Please don't miss the boat. As our Hafla host writes to friends, "I hope that many of you who have not registered for the 2022 Hafla Cruise will do so early this week. It will be our first significant 'get-to-gather' in four years, and we do not want to forget our Aramco friends. We all lived, worked, and played together for many years.
Ali Al-Baluchi was born in the Arabian Peninsula soon after the unification of the Saudi kingdom. Against the backdrop of a conservative society confronting a rapidly increasing pace of modernization, he has witnessed and participated in decades of great social and economic change.
In early March, I had the pleasure of guiding the first-ever birdwatching tour of Saudi Arabia. The visit was organized by BirdTour Asia, one of the most preeminent companies catering to international birders in the region. Over the course of our six-day itinerary, the tour leaders, James Eaton and Rob Hutchinson, their British and American clients, and I recorded almost 170 species, 18 of which can only be found in Saudi Arabia or the wider region.
Day in and day out, our people show their commitment to delivering energy that the world needs, and even during the holy month of Ramadan, when many of our employees are fasting, that commitment never wavers. This work is crucial, making Aramco one of the most reliable suppliers of energy to the world, and an engine to the Kingdom’s economy.
This 25-centimeter alabaster disk, dating from the Akkadian period around 2300 BCE, shows what appears to be a temple ritual. Its principal figure is the woman second from left, who is identified on the reverse in Sumerian cuneiform characters that name her en hedu-anna, high priestess-ornament of heaven, wife of the god Nanna and daughter of the Akkadian King Sargon. It was found by English archeologist Sir Leonard Wooley in the mid-1920s.
The Holy month of Ramadan is the 9th month in the Hijri calendar. Since the Islamic year is 11 days shorter than the western Gregorian calendar, Ramadan moves ‘forward’ by that amount each year in comparison to our western months, making Ramadan, quite literally, a moveable feast!
Ali Al-Baluchi was born in the Arabian Peninsula soon after the unification of the Saudi kingdom. Against the backdrop of a conservative society confronting a rapidly increasing pace of modernization, he has witnessed and participated in decades of great social and economic change.
The American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA), an international engineering and scientific society dedicated to all aspects of rock mechanics, is growing its presence in the Middle East announcing King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) has become the first university in the region to establish a student chapter for geomechanics.
The Aramco Retiree Golf Group held their sixth overall and first 2022 event in Phoenix, Arizona at Sheraton Grand Wild Horse Pass Resort March 28 – April 1, 2022. It was a fun filled 5-days of activities including 3 rounds of golf at Whirlwind Troon Devils Claw and Cattail golf courses. The evenings included an “Ice Breaker” Monday night at the Sheraton Grand Lobby Bar area onsite...
Aramco Brat, Doug Grant, hosted a cocktail and dinner gala at the waterfront restaurant, Shrimpers Bar and Grill, in Port Salerno, Florida on April 20th. Nine Brats and one honorary Brat were in attendance.
Nicholas Reiersgard, DH 89-95 and 2003-2005, married Virginia London on April 1st, 2022 in Orlando, FL, where they make their home. Nicholas is the son of Dennis and Diane Reiersgard, DH 89-95 and 2003-2015.
The word transience often brings up ambivalent feelings for me. On one hand, while it is a word that has defined much of my life, and while it’s enthralling to get sucked into the excitement of change, the word transience is at its best bittersweet. When life feels transient, it’s impossible to create stability and predictability.
Ali Al-Baluchi was born in the Arabian Peninsula soon after the unification of the Saudi kingdom. Against the backdrop of a conservative society confronting a rapidly increasing pace of modernization, he has witnessed and participated in decades of great social and economic change.
A poem by Nimah Ismail Nawwab. Losing oneself...Can this ever happen...‘How can we lose ourselves?’ one asks.
Hooriya Naushad Shah, daughter of Engr. Syed Naushad Shah, celebrated her 10th birthday on April 5th. Hooriya is the granddaughter of Syed Yousaf Shah, Aramco Badge ID 71533.
From the southwest, Ronda's limestone ramparts are split by the Tajo, or gorge, spanned since 1793 by the picturesque "New Bridge." The water mine, tunneled in the 12th century down through 60 meters of rock from the plateau to the river's edge, lies around a bend beyond the bridge.
This article is inspired by a quote from Brian Tracy, "The greatest joys of life are happy memories. Your job is to create as many of them as possible.” and on an announcement by the Dhahran Inspection Department to submit abstracts for the “Inspection Department Technical Exchange Meeting and Exhibition 2005.”
Engr. Syed Naushad, youngest son of the late Syed Yousaf Shah (ARAMCO Badge #71533), was nominated as a focal person for “Sustainable Growth of IT Industry in Pakistan.” A memorandum of understanding between the Virtual University of Pakistan and the Pakistan software export board was signed at the Lahore Expo Center here in Lahore, Pakistan in March 2022.
This photo, taken in 1977, is of the Aramco Exploration Camp known as G3 and located deep in the Rub Al Khali. Every five or six weeks the newest (most junior) Aramco pilots were assigned to the G3 camp for a week at a time to fly oil exploration crews (usually four to six men) to their remote sites in the Aramco Twin Otter which was kept at the G3 base. This was actually pretty good duty.
In this piece, Mark Lowey relates an alarming incident in the early childhood of Bakhait Al Marri, son of a Bedouin gentleman who Mark met in 1979.