The Unfenced Desert Towards a strategy for eco ... - Nwrc.gov.sa

Arabian Standard Oil Company), struck oil with Well No. 7 on the Damman Dome. It
soon became evident that Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province sat over the largest pool of oil
in the Middle East.
By the end of 1938 something less than half a million barrels of oil had been produced;
by 1944 annual production had increased to eight million barrels, reaching 60 million
barrels only two years later. Soon after WWII a joint venture between SOCAL and
Texaco created ARAMCO (Arabian-American Oil Company), and oil production was
increased in response to Saudi government urging for increased revenue.
Saudi Arabia entered a phase of rapid development that outpaced its share of oil
revenues, prompting a re-negotiation of the contract with ARAMCO. In December 1950
a new 50/50 agreement was signed, vastly increasing Saudi Arabia’s oil earnings. In June
1974 Saudi Arabia took a 60% share in ARAMCO, and in 1976, with proven reserves of
149 billion barrels - over a quarter of the world’s reserves - Saudi Arabia assumed
ownership of all ARAMCO assets and rights within the Kingdom. Today the proven
reserves have been estimated at around 300 billion barrels, nearly a third of the world’s
oil, and Saudi ARAMCO is fully Saudi owned and operated.
The impact on Saudi Arabia of the revenue generated by the sale of petroleum products
has been massive and sustained. At the peak of oil prices in 1981 Saudi Arabia was
making about U$3,000 a second from oil; the main contribution to a U$150 billion GDP.
Even today, a single day’s production of Saudi crude oil is sufficient for a car getting 25
mi/gallon to make 48 round trips between the Earth and Mars.
It should be remembered that the unprecedented expansion of infrastructure and
services in the last 50 or 60 years has affected a relatively small, culturally conservative
population, characterised by strong family and tribal allegiances, but united beneath the
umbrella of Islam, the precepts of which form the foundation of Saudi Arabian social
and justice systems, and govern the daily lives of all residents. The many benefits of
development, the improved transport and communications networks, increasing literacy
rates and expansion of the education system; improved health care and reduced infant
mortality, to name a few, have been accompanied by some almost inevitable
environmental costs.
In the pre-oil days the ability of humans to have an impact on natural resources was
limited by relatively low population densities, modest economic means, and a widespread
25