshore and offshore fields, Ghawar and Safaniya, were discovered. A 1,750-kilometer pipeline linking the oil fields of the Eastern Province with the Mediterranean Sea opened in 1950, just as production began to boom in response to growing world demand for oil.

In the 1960s and 1970s, a series of important projects, including the construction of the Kingdom's landmark Master Gas System, significantly bolstered Aramco's capabilities and expanded its operations. In 1983, the Exploration and Petroleum Engineering Center, one of the world's most advanced earth science facilities, was inaugurated.

In a series of steps dating back to 1973, the Kingdom had gradually purchased Aramco's assets, gaining full ownership of the company in 1980. In 1988, by Royal Decree, King Fahd ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz officially established the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, or Saudi Aramco, to replace Aramco and assume its responsibilities.

Yet in many ways, Aramco had been a Saudi company for many years. The employment, training and professional development of Saudi nationals had been a guiding principle since the earliest days of the venture, and Saudi executives, professionals and operations personnel were found throughout company.

In the years following its creation, Saudi Aramco's responsibilities have grown tremendously. Exploration efforts have been extended to new areas of the Kingdom, and the company expanded into international operations with the creation of a marine shipping subsidiary and the establishment of a series of downstream joint ventures. In 1993, Saudi Aramco was given responsibility for all of the Kingdom's refining and distribution operations, and also assumed the Kingdom's interest in several domestic joint ventures. Last year the company has completed a series of landmark projects, including bringing the remote Shaybah oil field on line, expanding the capacity and capability of the Ras Tanura Refinery, and opening a multi-product pipeline linking Dhahran to the capital, Riyadh, with an extension to the central Qassim region.