Dhahran

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Dhahran الظهران Dhahran الظهران Location in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Coordinates: 26°16′N 50°09′E / 26.267°N 50.150°E / 26.267; 50.150Coordinates: 26°16′N 50°09′E / 26.267°N 50.150°E / 26.267; 50.150 Country  Saudi Arabia Province Eastern Province Government  • Mayor Bandar Al-Subayi Area  • City 100 km2 (40 sq mi)  • Land 100 km2 (40 sq mi)  • Water 0 km2 (0 sq mi) Elevation 17 m (56 ft) Population (2012)  • City 138,135  • Metro 5,100,000 Time zone EAT (UTC+3) Postal Code 31261 Area code(s) +966-3

Dhahran (Arabic الظهران aẓ-Ẓahrān) is a city located in Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, and is a major administrative center for the Saudi oil industry. It forms part of the Dammam Metropolitan ; The Dammam metropolitan area, or greater Dammam, is the metropolitan area associated with the city of Ad Dammam, Eastern Province, and its suburbs. It is the area that is closely linked to the city through social, economic, and cultural ties. The Dammam metropolitan area: mainly known as greater Dammam, is the largest metropolitan area in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia formed by three main neighboring cities: Dammam, Dhahran, and Khobar these 3 respectable cities are sometimes referred to as the triplet cities. The metropolitan area of the triplet cities has an estimated population of 4,140,000 as of 2012. Greater Dammam also includes many other smaller cities such as: Al Qatif, Safwa, and Ras Tanura. The complete metropolitan area has an estimated population of 5,100,000; making it the 5th largest populated area in the Kingdom.

Large oil reserves were first identified in the Dhahran area in 1931, and in 1935, Standard Oil drilled the first commercially viable oil well. Standard Oil later established a subsidiary in Saudi Arabia called the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO), now fully owned by the Saudi government and known as Saudi Aramco. Dhahran has been Saudi Aramco's headquarters for 80 years and is its first and largest gated compound with over 9,700 residents. Employees and dependants of Aramco, known as Aramcons, have a tendency to use Dhahran to solely refer to the Aramco camp while using Khobar and/or Dammam to refer to the area outside the camp. The Saudi Aramco Residential Camp makes up most of the city of Dhahran today.

Geography

Dhahran is a short distance west of downtown Khobar. It is about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of Dammam. Both are older Saudi port cities on the coast of the Persian Gulf. Looking farther afield, Dhahran is northeast of Abqaiq, and southeast of Qatif and, further north, Ras Tanura, a major oil port. The island of Kingdom of Bahrain is also within easy driving distance to the east (about 20 miles (32 km)), across the King Fahd Causeway, from Khobar.

Geology

The patch of desert on which the city is built is hilly and rocky, and most of the earliest productive oil wells in Saudi Arabia were drilled in the area, such as Dammam Well #7: "Prosperity Well," the first commercially viable oil well in Saudi Arabia in the 1930s. This well is still in production 70 years later. This later led to the selection of two barren nearby hills as the place for Aramco to construct its headquarters.

The Dhahran-Dammam area is one of two regions, the other being Jeddah, that were selected as potential sites to build the first Saudi nuclear reactor.

Climate

Dhahran’s climate is characterized by hot, humid summers, and cold long winters. Temperatures can rise to more than 40 °C (100 °F) in the summer, coupled with extreme humidity (85–100 per cent), given the city’s proximity to the Persian Gulf. The highest recorded temperature in Dhahran is 51.1 °C (124.0 °F). In winter, the temperature rarely falls below −2 °C (28 °F), with the lowest ever recorded being −5 °C (23 °F) in January 1964. Rain falls almost exclusively between the months of November and May. The Shamal winds usually blow across the city in the early months of the summer, bringing dust storms that can reduce visibility to a few metres. These winds can last for up to six months.

On July 8, 2003, the dew point was 35 °C (95 °F) while the temperature was 42 °C (108 °F), resulting in a heat index of 68 to 71 °C (154 to 160 °F), one of the highest heat indexes in the world.

Climate data for Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °C (°F) 30.0 (86) 36.2 (97.2) 38.8 (101.8) 45.0 (113) 49.5 (121.1) 49.0 (120.2) 49.0 (120.2) 48.5 (119.3) 46.6 (115.9) 44.5 (112.1) 37.5 (99.5) 31.0 (87.8) 49.5 (121.1) Average high °C (°F) 20.8 (69.4) 22.3 (72.1) 25.6 (78.1) 32.4 (90.3) 38.7 (101.7) 41.7 (107.1) 43.3 (109.9) 42.4 (108.3) 40.3 (104.5) 35.6 (96.1) 28.9 (84) 23.2 (73.8) 32.93 (91.28) Daily mean °C (°F) 15.5 (59.9) 16.7 (62.1) 20.6 (69.1) 25.0 (77) 30.6 (87.1) 33.4 (92.1) 35.2 (95.4) 34.4 (93.9) 31.9 (89.4) 27.9 (82.2) 22.3 (72.1) 17.0 (62.6) 25.88 (78.58) Average low °C (°F) 10.2 (50.4) 11.5 (52.7) 14.7 (58.5) 19.7 (67.5) 24.6 (76.3) 27.5 (81.5) 28.9 (84) 28.7 (83.7) 25.6 (78.1) 22.0 (71.6) 17.1 (62.8) 12.4 (54.3) 20.24 (68.45) Record low °C (°F) −1.0 (30.2) 3.0 (37.4) 6.0 (42.8) 10.0 (50) 14.0 (57.2) 19.4 (66.9) 21.0 (69.8) 19.5 (67.1) 18.5 (65.3) 13.4 (56.1) 8.0 (46.4) 3.4 (38.1) −1 (30.2) Precipitation mm (inches) 17.7 (0.697) 15.2 (0.598) 35.3 (1.39) 3.5 (0.138) 1.2 (0.047) 0.0 (0) 0.0 (0) 0.0 (0) 0.0 (0) 0.3 (0.012) 18.6 (0.732) 15.7 (0.618) 107.5 (4.232) Avg. precipitation days 11.0 9.7 16.2 7.6 2.2 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.6 4.9 10.2 62.7  % humidity 73 68 60 55 43 34 36 44 53 60 64 66 54.7 Source #1: Hong Kong Observatory (1981–2000) Source #2: NOAA (extremes and humidity, 1961-1990)

History

Dhahran was settled after 1938, the year oil was discovered in the vicinity.

During WW II on 19 October 1940 Dhahran was struck by Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) as a part of Bombing of Bahrain, causing little damage. In 1950 Dhahran had a population of about 7,000 people. During the Gulf War, the city was the scene of the largest loss of life among coalition forces. On February 25, 1991, an Iraqi missile hit a U.S. Army barracks in the city, killing 28 American reservists from Pennsylvania.

Economy

IKEA store in Dhahran

Dhahran has the headquarters of Saudi Aramco. The company is the largest oil company in the world with the largest oil reserves in the world , and it produces about 10 million barrels of oil per day. Most of the oil is exported, since local Saudi needs require about 12 percent of the total production. (See: Saudi Aramco)

Seventy-seven years on, Dhahran is still Saudi Aramco's worldwide headquarters and the center of the company's finance, exploration, engineering, drilling services, medical services, materials supply and other company organisations.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Saudi Arabia

The population of Dhahran is mainly Saudi, but also includes many expatriates from Asian countries, such as Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines, as well as countries such as the United States, Canada, European countries, Turkey, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. There are also many non-Saudi Arab nationals living in Dhahran, such as Egyptians, Jordanians, Lebanese, Palestinians, Sudanese, and Syrians. According to a 2004 census the total population of the Dhahran municipality is 97,446.

Many companies that employ relatively large numbers of expatriates have built fenced-in compounds where only expatriates live, however the largest compound, the Saudi Aramco Residential Camp in Dhahran provides accommodation to many different nationalities. Although built originally to house only expatriate oil company employees (mainly Americans) and once thought to provide a degree of Western comfort and separation from the restrictions of Saudi and Islamic laws, the community today has shifted somewhat in line with the reduction of western residents into a multi-ethnic mosaic of Saudis, other Arab nationalities (e.g. Egyptian and Jordanian), Asians, Europeans, South Americans, Africans and Australasians. While only employees of Saudi Aramco live on the camp, their nationalities reflect those of the company as a whole. As of 2011, the Saudi Aramco workforce was 87% Saudi, with only 13% expatriates. There are also several neighborhoods, or suburbs just outside the main Saudi Aramco Camp, such as Doha Camp (حي الدوحه) and Dana Camp (حي الدانة), where Saudi Aramco gives home loans to Saudi employees to build their own homes.