After 42 years of service with the company, senior drilling engineer consultant Iqbal Ahmed has retired. Iqbal, born in Amraoti, India, ended his career with Saudi Aramco in the Drilling and Workover Department in Dhahran. He started with the company in September of 1973, three years after he graduated with a B.S. electrical engineering degree from the NED Government Engineering College in Karachi. His first job was as an engineer with Drilling and Workover in Abqaiq, a role he carried out until 1977 when he was promoted to supervisor. In 1980, he was appointed general supervisor. From 1986 until his retirement, he worked in Dhahran with Drilling and Workover as a general supervisor, acting manager, and senior consultant. Iqbal described his long career with Saudi Aramco as rewarding. “I learned a lot, and I am still learning about the drilling business,” he said. “I made many friends and took part in several important and challenging projects to develop the Saudi Aramco oil fields.” Iqbal is married to Nighat Ahmed, and the couple have three children: Tariq (38), who works as a health, safety, and environment adviser in ‘Udhailiyah; Kamran (35), who resides in Houston, Texas, in the U.S., where he works as a doctor of internal medicine; and Sana (31), who works as a graphic designer in Chicago, Illinois, in the U.S. Iqbal and Nighat have three grandchildren: Saim (1¼), Saif (2) and Sumer (4 months). Iqbal's hobbies include badminton, fishing, working on mechanical equipment, Scrabble and social work. He was also president of the Saudi Aramco Employees Association (SAEA) in Dhahran for a total of eight years. Night enjoys cooking, home decoration and writing. “I have seen drilling operations grow from a six to eight rig operation to many more rigs today,” Iqbal said. “During the past four decades, I have seen Saudi Aramco experience four cycles of oil price fluctuation which caused the curtailing of operations. Kingdomwide, I witnessed the transformation of the roads network, highways, and infrastructure. All three of my children and one grandson were born and raised here. For us, this is home.” Warm wishes to Iqbal.