12 MB pdf - Saudi Aramco

Summer 2006
A periodical of Saudi Aramco
The new paradigm
PETRORabigh

This is one of the first macro, high-speed
photographs by Saudi Aramco employee
Mohammad Al-Mumen. Using a laboratory
dropper, he released one water droplet
from a very low height onto pink-colored
water in a bowl. The low release point
produced more reactive drops bouncing
upwards after impact than would a higher
release, Al-Mumen said. Light from a
strobe causes the drops to appear pale tan.

Summer 2006
2 PETRORabigh: A new strategy
8 Kids’ book aims to link cultures
12 Mega-refinery documents signed
A processing tower rises above others in the
skyline of the existing Saudi Aramco Mobil
Refinery (Samref) in Yanbu‘. The company
recently signed two new joint-venture agreements
for grass-root refineries in the Kingdom.
18 SAP draws Saudi Aramco together
30 Visual Dimensions: A world of water
Inside Back Cover: The Way We Were
2
8
12 18 30
Inside
Back
Cover
About the cover: Milky-white polypropylene pellets pour from a traditional Saudi coffee pot into a traditional
gahwa cup. Looks pretty, but it’s unexpected, because coffee is the substance historically exchanged between
these two serving containers. The cover picture symbolizes a new paradigm for Saudi Aramco with its PETRORabigh
refinery project — which, for the first time, will add petrochemicals output (including polypropylene) to production
from one of the company’s oil refineries. It’s a brand-new way to diversify its product stream and maximize
revenues — and to serve something new to its customers. The cover photo is by Mohammad Al-Mumen.
About the back cover: Saudi Aramco employee Abdullah Ali Al-Abdullah has a nice eye for extraordinary grace
in the natural world. His photo of a pair of birds — one with an astonishingly long tail — makes a lovely picture.
And, with some subtle special effects, it looks like a painting. Al-Abdullah patiently waited for several hours to get
the exact composition he wanted.
The Saudi Arabian Oil Company, also known as
Saudi Aramco, was established by Royal Decree
in November 1988 to succeed the original U.S.
concessionary company, Aramco. The Aramco
concession dates back to 1933.
Beginning in 1973, under terms of an agreement
with the four Aramco shareholders, the Saudi
Government began acquiring an ownership
interest. By 1980, with retroactive financial effect
to 1976, the Government’s beneficial interest
in Aramco increased to 100 percent when it paid
for substantially all of Aramco’s assets.
Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Council for Petroleum and
Mineral Affairs determines policies and oversees
operations of the Kingdom’s oil and gas industries.
Saudi Aramco’s Board of Directors is chaired by
HE Ali I. Al-Naimi, Minister of Petroleum and
Mineral Resources.
Saudi Aramco Dimensions is published periodically
for the affiliates, customers and employees of the
Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco).
Abdallah S. Jum‘ah
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mustafa A. Jalali
Vice President, Saudi Aramco Affairs
Mohammad A. Mulla
Manager, Public Relations Department
Editor:
Rick Snedeker
Contributing to this issue:
Stephen Brundage, Mohammad Al-Mumen,
Lori Olson White, Thomas S. Bartridge
and Rick Snedeker
Production Coordinators:
Steve Sawyer and Rob Arndt
Design:
Herring Design, Houston
Printing:
Sarawat Designers and Printers, Jiddah, Saudi Arabia
All editorial correspondence should be addressed to:
The Editor, Saudi Aramco Dimensions
Public Relations Department,
Saudi Aramco Box 5000
Dhahran 31311
Saudi Arabia
ISSN 1319-0520
Copyright © 2006 Aramco Services Company
SUMMER 2006
Printed on recycled paper
www.saudiaramco.com

Written by Rick Snedeker
And now… something completely different
PETRORabigh
RABIGH — Fasten your seat belts. There’s a brand-new paradigm at Saudi Aramco that will add a
heaping helping of petrochemicals to the company’s petroleum-products stream.
Starting with the March 19 groundbreaking
and signing of final financial documents for the
PETRORabigh project in this Red Sea coastal community,
the company embarked on an ambitious and fastmoving
capital development plan to dovetail select oil
refineries and gas processing plants in the Kingdom into
three fully integrated petroleum and petrochemical complexes.
The PETRORabigh project is one of the largest
of its kind ever planned.
This business model envisions extraordinarily productive
and profitable synergies in joining the Kingdom’s crude oil
and gas system with petrochemical production. Besides the
Delivering keynote speeches at the PETRORabigh groundbreaking
were, from left: Saudi Aramco president and CEO Abdallah S.
Jum‘ah, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources H.E. Ali
I. Al-Naimi, Sumitomo Chemical president and CEO Hiromasa
Yonekura, and Saudi Aramco senior vice president of Refining,
Marketing and International Abdulaziz F. Al-Khayyal.
2 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

Ali Al-Naimi, Abdallah Jum‘ah and Hiromasa
Yonekura, above, together push a button
activating a huge well digger to symbolically
break ground on the PETRORabigh project.

Rabigh project, other integrated petroleum-petrochemical
complexes are planned at Yanbu‘ and Ras Tanura on the
Red Sea and Arabian Gulf coasts, fed by Yanbu‘ and
Ju‘aymah gas plants, respectively. Natural gas — associated
with oil production or nonassociated — provides feedstock
and fuel for producing petrochemicals.
At the PETRORabigh groundbreaking, Saudi minister
of Petroleum and Mineral Resources H.E. Ali I. Al-Naimi
hailed the project as “a significant step in the Kingdom’s
economic progress and diversification.”
The project, a major upgrade and expansion of Saudi
Aramco’s existing Rabigh Refinery, is a joint venture
between Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd.
of Japan. Saudi Aramco will supply the project with crude
oil, ethane and butane feedstock, and will market the
refined output of PETRORabigh. Sumitomo will provide
its proprietary petrochemical technology and marketing
Saudi Aramco president and CEO Abdallah S. Jum‘ah addresses
dignitaries at the groundbreaking of the company’s PETRORabigh
project. Jum‘ah stressed that the project represents a new paradigm,
adding petrochemicals to the company’s petroleum-based
product mix.
base of petrochemical products.
A large group of invitees attended the groundbreaking
ceremony, including Saudi government officials, top executives
of Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo, bank representatives,
contractors, and various dignitaries, officials and project
stakeholders from the Kingdom, Japan and other countries.
“This project is one of the world’s greatest integrated oil
refining and petrochemical projects built in one stroke, with
an expected completion date of year-end 2008,” Al-Naimi
noted at his press conference. “The project involves development
and modernization of the existing refinery so that
it can refine Arabian Light crude oil to produce high-value
‘This project is one of the world’s greatest integrated oil refining and petrochemical projects
built in one stroke.’
— Ali I. Al-Naimi, Saudi Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources
4 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

Petrochemicals: Perfectly plastic
Within a decade, Saudi Arabia is likely to be the world’s largest petrochemical producer, according to Dow Jones,
the respected business-news publisher, and other strategic analysts.
That projected achievement will be fueled by two new facts: the Kingdom’s entry late last year into the World Trade
Organization (WTO), which will give Saudi petrochemical producers improved access to critical European, U.S. and
Japanese markets; and Saudi Aramco’s strategic entry into the global petrochemical sector with its PETRORabigh
integrated oil and petrochemicals processing project, which is due for completion in 2008.
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), established in 1976, is currently the top petrochemical player in the Arabian
Gulf region and one of the leaders worldwide in sales and product diversity. SABIC, which receives natural gas feedstock
from Saudi Aramco, produces basic chemicals, intermediates, polyolefins, PVC and polyester, fertilizers and metals.
The company is owned 70 percent by the government and 30 percent by the private sector.
In addition to the PETRORabigh project, planning is well under way on integrated Saudi Aramco oil-petrochemicals
complexes in Ras Tanura, on the Arabian Gulf coast in Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Eastern Province, and in Yanbu‘ on the
Red Sea, the site one of the country’s two main industrial cities (the other is in Jubail). The PETRORabigh project is
envisioned to be the core of a similar industrial city in its vicinity.
Both Saudi Aramco and SABIC enjoy advantageous access to natural-gas feedstock that is exponentially cheaper
to produce than elsewhere in the world.
To provide feedstock to current and planned petrochemical industries — as well as fuel for electrical power generation
and seawater desalination — the Kingdom is aggressively developing new facilities and upgrading existing complexes
to increase natural gas production, especially nonassociated gas. In-Kingdom petrochemical production is expected to
burgeon from 46 million tons per annum today to 100 million tons by 2015.
Saudi Aramco plans to increase production of ethane, a primary fuel in petrochemical production and other uses,
to 1.1 billion standard cubic feet per day (scfd) by 2010, up from 550 million scfd currently; and propylene and naturalgas
liquids (NGL) capacity to 960,000 barrels per day bpd, from 340,000 bpd. Refining capacity, some of which will be
captured for petrochemical feedstock, will rise to 2.9 million bpd from 2 million bpd currently.
The Kingdom’s natural gas is transported and processed in the pipelines and plants of the enormous Master Gas
System, which was launched in 1980. The system handles more than 6 billion cubic feet of raw gas a day at major processing
facilities at Berri, Shedgum, Uthmaniyah, Hawiyah and Haradh, which treat gas and recover NGL. These plants
supply gas to the sales-gas distribution grid and NGL to the downstream fractionation plants at Ju‘aymah and Yanbu‘.
The downstream plants supply petrochemical feedstock and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for export and local
industrial consumption.
light petroleum products. It also involves construction of a
mega-petrochemical complex, as well as the infrastructure
required for further downstream and secondary industries.
This will provide attractive opportunities for both the Saudi
and foreign private investors.”
Al-Naimi said PETRORabigh will focus on four primary
objectives:
• Ownership participation by Saudi nationals (the Custodian
of the Two Holy Mosques, King ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abd
al-‘Aziz, mandated that 25 percent of the project will be
floated for public subscription).
• Greater opportunity for national capital markets (50
percent of the project’s credit will come from Saudi
financial institutions).
• Saudi private sector opportunity (a sizeable portion of
project requirements will be awarded to Saudi companies,
which also will be given the opportunity to participate in
ongoing support needs after completion of the project.
• Development of conversion and secondary industries related
to the project (an industrial complex with space for more
than 30 investment sites is attached to the project, and
feedstock will be made available to them).
In his address to the gathering, Saudi Aramco president
and CEO Abdallah S. Jum‘ah said, “Certainly, we owe
an immense debt of gratitude to the Custodian of the
Two Holy Mosques, King ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, and
to the nation’s government. The King’s bold leadership and
strong commitment to economic reform have contributed
Summer 2006 5

tremendously to the new era of sustained growth and profound
development, and we are enjoying the benefits of the
favorable climate for foreign investment in the Kingdom.”
Jum‘ah also lauded the project’s joint-venture partner and
other principals. “It is indeed a privilege to be working with
Sumitomo Chemical, one of the world’s leading petrochemical
companies and an organization that shares our sense of
excitement about the future of this sector in Saudi Arabia.
We also have the opportunity to be working with some of the
world’s best engineering, procurement and construction firms,
top-flight project managers, and, of course, some of the leading
institutions from the world of banking and finance.”
“PETRORabigh will produce benefits for many, many
different stakeholders,” Jum‘ah stressed, “but the project
itself is also the product of collaboration and cooperation
across national borders and economic sectors.”
Jum‘ah said the project represents “a new paradigm” in
the petrochemical sector, in which processing facilities are
built in proximity to stable and abundant feedstock supplies,
construction) work, such as a tight schedule and the sharp
rise in the costs of construction materials and labor, all the
people involved in the project have demonstrated their wisdom
and commitment to realizing the project.”
Yonekura said the project’s 2008 schedule completion
coincides with Sumitomo’s 50th anniversary in the petrochemical
business.
Abdulaziz F. Al-Khayyal, Saudi Aramco’s senior vice president
of Refining, Marketing and International, said, “In the
months and years to come, PETRORabigh will create new
economic opportunities for the local and private sector, and
it will provide a firm foundation for the development of a
broad downstream conversion industry in the Kingdom,
spurring even greater diversification of the nation’s economy.”
He added, “The integrated Rabigh facility will generate
both economies of scale and tremendous synergy between
the refining and petrochemicals functions, and makes the
most of the available infrastructure here in Rabigh. It also
leverages the strengths of both partner companies:
‘PETRORabigh will produce benefits for many, many different stakeholders … but it is also the
product of collaboration and cooperation across national borders and economic sectors.’
— Abdallah S. Jum‘ah, Saudi Aramco president and CEO
and where products are marketed internationally according
to changing patters of supply and demand, and to
economic forces.
Sumitomo Chemical president and CEO Hiromasa
Yonekura also spoke at the groundbreaking. “As you all
know, this landmark project is of great strategic importance
to both Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical,”
he said, adding that it will contribute to the sustainable
economic development of Saudi Arabia while “holding
tremendous significance for Japan” by deepening that
country’s long trading relationship with the Kingdom.
He said as many as 30,000 people eventually will be
working on the massive construction site. “Though we all
face challenges in the EPC (engineering, procurement and
From left: Ali Al-Ajmi, vice president of Project Management,
and other dignitaries listen to speeches at the groundbreaking.
A tanker loads product at Rabigh port. Groundbreaking master
of ceremonies Faisal Al-Zahrani addresses the crowd. A Saudi
folklore group entertained visitors with traditional music.
the upstream performance and stable supply of competitively
priced petroleum feedstock that Saudi Aramco
brings to the table, and the spirit of technical innovation,
industry expertise and market savvy that characterizes
Sumitomo Chemical. In other words, this is not only a
sizeable project, but also a smart one.”
The March 19 groundbreaking ceremony was the culmination
of nearly two years of preparation for the project.
A joint feasibility study began on May 9, 2004, with the
6 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

signing of a memorandum of understanding, followed,
after completion of the study, by the signing of the jointventure
agreement in August 2005. The joint venture was
officially formed in September 2005. Most recently, agreements
were signed in London on March 2, 2006, with
Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Public
Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) and 17 financial
institutions to secure project financial facilities totaling
$5.8 billion.
Currently, equipment and materials procurement is well
under way, and major EPC contracts have been signed and
awarded. Work has started on all EPC contracts, including
on-site construction of the major units.
When completed, the project will produce 2.4 million
tons per year of petrochemical solids and liquids, plus
large volumes of gasoline and other refined products.
Rabigh Refinery currently has a nominal crude distillation
capacity of 400,000 barrels per day.
Project plans include a high olefins yield catalytic cracker
complex integrated with a world-scale, ethane-based cracker,
producing approximately 1.3 million tons per year of
Above, Saudi Aramco and government officials, and PETRORabigh
team members, including joint venture and contractor representatives,
gather in front of a sign celebrating the recent groundbreaking.
ethylene, 900,000 tons per year of propylene, and 60,000
barrels per day of gasoline and other refined products. The
petrochemical ethylene is primarily used in the process of
manufacturing polyesters for fibers, films, bottles and other
such products, and also in antifreeze formulation. Propylene
is used as an intermediate chemical in the production of
polyurethane foam for furniture, automobiles, coatings,
adhesives and sealants, and in inks, polyester resins, pharmaceutics,
de-icing agents and many other essential products.
Olefin derivative units included in the project configuration
include: Sumitomo’s Easy Processing Polyethylene
(EPPE) unit, a linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE)
unit, a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) unit, two propylene
units producing a full range of polymers, a propylene
oxide unit utilizing Sumitomo’s proprietary technology, a
mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) unit and a butane-1 unit. ■
Summer 2006 7

A tale of
Two
Cultures
....................
Twin teens pen horse mystery to bridge gap
DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia — Local 17-year-old twins Sarah and Elizabeth Spalding describe this storied
oil town just inland from the Arabian Gulf as an “in-between kind of world.”
An oasis of greenery in a barren, dusty desert area typical of the Muslim Kingdom’s Eastern Province,
this tidy, leafy, lawn-carpeted community of 12,000 where the Spaldings grew up is designed like a typical
middle-class suburban enclave in the American Southwest.
It’s neither distinctively Saudi nor Western but a unique melding of the two. Residents here are any
of more than 50 nationalities, so there is also a complex cosmopolitan flavor to the Dhahran lifestyle.
8 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

PHOTO BY STEPHEN L. BRUNDAGE
Dhahran residents since the age of
2, Sarah and Elizabeth developed
an intense interest in things
Arabian from an early age,
including a strong desire to learn
the language. But as they gradually became more fluent,
the Arabic-language storybooks they were using to learn
the language seemed to grow less and less challenging.
“The plots were really simplistic in their ideas,” Sarah
said in an interview with writer Lori White Olson in the
company’s weekly Arabian Sun newspaper, “and the more
complex our understanding of Arabic got, the less the
books helped us.”
During evening discussions at the dinner table with their
father and mother, Marc and Jenny, both Saudi Aramco
economists, the girls were encouraged to develop their own
solution to this deficit. So, they decided to write their own
children’s book, and, because all the Arabic children’s
books had only male main characters, Sarah and Elizabeth
decided that their protagonists would be female (one Saudi,
the other American).
Sarah and Elizabeth Spalding share a moment with Dahman, an
Arabian gelding that is the namesake of a children’s book the
teenagers wrote — Dahman: Mystery of the Champion Arabian
Horse — to try and bridge cultural gaps.
.....................
“And we decided on a mystery,” Elizabeth said, “because
I’ve always enjoyed mysteries.” Plus, they both wanted to
create something fun and exciting.
The Spalding family owns two horses, and living in the
stall next to their steeds is the book’s namesake, an aging
but still-gorgeous gelding named Dahman, so the girls
have a natural affinity for horses. They believed a love of
horses would be a perfect bridge to link a story between
two cultures.
Thus was born Dahman: Mystery of the Champion
Arabian Horse, the twins’ first book — written by them in
English and Arabic (with translation help from Fatima
Al-Malak, their former Arabic teacher at Dhahran Middle
School) and featuring illustrations painted by them.
The book’s plot involves a champion Arabian stallion
who is stricken by a serious, mysterious illness that
Summer 2006 9

Above are illustrations created by authors Sarah and Elizabeth Spalding for their book Dahman: Mystery of a Champion
Arabian Horse. The protagonists of the book are an American girl named Elizabeth and a Saudi girl named Sara. The mystery
uncovers the reasons behind a mysterious illness contracted by Dahman on the eve of a major competition.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

threatens his planned entry in a big competition, and the
two protagonists — an American girl named Elizabeth
and a Saudi girl named Sara — cooperate to solve the
mystery and save the day.
According to the authors, the writing took about two
months, but the illustrations took significantly longer. The
entire process — from initial concept to finished manuscript
— took about 18 months. The twins completed most of the
labor on vacations and holidays in Saudi Arabia.
After the manuscript and illustrations were completed,
the girls pitched their idea to Saudi Aramco,
which liked the concept and agreed to provide
editing support, buy copies and help the authors
coordinate printing with a local publishing house.
Ultimately, Saudi-based Al-Mutawa Press printed
the initial press run of 11,000 copies, which were
earmarked for several international and Saudi girls’
schools in the Kingdom, as well as Saudi Aramco
schools located in company communities in the
Eastern Province, including Dhahran. Copies also
went to schools in Bahrain, Cairo, Beirut, Qatar
and the United Arab Emirates. A second printing of
1,000 books is earmarked for the United States and
Jordan. Books are also available directly from the
authors by e-mail (sarahspalding@gmail.com and
elizabethspalding@gmail.com).
Sarah and Elizabeth plan to promote the book
in Saudi Arabia and the United States, and they
hope the process will help further bridge gaps and
increase understanding between the two cultures.
This year, they were scheduled to visit suburban
elementary schools in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
Houston, Texas; and New England in the United States, to
teach American schoolchildren more about Saudi Arabia.
The book was sold at the World Congress for Middle
Eastern Studies held June 12–16 in Amman, Jordan.
The book will be released in the United Kingdom
through a publisher there, and talks are under way with
two U.S. publishers for publication in America next winter.
As part of an independent senior high-school project at
St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, in the
United States, Sarah and Elizabeth are writing a second
book, whose working title is The Mystery of the Royal
Falcon. The young authors hope to continue the mystery
series beyond their debut book because they’ve been told
by Saudi educators that there is a need for stories in Arabic
that are colorful and fun to read and feature heroic young
girls. In addition, the books introduce to Western children
Middle Eastern icons — such as the Arabian horse and
hunting falcons — and open a window into the lives of
children in Saudi Arabia.
After their high-school graduation, the twins plan to
attend college and dual-major in International Studies and
Near Eastern Studies/Arabic. Eventually, they hope to earn
master’s and law degrees and work internationally in business
and law, respectively, using their Arabic skills professionally.
The twins have a history of laboring to bridge cultures.
When they were sixth-graders in Dhahran, they successfully
Sarah and Elizabeth visited Saudi elementary schools to promote their
book and its theme of cultural understanding. Here they enjoy a moment
with young students at the Ahliyya School in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
petitioned the school to add Arabic instruction to the curriculum,
which then offered only French and Spanish as
foreign languages.
Growing up as expatriate kids in Saudi Arabia, surrounded
by a veritable United Nations of nationalities and
customs, the Spalding twins understand the unique problems
and opportunities of circulating among people of
different cultures.
When they first arrived at St. Paul’s School from their
desert hometown, they felt like Americans and thought
they knew all about being American. However, they soon
found themselves perplexed by the jokes of their peers.
A course in American culture, including lots of movies,
brought them up to speed, they said.
They said they hope their book will help others avoid
some of the jarring cultural whiplash in an increasingly
smaller world — as well as to build accord and offer insights
into other worlds. ■
Summer 2006 11

Double play
Saudi Aramco signs export refinery pacts
with Total, ConocoPhillips
D
DHAHRAN — Saudi Aramco in late May signed comprehensive memoranda of understanding (MOUs)
with global majors Total and ConocoPhillips related to the planned development of similar export oil
refineries in the Saudi industrial port cities of Jubail and Yanbu‘.
Both full-conversion refineries are due to start-up in 2011, and each would process 400,000 barrels
per day of Arabian Heavy crude to create high-quality refined petroleum and diesel products designed
to meet current and future international specifications. The products of both refineries will also boast ultra-low sulfur
content.
Signing the agreements in Dhahran were Saudi Aramco president and CEO Abdallah S. Jum‘ah and, respectively,
Total chairman and CEO Thierry Desmarest and ConocoPhillips chairman and CEO Jim Mulva.
The Saudi Aramco Shell
Refinery (Sasref) in
Jubail is one of two
joint-venture oil refineries
in the Kingdom in
which the company has
a stake. PETRORabigh
would be the third.
Sasref is a joint venture
of Saudi Aramco and
Royal Dutch Shell of
the Netherlands.
12 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

Summer 2006 13

Saudi Aramco and France’s
Total have agreed to form a
joint-venture company, each
partner owning 35 percent
shares, and the remaining 30
percent is expected to be offered
to the Saudi public, subject to
regulatory requirements. The
partners shortly will undertake
a comprehensive joint front-end
engineering and design (FEED)
study, and definitive documents
to implement the overall project
will be negotiated in parallel
with the FEED study.
ConocoPhillips is also forming
a joint-venture company
with Saudi Aramco to own
and operate the proposed new
Yanbu‘ refinery, with each holding
equal ownership.
At the May 21 signing for the Jubail refinery, Jum‘ah said
the projects are critical to easing petroleum supply bottlenecks
around the world and are “an important step in our
collective response to these pressing challenges.”
“Our industry is in the midst of a tremendous period of
change and, I would argue, a historic crossroads,” Jum‘ah
said. “We are producing more energy than at any time in
history, are operating more efficiently than ever before,
and continue to have a tremendous impact on societies
and economies around the globe.
“But what the petroleum industry has gained in efficiency,
we have lost in flexibility, in part due to chronic global
underinvestment in facilities and infrastructure. Perhaps
nowhere along the value chain do we see capacities as tight
as they are in the refining sector.”
Jum‘ah added, “(The Jubail) facility in particular, with its
ability to process large quantities of heavy crude, will not
only ease tight refining capacities but also address the mismatch
between available crude supplies and refinery configurations
that is complicating today’s market situation.”
Both projects were envisioned to build on the Kingdom’s
strategy to meet global energy demands as well as attract
foreign investment and expand the domestic economy.
The refinery agreements set forth key parameters of the
projects, including project configurations and a broad range
of major technical, commercial, legal and financial terms.
At the Jubail Export Refinery signing, Total chief
Desmarest said, “This agreement reinforces our presence
in Saudi Arabia and, through
this long-term project, will
strengthen our close cooperation
with Saudi Aramco.”
Jum‘ah characterized Total
as one of Saudi Aramco’s most
important crude customers, and
he noted that the relationship
gained new momentum in 2004
when the French and Saudi
companies signed an agreement
to jointly search for new nonassociated
natural gas in the
Rub‘ al-Khali desert, also
known as The Empty Quarter.
He said the partnership in
the gas exploration joint venture
“has already proven that our
organizations are very compatible,
and that we work together
very effectively.”
Above are night and Total is one of the world’s
day views of the Saudi
major oil and gas groups, with
Aramco Mobil Refinery
Co. Ltd. (Samref) in more than 110,000 employees
Yanbu‘, a joint venture and activities in more than 130
of the company with
ExxonMobil of the
countries.
United States. The refinery
processes 400,000
At the Yanbu‘ refinery MOU
signing, Isam A. Al-Bayat,
barrels of oil per day.
vice president of New Business
Development for Saudi Aramco, said ConocoPhillips and
the Saudi national oil company are a good fit.
“Saudi Aramco decided to partner with ConocoPhillips
because both companies’ objectives for this important project
were very much aligned,” Al-Bayat said. “We both
believe that investing in refining is economically attractive
and will add value to our shareholders. We also believe that
an in-Kingdom refinery will enjoy competitive advantage
through a secure source of crude oil, a well-established infrastructure
and a strategic location to serve multiple markets.”
At the Yanbu‘ signing ceremony, Jum‘ah added,
“This proposed venture with our industry colleagues at
ConocoPhillips is a proud moment for us all, and will
allow us to expand our role to downstream exports in
addition to the upstream.”
ConocoPhillips chief Mulva said, “ConocoPhillips welcomes
this opportunity to work with the Saudi Arabian
Oil Company to add needed capacity to the international
refining system. The Yanbu‘ project fits well with the company’s
overall strategy to invest in projects that expand
(cont. on page 16)
14 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

Based in France, Total is the world’s fourth largest publicly traded
integrated oil and gas company, with 112,877 employees and
operations in more than 130 countries spanning the entire
oil and gas chain, from exploration, development and production to
midstream gas, refining and marketing, and crude oil and petroleum
product trading and shipping.
Total is also a world-class chemicals producer, and has interests
in coal mines, cogeneration and power generation. In addition,
Total is helping to secure the future of energy through its commitment
to developing renewable energies, such as wind, solar and
photovoltaic power.
The company has exploration and production activities in 41
countries and produces oil and gas in 29 of them. Total’s output grew
to 2.49 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2005. Total has a
solid, diversified portfolio of proved and probable reserves, that represent
approximately 22 years of production at its current rate.
Total is Europe’s leading refiner-marketer and directly operates
13 of the 27 refineries in which it has interests. Total’s retail network
of nearly 17,000 service stations is mainly located in Europe
and Africa. In 2005, approximately 2.4 million barrels per day were
refined and approximately 3.9 million barrels per day of petroleum
products were sold.
As an international energy provider and chemicals producer,
Total is directly concerned by major global economic, human
resources and environmental issues. Total is committed to tangible
objectives as part of its corporate social responsibility process,
whose procedures, practices and performance are clearly
defined and disclosed.
Total’s main challenges as a manufacturer are sustainability
in developing energy supply, ensuring the safety
of operations and reducing their environmental
footprint, helping to combat climate change,
respecting and promoting human rights,
respecting neighboring communities, and
contributing to the development
of host countries.
Thierry Desmarest,
chairman and CEO
Jum‘ah and Total chairman
and CEO Thierry
Born in 1945, Desmarest is a graduate
of Ecole Polytechnique and of Desmarest seal with a
handshake the signing
Ecole des Mines. He began his career of the Jubail refinery
in 1971 as head of the Mining directorate
in New Caledonia, before
memorandum of understanding.
serving as a technical adviser at the
Ministry of Industry (1975–78) and later at the Ministry of Economic
Affairs (1978–1980). He joined Total in 1981 as managing director
of Total Algeria. He held various positions within Total Exploration
Production, ultimately becoming its president and a member of the
group’s Executive Committee in July 1989. He became president of
the Upstream segment in January 1995, and chairman and chief
executive officer of Total in June 1995. Following the merger with
PetroFina in June 1999, Desmarest became chairman and chief executive
officer of Totalfina. In February 2000, as a result of the European
Commission’s approval for the merger between Elf Aquitaine
and Totalfina, the Board of Directors of Elf Aquitaine named
Desmarest Chairman and Chief Executive officer of Elf Aquitaine.
He was named TotalFinaElf chairman and chief executive officer
in March 2000. Since May 6, 2003, Desmarest has served as Total
chairman and CEO.

(cont. from page 14) our global refining presence, and would provide significant new supplies of refined
products to help meet growing requirements around the world.”
An integrated international energy company with 38,000 employees worldwide, ConocoPhillips is the
third-largest integrated energy company in the United States, based on market capitalization, oil and gas
proved reserves and production. It is the second-largest refiner in the U.S.
Saudi Aramco has two existing joint-venture refineries in the Kingdom — the 400,000-bpd Saudi Aramco
Mobil Refinery Co. Ltd. (Samref) with ExxonMobil in Yanbu‘, and the 320,000-bpd Saudi Aramco Shell
Refinery (Sasref) with Royal Dutch Shell in Jubail.
The two new export-oriented refineries are major elements in the Kingdom’s plans to increase domestic
refining from 2.1 million bpd to 3.4 million bpd by 2011.
Saudi Aramco also plans to expand its refining capacity overseas, including a 325,000-bpd extension of
its 285,000-bpd Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, making it the largest in the United States. The refinery is a joint
venture between Shell and Motiva Enterprises LLC, which is a 50–50 joint venture
of Saudi Refining Inc., a subsidiary of Houston-based Aramco Services Co.
A birds-eye view of the
company’s Sasref refinery
(ASC) and Shell Oil Products U.S. ■
in Jubail at dusk. The
refinery processes 320,000
barrels of oil per day.
16 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

ConocoPhillips is an international, integrated energy company.
It is the third-largest integrated energy company in the
United States, based on market capitalization, oil and gas
proved reserves and production, and it is the second-largest refiner
in the United States.
Worldwide, of non-government controlled companies,
ConocoPhillips has the seventh-largest total of proved reserves
and, based on crude oil capacity, is the fourth-largest refiner.
The company is known worldwide for its technological expertise
in deepwater exploration and production, reservoir management
and exploitation, 3-D seismic technology, high-grade petroleum
coke upgrading and sulfur removal.
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, ConocoPhillips operates in
more than 40 countries, employs approximately 38,000 employees
worldwide and holds assets of $160 billion. ConocoPhillips stock
is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “COP.”
The company has four core activities worldwide:
• Petroleum exploration and production.
• Petroleum refining, marketing, supply and transportation.
• Natural gas gathering, processing and marketing, including
a 50 percent interest in Duke Energy Field Services, LLC.
• Chemicals and plastics production and distribution through a
50 percent interest in Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC.
In addition, the company is investing in several emerging businesses
— fuels technology, gas-to-liquids, power generation and
emerging technologies — that provide current and potential future
growth opportunities.
Jim Mulva,
chairman and CEO
Mulva served as president
and chief executive officer
of ConocoPhillips from 2002
to 2004. Prior, he served as
chairman and chief executive
officer of Phillips
Petroleum Company from
1999 to 2002. He had
served as Phillips’ president and
Jum‘ah and ConocoPhillips
chairman and CEO Jim
chief operating officer since May Mulva celebrate the signing
of the memorandum
1994 and executive vice president
of understanding for a
since January 1994. He had been
new grassroots refinery
senior vice president in 1993 and in Yanbu‘.
chief financial officer since 1990, at
which time he joined the company’s management committee.
Mulva is currently serving as chairman of the American
Petroleum Institute. He is a member of The Business Council as
well as the Board of Visitors for the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
in Houston.
Born in 1946, Mulva is from Green Bay, Wisconsin. He graduated
from the University of Texas in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree, and
earned a master’s degree in business administration finance in
1969. Immediately after graduating, Mulva served as a U.S. Navy
officer until beginning his career with Phillips in 1973.

DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia — By the late 1990s, it became
increasingly clear that Saudi Aramco’s exponential growth
required new information-technology solutions to manage
and integrate the company’s vast and expanding array of
employees, organizations and activities.
This growth increasingly created a critical need for
faster and more accurate information flow throughout
the company — and IT managers, taking a hard look
at the existing information infrastructure, realized that
no mere upgrade of existing hardware and off-the-shelf
or in-house software, however comprehensive, could
possibly do the job.
The systems existing then performed well, but they
all shared one important and inherent weakness: Their
ability to share data across platforms was sharply limited.
Experts decided that trying to boost the capabilities of
older systems would be a futile exercise of half measures,
and that the cost of integrating data would be astronomical.
There had to be a better way.
The First Step
After seeing the handwriting on the wall, IT executives and
technical experts in 1996 decided to do a comprehensive
assessment of potential weaknesses in the entire existing
18 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

Written by Tom Bartridge
system — and to develop a comprehensive
solution. Their first step was
appointing a team to review the existing
situation and compare it with worldwide IT
benchmarks to develop a strategy for the future.
The team consisted of 80 specialists from across the
company, and their first fundamental realization was that a
shift was taking place in many of the leading global organizations.
Companies were moving away from mainframes
and adopting integrated client-server systems because they
were more cost-effective, efficient and user-friendly. Another
advantage was they offered the ability to integrate, collect,
manage and improve the accuracy of system information.
As the team collected data, it became obvious there was
one software program that truly fit the bill — SAP — and
it had already captured a majority of the global market.
SAP is produced by a German company, SAP AG,
which is the world’s leading provider of business enterprise
software. SAP is built around 25 different industry lines
and can be found in more than 21,000 companies around
the world. The team also discovered that 80 percent of
Fortune 100 companies run SAP and that “SAP for Oil
and Gas” is used by 97 percent of Fortune 500 oil and
gas companies. SAP Oil and Gas users include BP, Shell,
Chevron Texaco, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Petrobrás,
Petronas, Statoil, Tesoro and Total. This meant SAP for
Oil and Gas is used by more than 750,000 individuals —
clearly indicating that it could perform very successfully
within Saudi Aramco.
An extensive evaluation of SAP and other business
enterprise software showed that an integrated system like
SAP would significantly streamline business processes,
A comprehensive software system created by the German company SAP AG interconnects all of Saudi Aramco’s myriad organizations,
including, below from left, the Geosteering Center, Hydrocarbon Supply Chain Management, Aviation, Medical Services and Project
Management. SAP AG is the world’s leading supplier of business enterprise software.
Summer 2006 19

Above, staff employees of the SAP Computer Center at North Park 3 in Dhahran gather in front of the complex. Opposite page: Lights
on a drilling rig in the Eastern Province desert of Saudi Arabia twinkle in the night sky. The SAP system helps track the company’s oil
production output.
improve responsiveness to customers and increase overall
productivity. Higher quality system data, a key benefit,
would also allow Saudi Aramco to react faster to changing
market conditions. And an integrated approach would
add value to the decision-making and strategic-planning
processes due to the links between various types of data
in the system.
In September 1997, the Executive Committee approved
the evaluation team’s recommendation to implement SAP
throughout the company.
Because such a complex project would require meticulous
planning, one of the first decisions was to establish
the SAP Computer Center, which was inaugurated in 1998
in the Exploration and Petroleum Engineering complex in
Dhahran. The center, led by general manager Ahmed M.
Al- Zayyat, is made up of four departments and three
divisions that provide SAP implementation support. Their
mission is to add value to Saudi Aramco by adopting SAP
best practices that streamline business processes, eliminate
boundaries and use in-house-developed applications to
enhance SAP modules so the highest levels of business
integration can be achieved.
From the beginning, managers knew that implementing
SAP would be no quick weekend project. Everybody was
well aware that replacing Saudi Aramco’s legacy systems
and integrating existing data would be an enormous,
unprecedented challenge. A two-phase approach was
designed to help ensure the smoothest implementation
possible, and the first phase included systems for human
resources, domestic sales, finance, supply-chain management,
projects, plant maintenance and quality management.
The second phase covered hydrocarbon supplychain
management, the medical system, drilling, payroll,
aviation and the portal.
Phase I
Phase I began in 1997, and the first action consisted of
buying and installing the hardware needed to support the
SAP deployment. Saudi Aramco then obtained the software
licenses and installed the SAP Solution Manager tool
to help support rollouts using a standard template based
on company procedures and industry best practices. This
tool is extremely valuable because it provides an “easy to
use,” six-phase approach to guide implementation and
control the project:
• Discovery & Evaluation: Launch of a feasibility study
to determine if SAP offers relevant value and, if recommended,
an initial plan is developed.
• Project Preparation: Project organization, standards and
procedures are developed during this stage, and team
responsibilities are identified.
• Business Blueprint: The Project Scope is finalized and
approved. Strategies related to training and change management
are developed, and work gets underway regarding
20 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

Summer 2006 21

technical environment, authorization and other issues.
• Realization: The project is well underway with configuration
and interface issues being solved. User Acceptance
testing and quality checks are conducted to identify
problems or issues that need to be resolved.
• Final Preparation: End Users are trained and a plan
is developed to delineate cutover, conversion and
quality check processes with a trial data conversion
also taking place.
• Go-Live and Continual Support: The SAP solution is
officially launched and “Go-live monitoring” is started.
Responsibility for providing user support switches from
the SAP project team to the SAP Knowledge Center.
Although these actions all take place behind the scenes,
they provide the fundamental building blocks that allow
SAP to be successfully implemented throughout the company.
One measure of success is ensuring that all resources,
including hardware and software, are delivered on time
and within budget while mobilizing the right people, with
the right skills at the right time to complete the project.
In fact, these actions got underway at the end of 1997,
shortly after the Executive Committee approved SAP for
Saudi Aramco. By mid-1998, there were more than 1,000
people working on the monumental task of ensuring the
following core business SAP solutions that would “Go-Live”
at the end of Phase I.
SAP Human Resources
The HR module plays a valuable role within Saudi Aramco
by providing an integrated foundation that focuses on
managing, controlling and enhancing the company’s human
capital. This is accomplished by integrating an amazingly
wide range of areas including Recruitment, Organization
Management, Personnel Administration, Payroll and
Making money with SAP
Atthe SAP Oil and Gas Global Industry Advisory Council meeting held in Dubai in September 2005, Dr. Ibrahim
S. Al-Mishari, Saudi Aramco’s former IT vice president and chief information officer, described how SAP had not
only streamlined the company’s operations but made a major contribution to the company’s bottom line.
In his speech, titled “Time to Market: Thinking the Unthinkable,” Al-Mishari stressed that advanced IT tools provided by
the SAP system played a critical role in bringing the new Qatif oilfield online in 18 months compared to an average project
timeline of four to five years.
“This remarkable achievement resulted in an additional 800,000 barrels of oil production each day, which provided the
company with amazing returns,” he said.
Indeed. SAP solutions aren’t just for improving companies’ core business activities. They also can open new doors for
generating revenue — and goodwill.
For example, the SAP Health Care project spawned myriad benefits across a wide spectrum of patient services and also
resulted in substantial cost savings. One major improvement addressed the issue of ensuring that patients received correct
medications and dosage, an important benefit considering that prescription errors historically have resulted in many tragic
fatalities annually worldwide.
To address this specific problem, Saudi Aramco assigned a team of 20 software architects, designers and developers to
design an application to control the ordering, tracking and dispensing of medications. This team was supported by a group
of subject-matter experts, including pharmacists, doctors and nurses.
Working together, they developed the Saudi Aramco Medication and Pharmacy solution, using SAP software that provides
a computerized order entry, tracking and dispensing system that reduces medication errors. This solution is designed to
ensure the right medication is given to the right patient via the right route in the right dose at the right time, and it is the first
of its kind in the world.
Saudi Aramco obtained a copyright on the Pharmacy Module and has filed for a provisional patent application. The company
is currently working with T-Systems, a division of the German company Deutsche Telekom, to market and sell the solution
in European markets. This is significant because T-System supports 160,000 medium- to large-sized customers and more
than 50 multinational corporations in 20 countries.
Now that’s an achievement to be proud of: In the future, Saudi Aramco will receive royalties for software it developed to
improve the health care of its own employees and their dependents.
22 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

Benefits, Personnel Development, Vacation Management
and Time Keeping. The system data is also linked with
functions such as healthcare and finance.
SAP Hydrocarbon Management
Hydrocarbon Management was the first solution
deployed that focused on the company’s core business,
covering the flow of refined oil products from the time
they leave refineries until they reach customers. Its most
amazing feature was that it replaced 35 separate domestic
systems that were in operation throughout Saudi Arabia.
Currently, the system is being used at 33 bulk plants,
eight gas plants, five refineries, four terminals and 20
air-fueling locations.
Another interesting fact is the Hydrocarbon Management
provides a fully integrated approach made up of
Sales and Distribution, Materials Management and
Financial Accounting modules.
Two additional features that provide strategic value
to Saudi Aramco are the increased capacity for recording
measurement readings, which results in more comprehensive
preventative maintenance strategies.
SAP Supply Chain Management
The Supply Chain Management solution provides a userfriendly,
cost-effective program that automates many manual
processes, including material cataloging and planning,
inventory and warehouse management, purchasing and
transportation. Furthermore, this robust and integrated
system operates in real-time, making the program even
more valuable to the company.
The Materials System Materials Catalog itself is a behemoth,
containing approximately 7 million records representing
570,000 individual stock items. It also includes
a list of stock items for each one of 92,000 unique pieces
of major equipment within Saudi Aramco.
SAP Plant Maintenance
The implementation of SAP Plant Maintenance has changed
the way operations departments identify and follow-up
maintenance work. The process has changed from a cumbersome
paper-based system to an effective and efficient
real-time online system. It also reduced plant maintenance
costs because of improved workflow processing.
The integrated maintenance approach covers a wide
range of functions, including preventive maintenance,
minor maintenance, breakdown maintenance, testing and
inspection, work order scheduling and document approval.
SAP Projects and Capital Planning
Project management is crucial to the success of an organization,
and the Projects and Capital Planning modules are
fantastic tools that contribute to Saudi Aramco’s overall
achievements. This SAP solution delivers standardized
company-wide administration and reporting on capital
and non-capital projects.
It provides end-user support in all project functions
from the planning, scheduling, estimating, budgeting,
execution, project closeout and capitalization phases by
using an asset lifecycle management process.
The SAP solution connects all areas of the company. Below, from left, an engineer calibrates equipment at a refinery, whose output
is managed by SAP software; executives listen to a presentation on SAP’s e-Banking capabilities; and Information Technology vice
president Abdulrahman F. Al-Wuhaib gives a speech on continuing expansion of the SAP system.
Summer 2006 23

SAP Finance
The SAP Financial module plays an essential role within
Saudi Aramco because it’s linked with every SAP solution
deployed in the organization. It contributes to the company’s
success by providing a real-time picture of the company’s
financial resources and cash flows.
This solution integrates numerous functions, including
accounts receivable, accounts payable, general ledger, asset
accounting, operation accounting and budgeting, treasury
and, finally, financial reporting and consolidation.
Because the system is built on modules, one of its key
strengths is the ability to integrate data accurately across
the system. Entries only need to be made once; virtually
eliminating one of the most common errors in IT systems,
duplication of entries.
SAP Quality Management
Improving the links between different SAP modules is a surefire
way of improving the company’s bottom line, and this is
where the Quality Management solution enters the picture. It
provides a worldwide computer-based quality management
system for the Inspection Department, Gas and Chemical
Laboratories, Consulting Services Department, Project
Management teams and Material Supply organizations.
How does if affect the bottom line? It increases the
effectiveness of global inspection activities that take place
in a real-time on-line environment. This solution also
enhanced the planning, assurance, inspection, monitoring
notifications and quality control processes.
Phase II
As impressive as Phase I was, Phase II was equally ambitious.
The second phase started in 2002 with Medical Systems,
Aviation, Portals and Payroll solutions. In addition, work
got underway in two more core business functions,
Hydrocarbon Supply Chain Management and Drilling,
which ensured SAP was operating behind the scenes from
the time the drilling process started until the company’s
products were delivered anywhere in the world.
SAP Aviation
The Aviation solution was the next project that got underway,
and the task force faced a very challenging situation.
The team’s goal was to replace five existing Aviation legacy
systems and integrate everything into the SAP program.
This included planning, engineering, quality control,
scheduling, maintenance, inspections, purchasing, materials,
inventory and the reporting functions. The deployment
was a success, and it provided an end-to-end solution for
all of Saudi Aramco’s Aviation operations.
From a safety point-of-view, aircraft reliability has also
improved because the system is able to automatically track
installation and removal of parts and suggest which spare
parts need to be issued for scheduled aircraft maintenance.
SAP Medical Systems
The SAP Healthcare system replaced the legacy mainframe
Patient Care systems. It allows common functions and
standard processes to be implemented across the board
with a high degree of integration and control.
This tough and dependable system provides a stable
platform for future enhancements and upgrades that
optimize patient services while reducing the costs for
Saudi Aramco.
24 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

Saudi Aramco a Pace-Setter
The integrated nature of
and optimization of drilling rigs.
the SAP Healthcare solution
In fact, SAP Drilling Solution
provides links between
Only a few customers make as many
allows dispatch and drilling rig
demands on us as Saudi Aramco
Scheduling, Service Orders,
foremen to track components
does, commented Hans-Joerg Flad,
Patient Management, Care
to and from the rig sites.
Documentation, Health
Information, Surgery,
Pharmacy, Materials
Management, Radiology
Information and Finance.
This resulted in a more
efficient process that helps
improve patient care.
A continuous SAP training
campaign for nurses, doctors,
SAP’s Global Account Director for Saudi
Aramco. “Saudi Aramco has implemented so
many different SAP modules with a high complexity
that has hardly been matched by any
other company in the world. The company is
even driving the development of new SAP
products and co-developing new modules,
which will be commercialized later on.”
SAP Drilling includes material
acquisition, forecasting,
inventory management and a
robust tracking system. It also
provides better Well Menu
reporting and analysis tools
that improve and streamline
materials forecasting efforts.
SAP Payroll and Benefits
dentists, pharmacist, ward clerks, receptionists, accounting
and hospital admissions personnel has been underway
since the “Go-Live” at the end of 2004.
This SAP solution played a key role when it was deployed
because it replaced a mainframe system that was showing
signs of fatigue. The Payroll and Benefits program also
had the advantage of fully integrating with the SAP
SAP Drilling
When the SAP Drilling solution was deployed it replaced
13 different software applications. Like all other SAP
solutions, it provided an integrated system that streamlined
processes and resulted in cost savings.
How does the solution save the company money? It
provides up-to-the-minute, on-line tracking of inventory
levels and material, which translates into better planning
Human Resources and SAP Financial Reporting systems
already in use.
The solution provides a competitive advantage for Saudi
Aramco by linking Personal Administration, Benefits,
Payroll Processing, Tax Accounting, Payroll Postings and
Employee Disbursements.
It also provides the company with a better means to
plan, organize, lead and direct its most valued resource,
From left, starting on opposite page: Eastern Province HRH Amir Mohammed bin Fahd bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Al-Saud opens Saudi Aramco’s
SAP Computer Center; a tanker onloads product at Ras Tanura; a SAP employee monitors production; SAP Computer Center general
manager Ahmed Al-Zayyat (middle, sitting), goes over a new SAP module with staff; and employees gather in the Core Area in
Dhahran, in front of the Tower Building.
Summer 2006 25

SAP training:
A project in itself
How do you ensure that one of the world’s
biggest SAP implementation projects is successful?
First, identify how SAP will affect
people’s work. Next, determine if employees have
the skills they need to use the software. Then develop
training programs that teach people what they
need to know. Finally, the training must be delivered.
Since Saudi Aramco decided to implement
SAP, the SAP Training and Change Management
Department has been responsible for ensuring the
workforce had the skills, knowledge and ability to
take full advantage of the cutting-edge features of
the various SAP modules. The department’s primary
focus was to ensure the workforce understood
changes that would take place once the new software
was introduced and then provide training so
the employees would be able to use
the new software effectively to accomplish their jobs.
Providing training support throughout the organization
has been an enormous task. Employees have
attended 144,922 individual training sessions since
SAP training began in 1997 — 110,292 taught in the
classroom and 34,630 online.
Many SAP modules are supported by training
courses that consist of numerous individual lessons.
A person might only be required to attend two or
three lessons to learn how to perform a job function,
while someone else would need to attend the entire
program. The only way to track training delivery is
to count each lesson as a single training occurrence,
and the same principle is applied to online training.
Every project, from Hydrocarbon Supply Chain
Management through Human Resources, has
required training in nine areas that represent 90
percent of SAP training, or 131,374 participants.
Peter Senge, world-renowned business writer
said: “The key is to see learning as inseparable from
everyday work,” a statement that clearly describes
the SAP Computer Center’s philosophy of supporting
each SAP Implementation Project with quality training
designed to meet each customer’s daily needs.
the employees. In fact, SAP Payroll and Benefits payments
can be performed in numerous currencies including the
Saudi riyal, U.S. dollar, Canadian dollar, Pound Sterling
and Euro.
Two strategic benefits of the solution include the ability
to introduce new payroll areas and new compensation
currencies as needed and to be able to test Payroll and
Benefits in a simulation mode without damaging the
live database.
26 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

SAP Portals
The SAP Portal plays an essential business role because
it provides a “doorway” for company employees and
trusted business partners to securely access applications,
data and services they need to perform their jobs. This
single point of access also has the ability to grow with
the business and, according to Al-Zayyat, the number
of SAP portal users has grown from 25,000 to more than
60,000 today.
SAP systems coordinate the production and movement of hydrocarbons
produced by Saudi Aramco throughout the Kingdom
and the world.
This growth creates an enormous impact on the overall
security of Saudi Aramco’s system, and the question that
needs to be answered is how much security is enough?
Although the SAP journey has been successful so far, constant
vigilance is required because the continual deployment
Summer 2006 27

Above, from left, a colorful display provides an inviting alcove at the SAP Computer Center in Dhahran. Members of Saudi Aramco’s
SAP team discuss the rollout of a new SAP module.
of new SAP solutions creates a security challenge that
needs to be addressed on a daily basis.
The portal also offers on-line collaboration so employees
and business partners can organize themselves and
work together efficiently regardless of their physical location.
On-line collaboration gives the teams a means of
sharing documents, data and of coordinating team tasks.
Of course the work that goes on behind the scenes is
enormous. One of the most demanding challenges the
portal team faces in meeting the business lines’ requirements
is getting them to understand the bigger picture — sometimes
what may appear to be a minor user request will
actually have enormous impact for another user because
of the integrated nature of SAP.
Hydrocarbon Supply Chain Management
Building on the success of the hydrocarbon management,
Saudi Aramco deployed this SAP solution and created a
seamlessly integrated, end-to-end process throughout the
entire hydrocarbon business. In fact, the Hydrocarbon
Supply Chain Management actually replaced 11 separate
crude oil business systems.
SAP Hydrocarbon Supply Chain Management deals
with effectively moving Saudi Aramco’s oil, gas and products
and selling them to customers worldwide. The successful
deployment integrated numerous tasks including
supply and demand planning, contracts, scheduling,
marine management, operations, ticketing, inventory
management, billing and production calculations.
Training was a vital factor that contributed to the success
of this implementation, and 41 courses, 106 classes
and 250 exercises were delivered to 308 users.
A bright future
Although faced with the challenges of dealing with diverse
and complex business requirements on such a large and
unparalleled scale, the implementation of SAP at Saudi
Aramco achieved all stated objectives and more. The introduction
of new business concepts, for the first time, documented
the company business processes in a lifecycle-based
manner, including automated manual processes, integration
and access to reliable data to support decision making, and
streamlining of processes. Never in Saudi Aramco’s history
has any project enjoyed such a mission-critical status that
it warranted the Management Committee to act as the
steering committee for the project.
As a byproduct of this implementation, the project
has resulted in a large number of innovations, producing
five registered copyrights, 66 copyrights under review,
three provisional patents and one on-going commercialization
project.
One of the largest information technology programs
of its kind in the world, the SAP solution at Saudi Aramco
reflects the commitment and dedication of many talented
28 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

Did You Know?
What makes Saudi Aramco’s SAP program one of the most comprehensive in the world?
Here are just a few examples of what makes the program so unique.
• More than 6 million man-hours have been invested in the project.
• Deployment spans four continents and serves users in parts of the Caribbean, China, Japan, Korea, Europe and the
United States.
• Hydrocarbon Supply Chain Management deals with eight gas plants, five refineries, 33 bulk plants, 44 gas oil separating
plants and 725 tanks located around the world.
• The Hydrocarbon solution also tracks the movement of 9 million barrels for export and 1 million barrels of local sales each day.
• Over 20 million records from the old training systems were converted to the SAP Training and Event Management function —
SAP AG believed this was the biggest data load in SAP history.
• Saudi Aramco’s Materials System Catalog contains 7 million records.
• The Materials System Catalog also holds 570,000 individual stock items and a list of stock items for each of the 92,000 major
pieces of company equipment.
• The Plant Maintenance solution covers 1.3 million pieces of equipment installed at more than 490,000 functional locations.
• Saudi Aramco’s SAP Medical umbrella oversees 1.2 million patient visits and 24,000 admissions each year.
• The Medical solution also encompasses 700 physicians, 1500 nurses, 300 pharmacists, 35 outpatient clinics and 17 pharmacies
for 600,000 eligible medical-care recipients.
• SAP Payroll Module is used to calculate payroll in multiple currencies for deposit in over 50 countries across the world.
• SAP is now serving more than 60,000 end-users.
• The HR Management solution consolidated 20 mainframe computer systems that were previously used to manage human
resources functions.
• In one year, SAP processes 2.9 million financial postings, 1 million material/service requisitions, 500,000 course completion
records, 425,000 material service orders, 340,000 personnel actions, 275,000 invoice payments, 100,000 monthly maintenance
orders, 30,000 monthly bank transactions, 24,000 leave requests and 18,000 supervisor assessments.
individuals throughout the organization. The journey
that started in Saudi Arabia in 1997 spanning across four
continents — in parts of the Caribbean, China, Japan,
Korea, Europe and the USA — now serves more than
60,000 end-users. Making sure that each SAP solution
is carried out successfully is critical to Saudi Aramco’s
strategic business objectives since SAP solutions are
expected to be operating within Saudi Aramco for the
next two to three decades.
What is the future of SAP?
“A major shift has taken place in the world today,” said
Al-Zayyat. “In the past, IT played a supporting role, and
you were provided a computer, a telephone, a new printer
or updated software. But today IT is a business enabler.
Today’s IT capabilities, like SAP, play a central role in supporting
Saudi Aramco’s corporate strategies. SAP meets the
challenge of conducting all business activities at the highest
level of proficiency and cost effectiveness while maintaining
data security.” ■
Summer 2006 29

Visual Dimensi ns
Waterworld
Saudi Aramco computer tech
finds world of beauty in liquid realm
Written by Rick Snedeker
DHAHRAN — Only water’s liquid mysteries can
quench Mohammad Al-Mumen’s thirst for beauty,
and then only temporarily.
Over the past year, Al-Mumen, a 29-year-old Saudi Aramco
computer systems analyst, has taught himself to create waterthemed
micro-photographs of surprising power and elegance in
spaces smaller than a fingernail. It is an artistic pursuit that he
admits can be addictive.
“I’m kind of obsessed with it now,” he said.
Due to the daunting technical demands of photographing
complex scenes of water droplets on vistas a mere two to three
centimeters square, Al-Mumen says he spends many hours
weekly thinking about, preparing for, staging and shooting his
delicate waterworld tableaus. The completed images are not
only aesthetically beautiful but logistically marvelous.
And they’ve started winning awards. One dramatic shot of
a dropped glass crashing into the floor and sending skyward a
curving, bright-red swoop of colored water has won awards at
two popular digital photography web sites: www.usefilm.com
(Staff Choice), www.adigicam.com (Photo of the Week). A third
picture, of a drop colliding with green water, came in third
in a recent monthly contest of the Arabian Gulf photo site
www.friendsoflight.com.
Because of the difficulties of the form, few photographers
specialize in micro-photography, Al-Mumen said, adding that,
for him, the inherent difficulty is part of the appeal. “It’s so
hard to capture all this beauty, so I must keep trying.”
Al-Mumen said he was drawn to micro-photography about
a year ago when he first saw the work of Martin Waugh, an
American high-speed photographer who calls his images “liquid
> Tiny water droplets fall from the finger of
photographer Al-Mumen’s 13-year-old nephew,
Hassan, very close to Al-Mumen’s camera lens.
Instead on focusing on Hassan’s face, Al-Mumen
unconventionally targeted the drops, making his
nephew’s reflection in the water sharply in-focus.
30 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

Visual Dimensi ns
> Photographer Al-Mumen smashed 20
glasses full of colored water to finally
capture this dramatic shot, which ultimately
was selected Picture of the Week
by www.adigicam.com, an award-winning
Arab photography web site. The photo
was shot at 1/20,000th of a second.
32 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

sculptures” and is considered the world’s top practitioner in
this esoteric field.
“I thought Waugh’s photographs were amazing,” Al-Mumen
said, “but, unfortunately, he doesn’t tell you any of his secrets.”
Thus began Al-Mumen’s personal quest to teach himself how
to shoot the demanding liquid miniatures. And it required
absorbing the information from scores of complex photography
books, purchasing expensive camera equipment (he now uses a
Nikon D70), developing his own precision electronic sensors
and experimenting exhaustively.
“I still have a long way to go,” he said. “But my work is
maturing.”
Part of the maturation process has been learning what wastes
time and what doesn’t. One of the things that wastes time is
building your own electronic equipment for sensing the movement
of tiny falling water drops and timing strobe lights and
camera shutters to trip at precise moments to capture these tiny
objects in motion. He bought his first sophisticated digital single-lens
reflex camera a couple of years ago and then a year
later began developing his own electronic sensors, using knowledge
he gleaned from a couple of college electronics courses.
But one day he dropped it — and ruined — one of his devices,
which had taken him two months to build. He learned later
that similar devices can be readily purchased in the marketplace.
“Some of these things cost thousands of riyals,” he said.
“But, now, if I need an electronic device, I just buy it. I could
build them myself, because I’m pretty good at that, but, unfortunately,
I’m really bad at fixing them when they break.”
So, now he can concentrate more on art and less on hardware.
And the art is impressive on many levels.
For example, one of Al-Mumen’s favorite images looks like
a vertical column of water with a flat, horizontal umbrella.
> >>
A drop of water takes on the shape of an
hourglass as it slides from one green sliver
of palm leaf to another.
Whimsically titled “The Spy,” this photo
was created by placing a tiny drop of milk
among many clear drops of water on red
plastic film. This particular spy most likely
will not elude discovery for long.

Visual Dimensi ns
Although to the lay person, it may not seem as colorful or
charming as many of his other compelling water photos, it was
definitely one of the most difficult to produce.
To capture this shot, Al-Mumen said he released two water
drops from a hospital-style intravenous tube only nanoseconds
apart, allowing them to freefall into a large, water-filled bowl.
Exquisitely timed, the first drop hit the water, causing a water
column to spring up from the surface. The second drop fell
directly onto the rising column, causing the top of the column
to explode into a flat canopy. At that precise moment, minutely
positioned strobe lights flashed, burning the image onto
Al-Mumen’s digital camera, whose special macro lens was
frozen open at an F22 aperture in a room that moments before
had been pitch black.
That is one of the tricks of the trade with high-speed photography,
he said: zero light until the last possible moment.
For another photo, Al-Mumen dropped a miniscule globe of
water onto the head of a pin. For another, he lined up five tiny
water drops and, perpendicular, a larger elongated droplet to
create a water foot — five toes and a sole.
Al-Mumen’s creative concepts run from sublime to silly. Silly
would be his photo titled “The Spy,” which has a single white
droplet (of milk) standing out like a sore thumb within a crowd
of red droplets. But all the images are sumptuous.
Al-Mumen said his dream is to become a world-class microphotographer.
“I am very far from that,” he said. “But I am getting
closer.” He would also like to meet Martin Waugh one day
and show him his work, maybe get a few valuable pointers.
He said he has always had an artistic temperament, first
becoming interested in photography some 10 years ago when he
marveled at the photos created by his uncle, an amateur shooter,
> Al-Mumen bought a small aquarium
to stage this shot of a green
apple dropped into clear water.
Using high-speed photo techniques,
he froze the collision at its
most visually dramatic moment.
Lighting from two sides of the
aquarium created a crisp, 3D effect.
>
>
The delicate little pink water
flower was not easy to create.
The parasol effect is the result of
a first drop of water hitting the
pool surface and sending upward
a tiny column — which immediately
collides with a second drop
still falling.
This miniature foot made of miniscule
water drops displays Al-
Mumen’s playful sense of humor.
34 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

Colored water in three glasses
is reflected through their stems.

Visual Dimensi ns
and later studied images of top photographers in fashion magazines.
“I loved pictures shot close-up, showing all of the details of the eye,
for example,” he said. “I thought, ‘I want to do that.’”
He said he is mesmerized by the colors in beautiful sunsets and the
shapes of passing clouds. “Most people, I think, just ignore them,” he
said. “But I can’t stop looking. I never get bored.”
Despite the beauty, there is also a beast. “After shooting a picture, there
is always a mess,” Al-Mumen said, explaining that waste water and color
is splattered everywhere in the shooting room at his home, much to his
wife’s annoyance. So, he recently moved his studio to a room on the roof.
Al-Mumen said, ultimately,
his photography is just a way
to make life more positive.
“As a photographer, I can
choose to capture only what is
beautiful and leave out the bad
parts of life,” he said.
He’d like to expand his photographic
horizons. For example,
< This is one of Al-Mumen’s first water
collision photographs, in which he
he thinks it would be fascinating
to photograph a bullet in orange-colored chocolate solution. He
dropped tiny water spheres into an
says he likes it because it evokes the
motion, a high-speed challenge stinging tail of a scorpion. He says the
that would require shutter speeds possible shapes are unlimited. Above,
a photo of Al-Mumen.
of about a millionth of a second.
But he’s pretty sure there
might be tricky legal problems along with the technical ones. ■
To see more of Mohammad Al-Mumen’s photographs, visit his website at
www.almumen.com
36 Saudi Aramco Dimensions

The Way We Were
The boy who would be president
From its earliest days, Saudi Aramco (originally
California-Arabian Standard Oil Co., or Casoc,
and then Arabian-American Oil Co., known as
Aramco) put a very high priority on training Saudi
nationals to do the company’s work. In this picture of
teacher Fahmi Basrawi and his students outside the Jabal
School in Dhahran in 1947, note the shortest kid in the
photograph (second from right), a little boy with a mischievous
grin holding a baseball. That’s Ali I. Al-Naimi,
a shepherd’s son from the Eastern Province who one
day became the first Saudi president and CEO of Saudi
Aramco, and who today is an influential leader in the
global petroleum industry as the Kingdom’s Minister of
Petroleum and Mineral Resources and chairman of Saudi
Aramco’s board of directors. Established by Aramco, the
Jabal School opened in 1944 with a class of 70 Saudis,
ages 8 to 18, recruited mainly in the nearby village of
al-Khobar for their intelligence and promise. It was the
company’s fourth school and first at Dhahran camp in
a permanent building, a converted bunkhouse. Students
at the Jabal School included mostly company office boys,
houseboys and waiters, and they split their time evenly
between working and attending class. Many of these
youngsters, like Ali Al-Naimi, went on to become scholars,
successful businessmen and Saudi Aramco senior
executives. Teacher Basrawi also organized baseball and
volleyball teams, launched the company’s first taxi service
and taught English, Arabic and arithmetic on the company’s
pioneering TV station. ■
Courtesy Saudi Aramco photo archive

Saudi Aramco Dimensions
Public Relations Department
East Administration Building, Room 2210-B
Dhahran 31311, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Aramco Scrapbook
A tail’s tale
>>Submit photos for Saudi Aramco Scrapbook (on disk, as photo print
or via e-mail) to Rick Snedeker, Saudi Aramco, East Administration
Building, Room 2210-B, Dhahran 31311, Saudi Arabia. Glossy
prints should be 8x10 inches if possible and digitals at least 300 dpi
and 8x10 size. E-mail: richard.snedeker@aramco.com
It took four-year Saudi Aramco
employee Abdullah Ali Al-
Abdullah, an administrative clerk
in Southern Area Oil Operations,
almost as long to shoot this picture as
it did one of the birds to grow its enormous
tail. Ali captured the image early
one morning at a park in Isfahan, Iran, in
December 2005, using a Nikon D70 digital
camera. “Taking the picture was no
easy matter,” Ali said. “It took me two to
three hours waiting quietly in the bushes
to capture the moment. The peacefulness
and harmony between the two birds
gave me such a serene feeling, and it
seemed to me that the smaller finch was
admiring the other bird’s gorgeous tail.”
Ali shot the photo with a 175-millimeter
focal length, shutter speed of one-60th
of a second and f-stop at 7.1. Ali said the
photo symbolized to him the idea that all
creatures, including birds, tend to covet in
others what they don’t have themselves.
Editor’s note: We were unable
to positively identify the bird
with the long tail, despite
contacting all the bird
experts we know, except to determine that it is an
“exotic.” If any readers can identify the lovely creature,
we would be most appreciative.