On the occasion of the Kingdom's National Day, it is good to remember the history of the Saudi oil industry and the role of some of the early pioneers. The history of oil in this area goes back to the beginning of the 20th century when the West showed interest in the region to secure oil supplies to support their fleets in the First World War. For this reason, Britain expressed interest — through the English Persian Oil Company — to search for oil in the Middle East, starting in Iran (1901), then Iraq (1925), and Bahrain (1925). The company had a strong belief that there is oil in large quantities in the east coast of Arabia. Accordingly, the company officials started contacting His Majesty King Abdul Aziz in 1922 after which an exploration treaty was signed. The English company sent a Swiss geologist to the area to conduct a geological survey. The Swiss geologist had concluded that the discovery of oil in the east coast of the Kingdom is a risky adventure to an extent that British banks halted its support for this company. This resulted in putting the exploration work on hold till the end of the concession period. The British were not serious in searching for oil even in Bahrain, which led to the purchase of this company by Standard Oil Co. of California (Socal), which began the exploration after the formal concession signature with the Bahraini governor in 1930 resulting in oil discovery in Bahrain in 1932. The good news coming from Bahrain and the wisdom of King Abdul Aziz, made him insists on continuing the geological survey and exploration work regardless of the British Company's disappointing findings. After consulting his entrusted advisors, the task of new geological survey was given to a renowned geologist named Karl Twitchell. After completion of the initial survey, Twitchell wrote a report stating that the presence of oil in Bahrain makes the probability of its presence in the Kingdom very big. Twitchell was instructed by King Abdulaziz to travel to the US and search for company that can invest in exploring for oil in the kingdom. Twitchell succeeded in persuading Socal that discovered oil in Bahrain to accept the task. Twitchell accompanied by Hamilton (Socal lawyer), arrived in the Kingdom in 1933 after which the concession negotiations started and then signed between Sheikh Abdullah Sulaiman and Socal Company. After less than 4 months, the arrival of Socal geologists began and soon the survey and exploration work in the Kingdom resumed and continued for one year. Drilling started in Dammam area with Dammam 1 in 1935, then Dammam 2, Dammam 3, Dammam 4, Dammam 5, Dammam 6, and finally Dammam 7. The drilling in all seven wells stopped at the same depth at which oil was found in Bahrain with no sign of oil. The pressure on Socal officials had increased with time, considering the high cost of exploration and drilling. After three years of dry holes drilling and five years of the concession agreement, Socal management was very close to pulling out their crews and announce the failure of their adventure in Saudi Arabia. Few days before the decision to halt the operation, and based on the recommendations of Socal geologists under the leadership of Steinke who believed in the presence of oil in this area, a wise decision was taken to deepen Dammam 7. This indeed was a blessed moment after which oil started flowing, proving the insight of King Abdul Aziz and the strong belief of Steinke. That was in the fourth day of March 1938, which represents the actual launch of the Saudi oil industry and the beginning of the Kingdom's economic-growth journey reaching today the top 20th world economies. As recognition to these great pioneers, Saudi Aramco named some of its buildings after Hamilton and Steinke; and not forgetting also Twitchell. Indeed the wisdom of King Abdul Aziz who did not know despairs, was not only evident through his unification of this great country, but also in his decision to continue exploring for oil and build a world-class renowned country. On behalf of all Saudi petroleum engineers, I would like to take the National Day opportunity to send my congratulations to His Majesty King Abdullah, the Crown Prince and all Saudi people asking Almighty to protect it and other Muslim countries from any harm and evil. — Dr. Sami Alnuaim is a Saudi writer. He can be reached at www.saudienergy.net and follwed on Twitter@neaimsa
