see pages 7-9

$ 70.92

APR. 27

70.74

MAY 4

73.48

MAY 11

75.40

MAY 18

76.26

MAY 25

OPEC basket five-week price trend 2018

70%is the time and cost reduction for unconventional wells achieved by the Unconventional Resources organization in recent years as a result of overall drilling optimization.

Saudi Aramco by the numbers

The Women Development and Diver-sity Division collaborates with Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare and Johns Hopkins Medicine International to bring back “A Woman’s Journey,” a knowledge sharing event for wom-en designed to empower women to make effective health care decisions for themselves and their families.

see page 6

‘A Woman’s Journey’ returns

internal auditing in the spotlight

see page 4see page 14

Joining internal audit organizations from around the globe, Saudi Aramco’s Internal Auditing celebrates the field’s awareness month to “raise awareness and show the company’s commitment toward enhancing the effectiveness of risk management and governance processes.”

Eleven-year-old Yasser Al Abbas recently made history by bringing home a high honor in international squash play with a bronze medal at the Norwegian Junior Open. Still, the Aramcon has his sights set on even bigger accomplishments.

a champion in the making

stimulating unconventional gas

Abdulhadi Al-Ajmi (seated), discusses an unconventional well pad near Haradh, with Ali Al Saihati (center) and Azmi Ruwaished. The company is accelerating its UR efforts with the signing of a contract with Halliburton to provide gas stimulation services, providing a strong affirmation of the company’s pursuit of unconventional gas to serve domestic power needs.

WaadAl-Shamal

Riyadh

Al HofufDammamJubailNorth Arabia

Jafurah BasinSouth

Ghawar

company’s strategy gathers steam on the cusp of its 85th anniversary

May 30, 2018 vol. LXXIII, No. 22 a weekly Saudi Aramco publication for employees

enhancing sustainability through collaboration

Participants network at the eighth annual meeting held at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center in Riyadh.

Maryam Al-Taher, a scientist in the Saudi Aramco Research and Development Center (R&DC), speaks about “Selective Aerobic Oxidation of Hydrocarbons Using NHPI-based Catalysts for Cetane Enhancement” during the eighth annual meeting of the Saudi Arabian Section of the Combustion Institute. Held at King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center in Riyadh, the meeting brought together more than 100 experts from institutions in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, and the U.S.

Mohammed Albuali, a scientist with the Saudi Aramco R&DC, delivers a presentation titled “Thermo-Neutral Reforming of Diesel for Auxiliary Power Unit Application.”

Alex Voice, a scientist at Aramco’s Detroit Research Center, delivers a presentation titled “Onboard Reforming for Improving Spark-Ignition Engine Efficiency.”

your voicelet us introduce ourselves to the world

The World Cup, which will kick off next month in Russia, is eagerly await-ed by tens of millions of football fans every four years, and this year, Saudi Arabia will play Russia in the opening match.

We must take advantage of this in-ternational opportunity to introduce ourselves to the whole world. Leading with good sportsmanship and good behavior, it is imperative that we be in our best form by showing our keen interest in this first match, which will be followed by millions of people on television. Hopefully, we achieve a good result in this important game and showcase our football abilities.

We can also do our part to explain

to the world what the Kingdom has achieved in the field of sport — not just soccer — and show them what we have done when participating in previ-ous international sports events.

Many countries make efforts and spend large sums of money to define to the world their name, culture, and heritage. We, as a Kingdom, can ben-efit from this international partnership to the fullest extent by displaying our attitude and our Islamic ethics in the treatment of others.

As we lead by example, so the world will see our true selves.

Perhaps the recent decision of the sports leadership in Saudi Arabia, which guarantees payment of all finan-

cial debts owed to the sports clubs out-side Saudi Arabia, is clear evidence that there are great efforts to prove that the sport here has support and interest of the highest level. This is the kind of thing we can boast to the whole world.

Let us take advantage of this game and this tournament, and show the world our beloved Kingdom by high-lighting our heritage, traditions, and our Saudi identity for the millions of people who will be watching — wheth-er it’s on the pitch or in the stands.

The role of our youth is important in this event, and their best efforts are re-quired to convey the beautiful image of our country, our people, and our glory.

Riyadh — Scientists from Saudi Aramco’s Research and Development Center (R&DC) recently organized the eighth annual meet-ing of the Saudi Arabian Section of the Combustion Institute.

The meeting, held at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) in Riyadh, brought together more than 100 experts from institutions in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, and the U.S. The theme of the meeting was “Clean and Efficient Utilization of Fuels for a Sustainable Future.” The meeting was jointly organized by KAPSARC and the King Abdullah Univer-sity of Science and Technology (KAUST).

As a leading global exporter of energy, Saudi Arabia has an important role to play in the development of technologies that promote and enhance sustainability. The es-tablishment of the Saudi Arabian Section in 2010 was central to this objective.

“Our local section actively supports the growth and development of the Kingdom’s young scientists,” said Kai Morganti, a sci-entist in the Saudi Aramco R&DC and sec-retary of the Saudi Arabian section. “These meetings provide a forum for networking with top researchers, disseminating knowl-edge, and promoting the role of combus-tion technology as a key pillar of sustainabil-ity.”

Improving the combustion community’s understanding of fuel engine interactions is also central to Saudi Aramco’s efforts to improve energy efficiency in the transport sector. Accordingly, the activities of the Sau-di Arabian Section are endorsed by R&DC manager Ammar A. Al-Nahwi.

environmental and social sustainability

The growing global demands for energy and environmental sustainability pose tre-

by Kai Morganti

Your Voice reflects the thoughts and opinions of the writer, and not necessarily those of the publication.

by Mohammed K. Al Dossary

Dhahran

Mohammed.Dossary.16@aramco.com

mendous challenges and opportunities for the combustion research community.

“There is no one-fit-for-all solution to ad-dress these challenges,” said Hong Im, pro-fessor at KAUST and chairman of the Saudi Arabian Section.

Instead, synergistic integration of conven-tional and emerging technologies, including renewables, will be essential in delivering solutions that are both environmentally and socially sustainable. “I am proud to be part of the many world-class researchers in the Kingdom who will lead these efforts,” said Im.

Sustainability was the recurring theme in the three invited lectures at this year’s meet-ing. Sylvain Côté, program director for Ener-gy Demand, Efficiency, and Productivity at KAPSARC, discussed the challenges and op-portunities associated with the transition to renewable energy in the Kingdom. Among these, Côté highlighted the need for target-ed policy action by the government to help alleviate an anticipated skills gap.

“Although the emerging renewable ener-gy sector is expected to provide new jobs, it is equally important to recognize the lim-itation and reflect on the adjustment and reform efforts needed. If not, the current labor mismatch could represent a lost op-portunity for the upcoming young Saudi population,” said Côté.

Anvita Arora, program director for Trans-port and Urban Infrastructure at KAPSARC, discussed strategies for environmentally and socially sustainable urban transport systems.

“Our research is closely aligned with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and the National Transportation Strategy, which seeks to re-duce domestic dependence on oil while cre-ating smart and sustainable cities through-out the Kingdom,” said Arora.

The final invited lecture was delivered by Dimitrios Kyritsis, professor and chairman of

the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Khalifa University in the UAE. His lecture highlighted the role of carbon capture in addressing the climate challenge, while also unlocking additional petroleum resources when used for enhanced oil recovery.

“This technology has already been de-ployed in the Kingdom, with approximately 800,000 tons of carbon dioxide captured and stored each year,” said Kyritsis. “Car-bon capture and storage can enhance sus-tainability on a large-scale.”

Saudi Aramco scientists participate

The eighth annual meeting was held over two days. In total, 49 presentations were made across the six different technical sessions. Five of these presentations were delivered by scientists from the R&DC in Dhahran, and two by members of Aramco’s Detroit Research Center. The presentations discussed Saudi Aramco’s ongoing research into improving energy utilization in the transport sector, increasing efficiency, and carbon management.

In addition to the technical sessions, the meeting featured a work in progress poster presentation session.

a short history of The Combustion Institute

The Combustion Institute was founded in 1954. Its purpose is to promote and dissem-inate research into combustion science and engineering. It serves as the parent organi-zation for approximately 30 local sections around the world, including Saudi Arabia. The local section was founded in 2010 with about 30 members. Today, it has grown to more than 140 members. Among other ac-tivities, the local section coordinates meet-ings and workshops on various aspects of combustion, sustainability, and energy con-version science.

In its eight-year history, the Saudi Arabian Section has grown in size and stature. “The section now has more than 140 members in-Kingdom,” says Maryam Al Taher, a sci-entist in the Saudi Aramco R&DC and co-or-ganizer of this year’s meeting.

In recent years, the local meetings have also been attracting greater participation from high-profile international researchers.

“This reflects favorably on the standard of research undertaken in the Kingdom,” said Al Taher. “We expect the growth in both local and international participants will con-tinue its upward trajectory in the future.”

May 30, 2018

2 company news

contract signing a key link to critical Haradh Increment’s success

technology and project management themes explored at 2018 Contractors Exchange Conference

Dhahran — Saudi Aramco last week awarded a contract for a permanent com-munications system serving its Haradh In-crement to Networks & System Integration S.A. Co. Ltd. (NESIC Saudi Arabia) as part of Saudi Aramco’s gas compression program in Haradh and Hawiyah.

During a ceremony in Dhahran, Fahad E. Al-Helal, Saudi Aramco vice president of Project Management, signed the contract, which involves engineering, procurement, and construction of permanent commu-nications infrastructure and services. This includes supervisory control and data ac-quisition – remote terminal unit systems and a backbone connection to support the operation of the nine new gas compression plants, seven liquid separation stations, and

Fahad E. Al-Helal, Saudi Aramco vice president of Project Management, and Hiroshi Katayanagi, executive director of Networks and System Integration Saudi Arabia Co. Ltd. (NESIC), pose with Fahad Ammari, general manager of Upstream Project Management for Saudi Aramco (left), and Saleh Al Shabeeb, NESIC Sales and Marketing manager (right), following a contract signing for a permanent communications system serving the Haradh Increment.

Nayyef M. Algosaibi, (third from right), a project manager at PMT, moderates a panel discussion of major issues with (from right) Abdulrahman I. Al-Warthan, acting general manager for Community Infrastructure and Public Projects; Mohammed D. Al-Shammari, manager of the Contracting Department; Osama Al Afaleq, chairman of the Saudi Contractors Authority; Abdullah A. Al-Ghamdi, manager of the Loss Prevention Department; and Gordon Ronaldson, senior vice president of Wood Mustang Hejailan. (Photos: Mohammed AlShaikh/MPD)

Abdulah S. Al-Seflan, an engineer in the Project Management Office Department, serves as master of ceremonies at the Contractor Exchange Conference held recently in Dhahran.

Al-Khobar — At an event designed to help strengthen and modernize the Saudi construction industry, Saudi Aramco recent-ly hosted the 2018 Contractors Exchange Conference in al-Khobar.

The conference was organized by the Project Management Office Department (PMOD), which is a service organization supporting all project management depart-ments during a project’s life cycle. PMOD provides project control and estimating, guidance, and governance services to sup-port successful project planning and execu-tion.

The event, which was attended by more than 400 project management profession-als and executives from local and regional contracting companies, followed the theme “Deploying Technology for Effective Project Execution.” Its purpose was to strengthen the company’s partnerships with construc-tion contractors and to create a platform to enhance communication between technol-ogy providers to meet the challenges faced by the industry.

The alignment of Saudi Vision 2030 for economic development and the company’s iktva program allows the company to leverage its capital spending to favor contracting companies that locate their manufacturing and service businesses in the Kingdom and that use technology to improve safety, cost-effectiveness, and

by Scott Baldaufreliability.

In addition to key speakers from Sau-di Aramco, experts from the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) in-dustry shared a range of new technologies that can have dramatic impacts on safety and cost-effectiveness in the construction industry. The event also included a panel discussion, an exhibition by 10 technology providers, and a signing ceremony of new contracts and purchase agreements for the procurement, construction, and pre-com-missioning of projects.

emerging technologies and safety standards

In delivering opening remarks, Motaz A. Al Mashouk, general manager of Saudi Aramco Project Management, said: “This year, we are focusing on emerging technol-ogies in project and construction execution. It presents an opportunity for our local in-dustry to rapidly advance its competitive-ness and capabilities. These advances will help transform the in-Kingdom construction industry, providing increased highly skilled career paths for Saudi citizens.”

Bader F. Al-Qadran, executive director of Safety and Industrial Security for Saudi Ar-amco, urged the attendees to maintain the highest safety standards. He emphasized that contracting companies and Saudi Ar-amco are on the same team as they work to

complete construction projects, adding that it is in their mutual interest to communicate with each other on safety issues and be vig-ilant on safety practices.

With a long history of managing me-ga-projects — some of which are larger in scale than anything else in the world — Saudi Aramco has long been a major cus-tomer for construction companies, and its success in creating value for the Kingdom depends heavily on the ability of its con-tracting EPC companies. New technologies present an opportunity for bringing greater efficiency and control into the construction

industry, and to develop the kind of teamwork that will help both Saudi Aramco and its partners to reach their business objectives.

sharing expertiseAmong the Saudi Aramco sub-

ject matter experts who gave presentations were:

• Rafat F. Al-Sharif, field compliance co-ordinator for the Project Management Sup-port Services Department, who spoke on “The Five Pillars of Worker Well-Being”

• Maria M. Al-Ali, a contract adviser with PMOD, who provided a glimpse into the future of mega-projects and increments scheduled for the next three years

• Nabeel A. Al-Ibrahim, general supervi-sor of the Projects System Support Division in PMOD, who gave a presentation on the

company’s new Enterprise Project Manage-ment system

• Isaac Aguilar, an engineer in the Con-sulting Services Department, gave a presen-tation on the nonmetallic business strategy and deployment in Saudi Aramco.

Executives from engineering firms, con-struction contractors, and technology pro-viders also participated in the conference, with a variety of presentations highlighting some of the proven implementation of tech-nologies in the projects. Among the topics included, were presentations on building in-formation modeling, a nonmetallic technol-ogy for use on pipelines, a modular struc-tural steel system, rapid impact compaction, and machine control.

Meanwhile, technology providers and participants used the conference network-ing sessions to establish communications and discuss possible collaborations to have these technologies implemented in the proj-ects.

PMOD also utilized the conference to award the high-performing contractors in well-being, safety, quality, and overall per-formance. At the end of the conference, six agreements totaling approximately SR2.5 billion were signed with four construction contractors for the procurement, construc-tion, and pre-commissioning of four proj-ects, in addition to two purchase agree-ments with two vendors to supply pipes for gas compression projects.

three operational support and administra-tion areas.

“Expanding natural gas production and supply is central to key Saudi Aramco objec-tives, including diversifying the Kingdom’s energy mix and reducing dependence on oil for domestic needs — such as power gener-ation — with a clean energy source,” Al-He-lal said. “This contract is in line with these goals, and in addition to the environmental implications, it will support the nation’s in-dustrial growth.

“The Permanent Communications System project will enhance the Haradh Increment Program, which is a catalyst for economic development by increasing total gas pro-duction by more than 1 billion standard cu-bic feet per day,” he added.

the arabian sun

3company news

company shines spotlight on internal auditing

IT workshops highlight innovation, excellence

Internal audit organizations around the world, including Saudi Aramco Internal Auditing (IA), are celebrating Internal Au-dit Awareness Month this May with events and activities to promote the importance of the profession for good business and gov-ernance.

To help spread the word, IA launched an online introductory course about internal auditing for the company’s employees.

Mohammed O. Al Subaie, Saudi Aram-co general auditor, views the International Internal Audit ing Awareness Month “as a s ignif icant oppor tuni t y and unique event that raises awareness and shows the com-pany’s commitment toward enhancing the effectiveness of r isk management and governance processes.”

independence and objectivityThe Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) de-

fines internal auditing as “an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an or-ganization’s operations. It helps an organi-zation accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic and disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes.”

Because independence and objectivity are essential ingredients for the internal audit-ing function, organizational independence and individual objectivity require that in-ternal auditors not engage in activities that would impair their objectivity, or have any direct operational responsibility or authority over any of the activities they review.

Accordingly, IA shall not implement inter-nal controls for the entities it audits, devel-op their procedures, install their systems,

prepare their records, or engage in any ac-tivity that may otherwise impair their judg-ment. However, it can work with its client in a consulting capacity.

assurance and advisory servicesThe scope of IA encompasses assurance

and advisory services provided to the com-pany, its subsidiaries, and as applicable, its joint ventures. As such, Saudi Aramco IA provides two major distinct services:

• Assurance services: These are regular audits of the internal control environment of operational areas, processes, and sys-tems to provide an appraisal of the state of internal controls in the areas audited.

• Advisory services: These are value add-ed consulting services that leverage IA professionals’ knowledge of company op-erations, corporate governance, risks, and controls to enhance operational capabilities and strengthen the control environment.

Beside these two main services, IA also reviews possible irregular activities beyond the scope of normal audits.

true professionalsExcellence in the IA function depends

on its professionals. Therefore, internal auditors’ professional certifications, which are monitored as an IA organizational key performance indicator, represent the sig-nature for Saudi Aramco internal auditors’ commitment to the profession and their comprehensive com-petence and profes-sionalism.

“As 80% of its staff are certified professionals, Inter-nal Auditing Man-agement encour-ages its employees to obtain and maintain internationally rec-ognized professional certifications such as Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified In-

formation Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Informa-tion Systems Security Professional (CISSP), and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE),” said Monira T. AlRammah, a former Pricewater-houseCoopers (PwC) employee who holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and is cur-rently preparing for her CIA certificate.

committed to professionalism and our core values

“Internal Auditing always receives the question ‘Who audits the auditors?’” says Waheed Alkahtani, leader of the Advisory Services Group. IA conducts internal quality assessments, is subjected to external qual-ity assurance reviews by the profession’s governing body, the Institute of Internal Auditors, performs p e r i o d i c g l o b a l benchmarking and re ce i ve s pe r fo r-mance evaluations by company man-agement and clients.

L i ke many o r-ganizations in the company, IA has committed to the company’s core values and works to exhibit the highest level of professional objectivity in the performance of its work, adds val-ue to the organization, and improves client satisfaction.

To learn more about IA and to familiar-ize yourself with the structure and role of IA within Saudi Aramco, employees are highly encouraged to register and to take the online course, which can be found in the link below, visit the Advisory Services Group (ASG) ShareK page, call +966-13-874-7568, or email:

AuditAdvisoryservices@exchange.aram-co.com.sa

ht tp: / / tdon l ine /Cata log / Tra in ing -Catalog/CourseContents .aspx?tab=-CAT&page=CourseInfo&BET=40100995

Mohammed O.Al Subaie

Waheed Alkahtani

Monira T. AlRammah

Dhahran — The first of a series of work-shops that will take place this year to re-view and improve Information Technology (IT) core and corporate business processes was held last month in Dhahran.

Working to the requirements laid out in the IT Operational Excellence Unified Manual, the recent workshop completed an annual review cycle and used the cor-porate assessments findings to identify improvement opportunities for core and corporate business processes.

Yousef A. Al-Ulyan, vice president of In-formation Technology with Saudi Aramco, addressed the inaugural workshop, say-ing implementing Operational Excellence (OE) achieved significant cost savings and avoidance benefits across IT last year.

“We should aspire to view the OE pro-

critical IT business processes. Al Doulab complimented IT staff on their

high commitment, saying it enabled IT to publish in 2016 the first edition of unified and standardized corporate business pro-cesses in the IT Operational Excellence Uni-fied Manual.

“Now that we’re aligned and speak the same language, we can share our best practices and success stories to improve our business in all IT departments,” Al Doulab said.

Moraya Gahtani, head of the Technical Services/Operational Business Services OE Support Division, said streamlining generic processes across IT provided for a consis-tent workflow across its deployment infra-structure and reflected “in-depth utiliza-tion of the operational excellence system in managing and executing daily activities.”

benchmarking and assessingAhmed Al-Zahrani, an IT OE represen-

tative, said in the workshop that IT teams performed an internal benchmarking ses-sion to share their best practices to achieve the next level of performance. He said that five IT departments are scheduled for OE corporate assessments this year, and IT is hosting an OE Forum as a platform for high performing Saudi Aramco orga-nizations to share their best practices and successful journey to win OE President Awards.

Adel S. Al Doulab speaks about Operational Excellence (OE) at the first in a series of workshops designed to review and improve Information Technology (IT) and corporate business processes. In the workshops, IT teams discussed the major observations of the previous IT OE Corporate Assessments and agreed on action plans to close the gaps at the admin area level.

gram as a golden opportunity to achieve ever higher levels of excellence,” Al-Ulyan said.

journey toward excellenceComparing Saudi Aramco’s OE program

to a train with a destination of excellence, Al-Ulyan said IT decided to board the train “because we truly believe that it will bring us closer to our innovation goals.”

Since IT began its journey toward excel-lence more than two years ago, its depart-ments have exceeded their OE targets.

Corporate Business Applications Depart-ment manager Adel S. Al Doulab said the OE success of IT was achieved through establishing strategic partnerships with the OE and the Organization Consulting departments to streamline 20 of the most

does your department need a checkup?

Tower R-505

Dhahran, Saudi Arabia 31311

966-13-874-7568 or email

AuditAdvisoryservices@exchange.aramco.com.sa

Contact Internal Auditing Advisory Services to

learn how to improve your organization health

Internal Auditing

May 30, 2018

4 company news

Reece Baylis spearheaded the main presentation to management of NGPD relative to the overall status of the department’s progress and compliance of corporate SMS elements.

the Qomama Initiative:targeting the root cause of plastic pollution

Do you know the amount of litter that blows across our landscape and the number of people required to tidy it up, or do you walk or drive by without a second thought?

What about the industrial-scale fly tipping (i.e., illegal dumping) alongside our roads? Is this acceptable or crimi-nal? Do you make the effort to sep-arate recyclable rubbish at home? And if you do, do you know where it goes?

As a part of the CEO’s volunteerism campaign launched in December 2017, a Qomama (Arabic for trash) Initiative began to ask these questions and ad-dress these issues. These issues are global in nature, and by targeting the causes rather than the symptoms, the Qomama Initiative aspires to make a real difference in Saudi Arabia.

actions and plansIts first action was to assemble more

than 120 volunteers from 12 interested organizations (including Mutawa Hold-ings, Tamimi, the Saudi Aramco Sanita-tion Department, Johns Hopkins Aram-co Healthcare, the Society of Petroleum Engineers, and the Society of Advocates and Volunteers for the Environment, among others) to pick up the mass of litter discarded alongside Old Abqaiq Road. In just over an hour, volunteers collected more than 300 bags of litter (mainly plastic bags and bottles), which are not only unsightly but also threaten the health of plants, animals, and eco-systems. But as they did so, they were asked to think about the causes of this issue rather than the symptoms.

As a result, the Qomama Initiative’s tasks include the following:

• Over the short term, the initiative volunteers will request retail outlets (i.e., minimarts, supermarkets, hyper-

by Richard H. Bodington

green matters

markets, etc.) to provide incentives for cus-tomers to reduce their plastic use by 25% to 50%.

• Over the medium term, volunteers will work with a network of schools and local authorities to promote recycling improve-ments in the Eastern Province.

• Over the longer term, volunteers will support work to identify sustainable com-mercial waste management solutions for the nation.

There is widespread enthusiasm for these actions that address plastic contamination. In fact, this year’s Earth Day (April 22) fea-tured the theme Ending Plastic Pollution for 2018.

According to Earth Day Network — the nonprofit that organizes Earth Day events and themes — ending plastic pollution means creating support for global efforts to eliminate single-use plastics along with uniform regulation for the disposal of plas-tics.

Earth Day’s 2018 goals reflect both Saudi Aramco’s and the Qomama Initiative’s ef-forts to encourage the frugal use of plastic and to recycle and re-use wherever possi-ble, especially plastics.

everyone can make a differenceDoes that mean you, as an individual,

can make a difference? Absolutely it does. Even small efforts such as avoiding the

excessive use of disposable cups, plates, or utensils, forgoing plastic bags for reusable ones, and recycling as much as possible can protect terrestrial and marine environ-ments. To succeed, everyone must play a role — from educating people about the health and environmental risks associated with the excessive use and improper dis-posal of plastics to getting out there in vol-unteer groups and picking up trash in our communities.

Just consider that floating plastic bags can kill marine animals that mistake them for food, while plastic bags buried in land-fills can take as long as 700 years to de-compose — that’s right, seven centuries!

The Qomama Initiative will continue to curb plastic pollution through its short-, medium- and long-term goals, but there is always room for more volunteers. If you would like to volunteer to be a part this movement and make a lasting transforma-tion to the Kingdom, call the Qomama Ini-tiative hotline at +966-050-075-8983.

“green matters” is a regular column offered by the Environmental Protection Department highlighting challenges and potential solutions to some of the most pressing environmental issues of the day.

NGPD employees recognized for safety stridesAbqaiq — The North Ghawar Producing

Department (NGPD) recently recognized several employees during its quarterly Safety Management Committee in Abqaiq.

Among the categories recognized in-cluded near miss reporting, employee sug-gestions, off-the-job safety, innovations, bus utilizations, and stop-work permit is-suers. The department also recognized the best performing divisions and units under NGPD.

Abdulmajeed Al-Dirbas, an engineer with the Quality Assurance Group, deliv-ered a presentation highlighting safety tips while driving during the month of Rama-dan.

Al-Dirbas emphasized that among the causes of traffic accidents during Rama-dan is fatigue, and he urged the attendees to ensure that they get enough sleep the night before driving long distances.

Others recognized at the meeting includ-ed Ali Al-Wayil for innovation, Jassim Al-Obud for innovation, Abdullah Al-Sham-mary for earning the highest score among

by Genesis Monterde NGPD’s Operational Excellence Process owners, and Ali Al-Zuabi for being among one of the top users of the bus.

Reece Baylis, a safety management co-ordinator with Quality Assurance, spear-headed the presentations, depicting the current status of the department’s overall safety standing and compliance.

The presentation covered the depart-ment’s implementation performance for all 11 Safety Management System (SMS) ele-ments. The department’s safety goals and objectives, safety action plan, and critical items were also reviewed by the element champions and process owners.

Mohammad Binjalalah from the Engi-neering Division presented the depart-ment’s technical alerts status for the quarter. The department has successfully completed technical alerts from both the Consulting Services and the Loss Preven-tion departments.

Currently, NGPD has exceeded expecta-tions and surpassed the previous year’s re-cords in terms of compliance to the major corporate SMS elements for this quarter.

Interested in volunteering with the Qomama Initiative? Contact the hotline at +966-050-075-8983

”the arabian sun

5company news

by Lisa Stephens

Dhahran — In April, the Women Devel-opment and Diversity Division (WD&DD), along with Johns Hopkins Aramco Health-care (JHAH) and Johns Hopkins Medicine International (JHI), collaborated to host “A Woman’s Journey” in Saudi Arabia for the second time.

The event provided knowledge sharing of innovative advancements in health-care by Johns Hopkins physicians and scientists to over 330 women in our com-munity. The informative event has helped empower women to make effective health care decisions for themselves and their family members.

Nabeel A. Al-Jama’, vice president of Human Resources with Saudi Aramco, re-inforced the importance of the event.

“Human Resources is proud to host ‘A Woman’s Journey’ for the second year,” said Al-Jama’.” This collaboration be-tween JHI and JHAH specifically focused on women’s health and well-being. The event not only featured excellent keynote speakers but also showcased the latest advances in medical science that are lead-ing to healthier lives.

“Human Resources is a strong advo-cate for female development, as well as employee health and well-being. We are pleased to be part of this unique event and to help celebrate and share the many achievements in this important field,” Al-Jama’ said.

Pamela Paulk, president of JHI, ex-plained how the event came to Saudi Arabia.

“I personally became involved in “A Woman’s Journey” in 1999. After I be-came president of JHI three years ago, I immediately said that we should take this to Saudi Arabia. While it is promising to see changes that will benefit women in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, there are still cultural and other restrictions that influ-ence access, quality, and outcomes of health care for women in the Kingdom,” said Paulk. “I wanted to introduce this event to the Kingdom because I strongly believe women everywhere need a trust-ed source of health information to stay well-informed of advances in medicine for themselves and for their families.”

Lamah Al-Khayyal, acting head of the Women Development and Diversi-ty Division, opened the event, saying: “Throughout my career, I have attended many events covering women’s topics, but I have yet to come across an event that is as truly important as this — wom-en’s health.

“Whether you plan to raise a family, support a friend, or run a business, the most important thing is your health. This is why we are here today,” she added.

The two-day event highlighted three doctors and their relevant fields of re-search. Aruna Rao, M.B.B.S., M.D., pre-sented “Getting a Good Night’s Sleep,” Felicia Hills-Briggs, Ph.D., facilitated “Staying Well,” and Wen Shen, M.D., M.P.H., discussed “Hormones throughout the Lifespan.”

getting enough sleepAs part of her presentation, Dr. Rao

polled the audience of more than 200 women, with only four indicating they get enough sleep.

diversity@work

As Saudi Aramco continues to grow, our workforce becomes more diverse. Embracing diversity and working toward inclusion requires role models who are willing to champion inclusion.

‘A Woman’s Journey’ returns to Kingdom

“Sleep should be protected, prioritized, and monitored just like diet, exercise, and mental health,” Dr. Rao said, adding that women and men alike tend to forget to prioritize the vital need to have high qual-ity sleep for the right number of hours a night.

Dr. Rao recommended that people over the age of 16 should sleep seven to nine hours every day, adding, “If you are sleeping fewer or more hours, something needs to change.”

She recommends people try to work with their circadian clock (which is the clock in our body that naturally wants to go to sleep or wake up). There are many things a person can do if they are not feel-ing well rested, but her first suggestion was to work on your “sleep hygiene.”

To do so, consider the following:• Stop caffeine intake by 2 p.m.• Try not to nap during the day, as this

can conflict with your circadian clock and Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep

• Exercise during the day or in the early evening. Exercising late at night can cause you to have more energy.

• Create an evening routine that eases into sleep

• Turn media off two hours before you plan to go to sleep. The light and the content can negatively impact your sleep quality.

• Make sure you aren’t hungry and ha-ven’t just eaten a large meal

• Make sure the bedroom is dark, cool, and quiet

• If you need noise to fall asleep, try us-ing white noise

• If you worry late at night, try to set a time of day to write down your to-do list

and thoughts. These thoughts can inhibit you from falling asleep.

• If you wake up in the middle of the night, do not look at your clock or social media.

heart disease and diabetesDr. Hills-Briggs discussed two chronic

illnesses that are afflicting females in Sau-di Arabia and around the globe — heart disease and diabetes.

She shared with the audience her per-sonal story. She was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 9. Over the past 40 years, this difficulty has inspired her research and motivated her life choices.

“I have learned the power of self-man-agement and lifestyle balance, and I have had the opportunity, through my research and population health initiatives, to see countless others empowered toward health,” she said.

Dr. Hills-Briggs also noted that the No. 1 cause of women’s death worldwide is heart disease, and one of every eight women in Saudi Arabia has diabetes. She added that these negative statistics can be reduced by making lifestyle changes that can help women and men.

Dr. Hill-Briggs recommends:• All women need to know their car-

dio metabolic health status. This includes body mass index, blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol. (To make an ap-pointment to receive your cardio meta-bolic health status, speak with your gen-eral practitioner at JHAH.)

• Try the Dash Diet. This diet is rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fiber, and oily fish, and is ranked as the No. 1 diet by the U.S. News eight years in a row.

• Participate in physical activity every single day. Studies show a brisk 30-min-ute walk daily will help you maintain your cardio metabolic health status.

• Prevention of weight gain is as im-portant as weight loss. As we age, weight can creep on. If you are not actively trying to lose weight but are seeking to main-tain your current weight, weigh yourself daily.

• People with pre-diabetes have options and programs available to them to help reduce their chances of getting diabetes. Johns Hopkins offers a program in Balti-more that is also available online. For in-formation, call the international patients line at +1-410-502-7683.

gains and losses as you ageDr. Shen presented on “Hormones

throughout the Lifespan.” “Don’t moan about what you’re losing

(as you age). Be empowered by what you gain — all of the knowledge and wisdom that life has given you,” Dr. Shen said.

She noted, however, that once women begin the transitional period of meno-pause known as perimenopause, other chronic diseases become more prevalent. Many women believe that after they ex-perience menopause, they no longer need regular checkups, but this is not the case. Dr. Shen insisted that women con-tinue to see their general practitioner and gynecologist yearly as they continue to age throughout their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Dr. Shen recommends that as soon as your body begins to transition, hormone therapy should be considered, as it can help support the body through the tran-sition and fight against osteoporosis, dia-betes, and heart disease.

appreciation Audience members appreciated the

timely advice. One woman who works for JHAH and suffers from insomnia said she came to the event to learn more about hormones and sleep. “I have tried every-thing, including Dr. Rao’s suggested rou-tine,” the woman said. “After attending today, I realize I should have a sleep eval-uation.”

Debora S. Marques, a scientist from Saudi Aramco’s Research and Develop-ment Center, expressed her gratitude. ‘A Woman’s Journey’ was very helpful and informative,” she said. “It was a unique opportunity to listen and ask questions to top professionals in the main medi-cal fields regarding women’s health. It is great that Saudi Aramco is bringing this opportunity to its female employees.”

“A Woman’s Journey” began in Mary-land in 1995 and now reaches audiences in Florida, Washington, D.C., Bermuda, and Saudi Arabia with the intent of shar-ing medical advice with women in a casu-al setting that encourages conversations and questions.

The Women Development and Diversi-ty Division, part of the Management and Professional Development Department, works to strengthen the female devel-opment pipeline while also building a respectful ecosystem that embraces di-versity. For more information on growth opportunities, email DiversityPrograms@Exchange.Aramco.com.sa.

Nabeel A. Al-Jama’ speaks with Pamela Paulk before presenting her with an award for bringing “A Woman’s Journey” to the Kingdom. “I wanted to introduce this event to the Kingdom because I strongly believe women everywhere need a trusted source of health information to stay well-informed of advances in medicine for themselves and for their families,” Paulk said.

Dr. Felicia Hills-Briggs speaks at the “A Woman’s Journey” event in Dhahran as Dr. Wen Shen and Dr. Aruna Rao listen. The two-day event highlighted the three doctors speaking in length on their relevant fields of research, including the importance of sleep, maintaining good health as we age, and hormones throughout life.

May 30, 2018

6 company news

stimulating unconventional gas

The learning curve has been sharp, but the rewards are clear. This program benefits not only the company, but the country. Saudi Aramco’s UR program is taking big strides toward full-fledged development. A well completion crane located in the South Ghawar field. South Ghawar is one of three major targets for Unconventional Resources teams to find and produce gas to meet local demand for power.

company’s strategy gathers steam on the cusp of its 85th anniversary

On May 27, on the cusp of the company’s 85th anniversary, Saudi Aramco took a bold step toward delivering on its long-term strategy to increase gas supply in the Kingdom.

By signing the Unconventional Gas Stimulation Services contract with Halliburton earlier this week, the company is moving forward to tap unconventional resources, while further improving the economics of the program.

The contract signing ceremony, attended by Amin Nasser, Saudi Aramco president and CEO, and Jeff Miller, president and CEO of Halliburton, is a strong affirmation of the company’s pursuit of unconventional gas to serve domestic needs.

In developing unconventional gas resourc-es, Saudi Aramco can help to substitute crude oil and other liquid fuels typically used for power generation. The company’s Un-conventional Resources Program is also fully aligned with Saudi Vision 2030, as the in-creased production of gas would spur new industrial sectors. The additional feedstock would support local chemical industry devel-opment, along with economic development and manufacturing of petrochemical prod-ucts for various industries.

Local goods and services produced in these new manufacturing plants will not only create new employment opportunities, but also will go a long way toward meeting the company’s commitment to strengthen-ing the Saudi economy, through its In King-dom Total Value Add (iktva) program.

Nasser said the company has made rapid strides in recent years to develop the King-dom’s unconventional resources.

“With this contract formalized today with Halliburton, we enter the important next phase of achieving our gas expansion objec-tives,” Nasser said. “Halliburton has been a reliable provider of products, services, and technologies to our company for many de-cades. We welcome their expertise in un-conventional resources, and we have great confidence in our joint ability to achieve operational and cost efficiencies for this im-portant growth area.”

Mohammed Y. Qahtani, Saudi Aramco se-nior vice president of Upstream said: “This contract includes a strong component to support our iktva program as a developing Saudi labor force, and developing and uti-lizing local suppliers is vital to the success of this project.”

The contract with Halliburton is just the latest of many milestones in Saudi Aramco’s efforts in moving from vision to reality in the unconventional resources arena. Earlier this month, the company kicked off the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) with Amec Foster Wheeler in Reading, U.K. for the de-velopment of surface facilities in the Jafurah

and South Ghawar fields, which includes compression and gas plant facilities.

meeting domestic power needs

The Unconventional Resources (UR) program reflects the com-

pany’s commitment to meet the increased demand forecast for

power and water desalina-tion in the Kingdom — and

to do so by reducing the use of liquid fuels, and

the switch to gas helps to reduce emissions. By pursuing unconventional gas resourc-

es development, Saudi Aramco can shift its crude oil and liquids to other industrial segments, including crude to chemicals. Gas would also provide a much needed sustain-able and cleaner energy source to support Saudi Vision 2030 industrial projects. Cur-rent efforts are focused on shale gas and tight sand plays across three focused areas — North Arabia, South Ghawar, and the Ja-furah Basin.

Results on initial exploration in these re-gions have been encouraging, with signif-icant potential world-class gas resources in-Kingdom.

“Building on three crucial pillars of a sound de-risking strategy, a fit-for-purpose business model, and the building of capa-bilities in people and technology, the com-pany’s UR development team has made significant achievements over the past few

years. In areas such as the Jafurah Basin, the team has discov-ered new ways to dramatically reduce drilling and stimu-lation cost, while at the same time increas ing wel ls ’ productivity several fold,” said Khalid M.

Al Abdulqader, general manager of UR.

unconventional opportunities “UR capitalizes on collaboration and

empowerment to set and execute Saudi Aramco’s UR development plans through integrated, multidisciplined engineering as-sessments that involve all key organizations within UR while ap-plying best-in-class reservoir manage-ment practices to en-sure reservoir health and ability to meet our commitments,” said Ali H. Habbtar, acting head of the Unconventional Res-ervoir Engineering Division.

With the huge endowment of conven-tional fields — including Ghawar, the sin-gle largest oil field in the world — it makes good business sense to explore the rich op-portunities in unconventional gas. Unlike conventional reservoir rock, the rock struc-tures that hold vast quantities of unconven-tional oil and gas are less porous and more dense, such as shale rock or tight sands.

Until recently, the costs for extracting oil and gas from these tight structures was prohibitive, but technologi-cal advances in recent years have dropped the costs of production,

Khalid M. Al Abdulqader

Ali H. Habbtar

by Scott Baldauf

continued on page 8

the arabian sun

7cover story

Halliburton signing ceremony: Saudi Aramco president and CEO Amin Nasser, along with Halliburton president and CEO Jeffrey A. Miller and Mohammed Y. Al-Qahtani, senior vice president of Upstream, gather for the signing ceremony for a new contract for unconventional gas stimulation services held on May 27. Khalid Al Abdulqader, general manager of Unconventional Resources, and Samer Salous, vice president of Halliburton for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, signed the contract.

In the Central Control Room of a newly constructed satellite processing facility, employees test the latest state-of-the-art monitoring equipment.

Fahad A. Al Bani

Ibrahim Al-Arnaout

Fareed M. Al Johar

Mohammed A. Al-Hamad

Ahmad S. Nasser

continued from page 7

Ahmed Al-Saggaf

J H

making the development of unconvention-al resources both economical and necessary for a power hungry economy such as Saudi Arabia.

The benefits of UR development are clear. Some of these shale and tight sand formations contain not only rich resources of natural gas, but also high value liquids and crude. Shifting the Kingdom away from burning its most valuable resource — crude oil — allows Saudi Arabia to earn more rev-enues that can be pumped back into devel-oping the local economy. Natural gas from unconventional fields can provide the feed-stock for mining and petrochemicals indus-tries in the Kingdom, which are expected to create thousands of new well paying jobs for Saudi citizens, all of which reinforce the Kingdom’s bold vision for economic devel-opment, as envisioned in Vision 2030.

“UR is in a continuous achievement mode on all fronts, including cost and schedule optimization, reliability, and safety,” said Ahmad S. Nasser, manager of the UR Eng ineer ing and Pro jec t Manage -ment Department. “I am proud to be a member of a truly integrated organi-zational structure in UR. This business model is a real enabler to achieve UR suc-cess, which contributes to the Kingdom’s economy maintaining iktva and creating jobs for Saudis in line with Vision 2030.”

optimized drilling“One of the key enablers for Saudi Aram-

co’s advances in UR has been efficiency — the principle of doing more with less,” said Fahad A. Al Bani, manager of the UR Drilling Department. “Within the UR admin area, a special team of drill-ing subject matter experts in the UR Drilling Department studied the particu-lar challenges of UR drilling and found in-genious ways to in-crease efficiency by revising well designs, optimizing drilling practices, utilizing new technologies, and installing fit-for-purpose completions.”

As a result of overall drilling optimization, the time and cost of an unconventional well has been reduced by up to 70% — a re-markable milestone in the unconventional drilling business in the Kingdom, and it has been achieved in relatively short time.

well completion, the future achieved today

“We were confident in our ability to bring down prices per fracturing stage in the

Kingdom to match those in North America, where the shale boom originated,” said Ibra-him Al Arnaout, manager of the Well Com-pletion Operations and Production Engi-neering Department. “M y co nf i d ence spawned from the energy and deter-mination that I have witnessed in the team day and night.

“The realization of the UR project’s strategic objectives rely predominantly on intensive stimulation activity across the three UR operational ar-eas — especially in the Jafurah Basin. Hy-draulic fracturing is vital to unlock the full potential of unconventionals. In fact, well completion comprises about 60% of total unconventional well cost. Our department’s main task was to reduce costs while improv-ing the productivity of wells.”

Since the company embarked on its un-conventional journey in 2011, as part of its Accelerated Transformation Program, the strategy was contingent on three key pillars: high operational efficiency to deliver more stages per day; utilization of cutting-edge engineering solutions to optimize designs and techniques for better program eco-nomics; and an astute contracting strategy, which capitalizes on economy of scale and operational and engineering improvements while boosting the competitiveness of ven-dors.

These efforts ultimately yielded more than 90% in cost savings and avoidances in un-conventional stimulation cost.

“The significant cost optimization did not come at the expense of well productivity or technical quality. To the contrary, the aver-age Jafurah Estimated Ultimate Recovery

per well has seen several times improve-ment since the project inception,” Al Ar-naout said.

The average Jafurah results have outper-formed average North American shale plays production, placing it among the top tier wells of the Eagle Ford, which is analogous to the Jafurah Basin in terms of aerial extent and geological features.

sustainable growthUltimately, the companies that succeed in

developing and sustaining unconventional resources all have one thing in common — they control costs.

“In many respects, UR Finance has op-erated in a startup mode, developing new processes and systems to support the UR

performance-based business model with the goal of deliver-ing economic gas to the Kingdom. We had to strike a bal-ance between agility and efficiency, and controls and gover-nance,” said Fareed

M. Al Johar, head of the UR Finance Divi-sion.

As Saudi Aramco’s UR organization devel-oped from an idea to reality, and as individ-ual wells proceeded through the de-risking stages of exploration, appraisal, pilot, and finally development, teams have worked with this challenge at the forefront to main-tain production and achieve the lowest cost possible.

To achieve this strategy, the UR organiza-tion developed a new business model that gives decision autonomy to the teams on the ground. A fit-for-purpose business unit was created to address and solve some of the

challenges that are unique to UR. Support-ing this unit is a ring-fenced multidisciplinary asset team all while maintaining all the func-tions required by their organizations.

Ahmed H. Al Saggaf, head of the UR Sup-ply Chain Division, explains the impor-tance of giving each asset team control over the process of procuring goods and services.

“Giving each team control over the pro-cess for procurement allows flexibility and agility in regards to contracting terms, procurement, and mate-rial management, and it will ultimately yield considerable cost optimization and savings.”

“As the unconventional industry becomes more digital, business and digital technolo-gies need to come together, merging into one single stream so value can be gener-ated across the organization value chain,” said Mohammed A. Al-Hamad, head of UR business process transformation.

But sustainability requires more than just a reliable stream of tools and equipment. It also needs a team that has the highly spe-cialized skills it needs to get the job done, over and over again. In alignment with the company’s Knowl-edge Management s y s tem, U R ha s worked to identify those skills, to hire UR exper t s from around the globe, and to develop cus-tomized t ra in ing programs for young Saudi professionals to develop the next gen-eration of UR experts who will help make Saudi Aramco a global leader in UR.

Initially, these training courses were de-veloped at overseas institutions, including work assignments with some of the most experienced shale gas companies in the United States. Currently, training programs are being developed in-house to achieve the same level of training.

continued from page 7

8 cover story May 30, 2018

The benefits of Saudi Aramco’s unconventional program will ripple out into the Kingdom’s economy in tangible ways. Cranes lower well intervention tools into the hole of a well site in the Jafurah field — one of Saudi Aramco’s main target zones for unconventional gas.

In the Central Control Room of a newly constructed satellite processing facility, employees test the latest state-of-the-art monitoring equipment.

Unconventional Resources team members inspect sand to be used in a hydraulic fracturing operation in the South Ghawar field.

Ibrahim Al-Arnaout gives a presentation about achievements during a recent recognition ceremony held at a well pad site in the Jafurah region.

UR management, including Khalid M. Al Abdulqader, visit a fracking site in the Jafurah region.

Othman F. Al Mousa

Misnid Al-Hajri

Zayed G. Al-Amri

Hafiz J. Al Shammery

Ahmed M. Al-Hakami

Mazen A. Al Khayyal

J H

“UR’s unique elements of success are a compelling business model that forms part

of a well crafted business strategy — its leadership and people, and execut-ing our work using the company’s Four Critical Behaviors on a daily basis, making us more efficient, engaged, agile, and

innovative,” said Zayed G. Al-Amri, head of the UR Support Division.

“The Unconventional Resources business model has made significant changes for better performance in all aspects of activ-ities and functions. Adoption of new technologies and strong leadership coupled with the streamlined func-tions and resources aligned to one goal has made the UR movement a tow-ering success,” said Misnid Al-Hajri, senior consultant in UR Gas Operation Develop-ment.

“We manage risk related to health, safe-t y, and env iron-ment, and ensure compliance of our system with the set of guidelines and procedures to reach and sustain an Op-erational Excellence (OE) work environ-ment in all our UR

activates,” said Othman F. Al Mousa, head of the UR OE and Compliance Team.

North ArabiaNowhere is this more apparent than in

Northern Arabia, site of the ambitious proj-ect near Turaif. Set out on the flat gravel plains of the North Arabia, the UR team conducted elaborate seismic surveys that resulted in successful exploration campaigns

and a growing portfolio of wells in shale and tight gas formations.

Unlike the fields found in the Eastern Province, the unconventional gas accu-mulations in the northern region of Saudi Arabia are complex and are not dependent on well-defined traps. Generally, the accu-mulations are within tight channel sands. These channels include numerous individ-ual small-sized, porous sands (sweet spots) that are scattered along the channels and saturated with gas enclosed by more dense rock structures within a tight gas system. These sweet spots are being targeted using thoroughly processed seismic data and by drilling cost-effective vertical wells and pro-ducing the gas naturally.

“The success in discovering gas in the channel sand is the first milestone for the full de-risking of Nor th Arab ia as recent studies are showing more promising gas op-portunities, which can support meet-ing gas demand in the area,” said Hafiz J. Al Shammery, acting manager of the Emerging Unconventional Assets Department.

To process the gas quickly and at a re-duced cost for the main customer in the northern region — the 1-gigawatt electric power plant of the Saudi Electric Company, which feeds the Waad Al-Shamal Industri-al complex — Saudi Aramco has built an array of satellite production facilities that are scheduled to come on line by the end of the second quarter of 2018. The first of these satellite production facilities reached mechanical completion ahead of schedule

and below budget, delivering 79 million standard cubic feet per day.

“The modular na-ture of our facilities, along with strong alignment between sur face faci l i t ies,

drilling, and completion plans, are key fac-tors to manage cost and schedule,” said Ma-zen A. Al Khayyal, manager of the UR Gas Operations Development Department. “This was clearly demonstrated in delivering the first project in North Arabia ahead of sched-ule by seven months and below budget.”

South GhawarIn South Ghawar, the target is a collec-

tion of tight sand plays that were deposit-ed more than 450 million years ago during the Ordovician geological period. South Ghawar, of course, is the southern portion of the giant Ghawar field, which has been under development for more than 60 years, and the availability of existing infrastructure such as roads, pipelines, water resources, and supply chains makes South Ghawar at-tractive and economical.

Sixty years of legacy data from the South Ghawar field, including high-quality seismic data, also allows our UR to leverage infor-mation to peer into rock layers that could hold hidden pockets of gas just waiting to be tapped. Findings from the past few years have confirmed the presence of gas across a laterally extensive area, with a thick strati-graphic column.

Jafurah Basin“Jafurah is prolific and soon will be rec-

ognized as a world-class shale play,” s a i d A hm e d M . Al-Hakami, chief ex-plorationist of the Jafurah Exploration and Development Division.

In the Jafurah Ba-sin, the UR has fo-cused its attention on a world-class Tuwaiq mountain shale play. It is a Jurassic carbonate source rock with gas and condensate accu-mulations. While the UR initially explored this region for its rich potential for natural gas, the abundance of liquid hydrocarbons in Ja-furah makes the play economically attractive.

“In addition to efforts to unlock resourc-es within Tuwaiq Mountain in the Jafurah

Basin, our studies identified unconvention-al shale potential outside the Jafurah Basin and in several geological horizons other than Tuwaiq Mountain. These opportuni-ties will help expand the UR program in the future and will also ensure sustainability of committed targets,” said Al-Shammery.

Employing advanced seismic modeling techniques, the team at Jafurah has been able to conclude a successful exploration phase, whereas the appraisal and pilot phases are at an advanced stage. The shale plays have presented significant challenges, requiring intensive drilling and stimulation, but the Jafurah team has achieved major milestones in reducing costs and creating operational efficiencies. And similar to North Arabia, Jafurah now has early production fa-cilities on the ground with several key wells hooked on for long-term production data.

taking the lead positionThe benefits of Saudi Aramco’s unconven-

tional program will ripple out into the King-dom’s economy in tangible ways.

Every success in North Arabia, South Ghawar, and Jafurah will have a tremen-dous impact on the Kingdom. New sources of energy will create local business oppor-tunities, creating thousands of jobs for local communities. New supplies of natural gas will create feedstock for the petrochemical industry that could make Saudi Arabia a global manufacturing hub.

The water management strategic initia-tive will avail access to suitable water sourc-es at the time of development to reduce groundwater reliance through the testing and validation of several alternative water sources, including seawater, treated sew-age effluent, and recycled, produced flow back water. Another foreseeable benefit is the localization of several oil field materials and equipment, including the usage of lo-cal sand in stimulation operations and local manufacturing of chemical fluids.

The learning curve has been sharp, but the rewards are clear. This program benefits not only the company, but the country. Sau-di Aramco’s UR program is taking big strides toward full-fledged development.

9cover storythe arabian sun

spotlight

EXPEC Advanced Research Center management recently recognized 52 employees for their loyalty, dedication, excellent service, and contributions over the years. The employees, who collectively have worked 1,030 years for Saudi Aramco, were given the 25, 20, and 15 years of service awards. Among those recognized included: (25 years) Saleh M. Al-Ammari, Hussain A. Al-Shammary, Abdulaziz A. Al-Dukhayyil, Mohammad S. Al-Jawfi, Nimer G. Al-Utaibi, Esam A. Al-Kully, Hamid N. Al-Rashidi, Mohammad H. Al-Ariani, Nasher M. Al Ben Hasan, Ayman R. Al-Nakhli, Sultan M. Al-Enezi, and Sunil L. Kokal; (20 years) Ahmed G. AlAmerey, Omar A. AlQahtani, Faisal S. AlDossary, Abdullah M. Shebat Alhamd, Henry H. Hoy, Tareq M. AlShaalan, Tariq A. Bin Qasim, Yi Luo, Mohammed A. Ba Taweel, Ahmed A. Aleidan, and Saleh A. AlKhathami; (15 years) Mansour A. AlBarri, Abdalnaser Y. AlBari, Hussain A. Al Ibrahim, Jamal M. Aamri, Sami T. Abdelbagi, Hussain A. Jeshi, Fawaz A. Anazi, Ali K. AlShehri, Raed A. AlOuhali, Michael A. Jervis, Abdullah M. Alharith, Jinjiang Xiao, Mazen Y. Kanj, Majed AlZahrani, and Abdullah S. AlDeraibi. (Photo: Abdullah AlShammary)

RECOGNIZED FOR SAFETY: Mohammed A. Al-Ghazal, an assistant rotary drilling foreman in Saudi Aramco’s Northern Area Oil Drilling Department, was recently recognized at the Society of Professional Engineers (SPE) 2018 Health, Safety and Environment Conference and Exhibition in Abu Dhabi. Al-Ghazal received the award from the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IGOP) for his contributions to introducing environmental friendly technology to the oil and gas industry through the development of safe, cyber controlled, information flow models for digital oil field operations. Presenting Al-Ghazal with the award is IGOP executive director Gordon Ballard. During the conference, Al-Ghazal also delivered a presentation about Saudi Aramco’s integrated strategies toward operational excellence. The paper was also published on the SPE website and in the Journal of Petroleum Technology.

Organizers and participants in the 2018 Contractors Exchange Conference pose for a photo after the recent event in al-Khobar. The conference was organized by the Project Management Office Department and was attended by more than 400 project management professionals and executives from local and regional contracting companies. The theme of the conference was “Deploying Technology for Effective Project Execution.” (Photo: Mohammed AlShaikh/MPD)

pg 3

Meshaal S. Al Khaldi, acting manager of the Central Community Services Department, cuts the ribbon at the new splash pad at Half Moon Beach. Inaugurated on May 4 around a corresponding two-day Splash Festival, approximately 5,300 employees and their dependents participated in the event.

pg 12

Yousef A. Al-Ulyan, Saudi Aramco’s vice president of Information Technology (IT), poses with IT managers, IT safety coordinators, and members of the Tanajib Area IT Division, and Tanajib Marine Operations Division in a group photo at Tanajib Marine Operations after concluding the second quarterly Safety Management Committee meeting office visit of the Tanajib Area IT Division (headed by Rami A. Al-Ghanim, superintendent) and a field tour of Tanajib Marine Operations (headed by Khalid A. Al-Mohsen, superintendent).

Some of the more than 100 experts from institutions in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, and the U.S. pose for a photo following the recent meeting of the Saudi Arabian Section of the Combustion Institute at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center in Riyadh. The theme of this year’s meeting was “Clean and Efficient Utilization of Fuels for a Sustainable Future.”

pg 2

In a visit to Saudi Aramco facilities in Yanbu’, Yanbu’ Governor HE Saad Al-Suhaimi praised the company’s role in the Kingdom’s development and its support to the national economy. Represented by the Yanbu’ NGL Fractionation Plant, YNGLFD manager Faisal A. Al Subhi, Yanbu’ Refinery manager Abdullatif S. Alshami, Western Region Government Affairs manager Sulaiman A. Al-Jared, and other Yanbu’ Area managers and division heads received the Governor. The Governor noted some of the company’s social initiatives, such as supporting productive families and supporting area fishermen, thereby contributing to the health of the local labor market in line with Saudi Vision 2030. A number of future proposals and projects and areas of cooperation were also discussed.

As part of Saudi Aramco’s journey to enhance excellence and ensure Saudi Aramco’s position as an industry leader, the Office Services Department (OSD) was recently recognized for securing fifth place in the 2018 President’s Operational Excellence (OE) award in the service organization’s category. Mohammad A. Al Shammary, vice president of Community Services (CS), hosted a recognition luncheon to honor CS management, process owners and subject matter experts. Al Shammary highlighted the importance of OE and encouraged CS management to share, learn, and strive for even higher levels of OE implementation while enhancing services provided by CS. During the event, Husam Dulaim, OE Department manager, presented the fifth-place certificate to Ahmed A. Alzahid, OSD manager, while praising OSD for its achievement and helping Saudi Aramco to achieve its Strategic Intent.

May 30, 2018

10 company news

thousands join the Aramco Beach Run in the Netherlands

workshop focuses on critical inspection practices for vendor materials and services

The Hague — Early May saw thousands turn out for the second edition of the Ar-amco Beach Run — the company’s flagship citizenship event in Europe. Centered on The Hague’s beach stadium, the run was attend-ed by approximately 4,000 people, including nearly 1,700 runners.

Several paths took participants along The Hague beach front, with the most commit-ted runners opting to do the 15-kilometer route, which was new this year.

As was the case last year, money was raised for Juliana Children’s Hospital — this time its Neonatology Department, which cares specifically for newborns. “As a global citizen, Aramco has always been committed to identifying and supporting good causes, wherever we operate,” said Talal Al-Mar-ri, president of Aramco Overseas Company (AOC).

“On behalf of our company, I would like to

thank the city of The Hague for its efforts to-day. It is special to see so many come out in support of such an important cause. Aramco could not have achieved this without you,” he added.

off and runningRepresenting the hospital was medical

manager Frederique Hofstede, running for the second time, and chairman Maarten van Rijn. “It’s been a lovely day, with an excellent goal of fundraising for Juliana Children’s Hos-pital and we are delighted that Aramco has again shown its support,” said van Rijn. “The money raised will go a long way to support-ing our activities and the care of newborns through our Neonatology Department.”

This year also saw corporate involvement from companies looking to support Aram-co’s citizenship push — some of whom are partners with the company through existing

activities. As well as recognizing other companies,

many of whom also ran as part of a “busi-ness team,” the opening ceremony also paid tribute to a patient of the hospital’s Neona-tology Department — an infant, whose sister (also a former patient) and father ran as part of the 1K Family Run.

The event continued to grow from last year, with not only more runners, support-ers, and distances, but also the introduction of food stands and children’s entertainment. A hot day also saw over 100,000 people on the beach front itself, supporting runners as they ran across the finish line.

races around the worldThe Beach Run now joins other runs host-

ed by Aramco around the world in locations such as Houston and Dhahran. Firmly speak-ing to the company’s pillar of citizenship, the

run’s focus is on community involvement — from corporate partners to volunteers — with the local government also involved through logistical support.

This year proved tougher than previous events with the higher temperatures. The 15K Run offered more experienced runners a chance to test themselves and provided a competitive edge.

Indeed, the stature of Aramco’s Run con-tinues growing in a location synonymous with running events. Each of the Nether-lands’ big cities — Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague — have runs, with the Ar-amco Beach Run now providing a spring run along the coastline to complement a winter event, based in the city center.

The Beach Run is just one of the citizen-ship initiatives undertaken by Aramco in the Netherlands, home to its regional headquar-ters.

Runners leave from their marks at the start of the second edition of the Aramco Beach Run — the company’s flagship citizenship event in Europe. The run was attended by approximately 4,000 people, including nearly 1,700 runners.

Dhahran — As part of a commitment to Operational Excellence (OE), the Vendor In-spection Division of Saudi Aramco’s Central Engineering Inspection Department recently conducted a workshop in Dhahran for all corporate operational inspection organiza-tions.

Arranged by the division under the theme “Operational Equipment Deficiency Report System,” the workshop targeted partic-ipants from 33 inspection units at various Saudi Aramco operational plants.

The workshop provided an awareness sys-tem, which is created to capture operations and project contractor procured materials. Feedback was gathered on defects experi-enced on new or under operation materials and vendors’ after-sales services to ensure that they take the required remedial and preventive actions in a timely manner.

safety and reliabilityThe workshop began with remarks by

Mohammed A. Al-Zaid, acting manager of the Inspection Department. Al-Zaid em-phasized that quality is a major factor in en-suring safe and reliable operations at Saudi Aramco facilities. In addition, he highlighted the importance of reporting equipment de-ficiencies to ensure all premature failures are captured and analyzed to achieve OE and avoid reoccurrence in the future. 

Mohammed N. Al Mulhim, acting head of the Vendor Inspection Division, said the division is committed to providing effective and efficient inspection services by ensuring the quality of procured material. Al Mulhim added that end-user feedback is consid-ered a pillar to successful inspections, and he encouraged operation facilities person-nel to report procured material deficiencies through the Equipment Deficiency Report-ing system.

critical for operations“This workshop was an overview about

reporting defected, inspectable material due to manufacturing discrepancies, which is a very critical item,” said Abqaiq Plants in-spector Saeed Al Shahrani. “We have expe-rienced equipment deficiencies in our field, and this workshop provided the guidelines for reporting these deficiencies to be recti-fied by the manufacturer.”

Yanbu’ Refinery Inspection Unit supervi-

sor Abdulrahman Al Ghanmi said the work-shop proved to be very important.

“It brought together key personnel and leadership from the operational inspection facilities of Saudi Aramco to discuss their previous experiences of deficient procured materials and the importance of receiving inspection to ensure the reliability of our as-sets,” said Al Ghanmi.

Mohammed A. Al-Zaid delivers opening re-marks during a work-shop in Dhahran for operational inspection organizations. On his right is Mohammed N. Al Mulhim.

idea generation, implementation championed at YRD Innovation Exhibition in Yanbu’Yanbu’ — In line with Operational Excel-

lence (OE) 12.1 “Innovation Idea Genera-tion, Development and Implementation,” the Yanbu’ Refinery Department (YRD) re-cently held the 2018 Innovation Exhibition.

The objective of the exhibition was to bring great minds together and explore and enhance the innovation culture within our organizations. More than 500 people at-tended from across various departments and organizations. Eleven technical presentations were presented, with a focus on innovation implementation on various processes.

The event is in line with the new corpo-rate knowledge sharing OE. Element 12, “Innovation, Learning, and Continuous Im-provement,” allows experts from various disciplines to get together, establish con-nections, and take back to their facilities experiences that are relative to their envi-ronment.

safety and accountabilityThere were eight booths at the exhibition

Yanbu’ Refinery management listen to Mohammed Abatin of the Aramco Research and Development Center at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology explain how automated robots work to check sea pipes during the recent 2018 Innovation Exhibition in Yanbu’. The exhibition featured eight booths with prototypes that tackled a number of pressing challenges faced by the company. Departments with an active presence in the presentations included Riyadh Refinery, South Ghawar Producing, Sea Water Injection, Berri Gas Plant, Shedgum Gas Plant, Northern Area Technical Support, and Yanbu’ Refinery departments, as well as the Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery Company. Also, 11 technical presentations were presented, with a focus on innovation implementation on various processes.

with prototypes, and visual demonstrations of innovation solutions tackling chronic is-sues that needed direct intervention, as well as the cost of maintaining the reliability of assets.

The event was initiated by a safety pre-sentation that brought awareness of de-fensive driving and techniques. Followed by that, YRD manager Abdulatif S. Alshami, as the chairman and leader in the YRD drive toward innovative ideas gave his opening speech. The speech provided a gateway into the importance of innovation culture and its impact on the development of our facility, which in return serves the King-dom.

The exhibition presentations were deliv-ered concisely and on points of improve-ments, not only focusing on ideas but also on their relevance in terms of safety, cost avoidance, and revenue generation. Par-ticipating presenters came from various backgrounds and facilities, with an active presence from the Riyadh Refinery, South Ghawar Producing, Sea Water Injection,

Berri Gas Plant, Shedgum Gas Plant, North-ern Area Technical Support, and Yanbu’ Refinery departments, as well as the Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery Company.

YRD extended its sincere appreciation to all presenters and their excellent demon-strations in terms of technical capability and driving innovation and change.

by Abdulrahman Aleisa

the arabian sun

11company news

by Chiara Ciampricotti Iacoangeli

splash park opens up at Half Moon Bay

Dhahran Big Band brings swing soundto Ad-Diwan

Children beat the heat with the cool water at the Saudi Aramco splash park at Half Moon Bay.

The Dhahran Big Band rips into a song along with the accompaniment of members of the Dhahran Middle School Jazz Band at Ad-Diwan in Dhahran. The concert, sponsored by the Saudi Aramco Employees Association, featured a bevy of standards and surprises for the nearly 200 people who attended.

Half Moon Bay — The Central Commu-nity Services Department inaugurated a splash park during the Splash Festival at the Saudi Aramco beach at Half Moon Bay on May 4.

The two-day festival attracted approxi-mately 5,300 Saudi Aramco employees and their dependents.

The festival featured a wide array of wa-ter games, including lifeguard skills demon-strations, water stage activities, inflatable slides, carnival games, and much more.

An assortment of food service providers were also on hand to offer all kinds of food and beverages for the visitors.

The splash park is open daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. with a lifeguard always on hand for the safety of the users.

Dhahran — The Saudi Aramco Employ-ees Association was thrilled to work with the International Concert Committee to recently present to its members a night of swing music by the Dhahran Big Band at Ad-Diwan.

With almost 200 at tending, the 23-member Dhahran Big Band of high-cal-iber musicians brought a full-fledged sound to the performance — much the way it has done since its inception in 2013. With players from around the world — many who doubled up on instruments — the band played a fantastic repertoire that included vocal numbers and instrumentals.

Under the direction of Michael Natzke, the band included six saxophonists, two flautists, two clarinetists, six trumpeters, four trombonists, one bass player, one drummer, two keyboard players, and two

vocalists — Hans and Rachael Stocken-berger. The band regularly performs a half dozen or more concerts annually around Dhahran and occasionally in other loca-tions.

youth movementThey were joined by the “12 O’Clock Big

Band” from Dhahran Middle School. Com-posed of 22 members under the direction of Brian White, the youngsters played a trio of songs as a warmup to the main act.

“I wanted to give my students the op-portunity to work with the adults in the Dhahran Big Band so that they could see that learning to play an instrument can be a passion that lasts a lifetime,” said White.

The jazz ensembles collectively per-formed 15 pieces during the concert. The performance by the two bands in the first half of the show captivated the crowd from

the first beat to the final fading applause. Endearing trumpets solos, soaring sax

lines, soft melodies, and punchy bass lines all entertained the audience. The final number before the interval, the endearing vocal duet, “Cheek to Cheek,” left the au-dience wanting more. Another highlight of the set was a rendition of “Heaven,” which featured rhythmic voices that dis-played an impressive modulation in tone flawless harmony.

smooth standardsThe concert’s second half opened with

the jazz standard written by Sammy Chan and Jule Styne, “Time after Time.” The smooth sound of this piece and the trumpet solo, which showcased fascinat-ing fingerings, provided a great sense of relaxation for the listeners. The mood con-tinued with George Gershwin’s famous

“Love is here to Stay” — a poignant jazz love ballad.

All of the other songs performed created a swing scene with a heavy sense of wist-ful nostalgia. The mood continued to build through the band’s retro style and perpetu-al catchy songs such as “Tuxedo Junction” — one of the most popular songs of the swing era. With the last piece, “Zoot Suit Riot,” fast, bouncy rhythms and a saucy verve were injected into the concert.

The band also surprised everyone with an off-the-program “In the Mood” that really highlighted the enthralling echoes of swing.

The audience simply could not resist, with many people standing and clapping their hands, while others tapped their feet in time to the music. A few couples even enjoyed a dance together to cap off an en-tertaining evening for all.

12 community news May 30, 2018

movies

Najma

Monsters, Inc.To power the city, monsters have to scare children so that they scream. However, the children are toxic to the monsters, and after a child gets through, two monsters realize things may not be what they think.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of SmaugThe dwarves, along with Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey, continue their quest to reclaim Erebor, their homeland, from Smaug. Bilbo Baggins is in possession of a mysterious and magical ring.

Abqaiq

5 p.m.

8 p.m.

animation, comedy

Monsters UniversityBilly Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi

May 30, June 1 and 2

May 30, June 1 and 2

5 p.m.

7:30 p.m.

May 31

May 31

4 p.m.

7:30 p.m.

G

action, sci-fi

animation, comedy

Captain America: The Winter SoldierChris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan

Monsters, Inc.John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi

June 3 and 6

June 3 and 6

June 3 and 6

June 3 and 6

5 p.m.

7:30 p.m.

7:30 p.m.

9:30 p.m.

PG-13

G

'Udhailiyah

animation, comedy

Happy Feet 2Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Hank Azaria

May 30-June 2

May 30-June 2

adventure, fantasy

The Hobbit: The Desolation of SmaugMartin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage

June 3 and 6

June 3 and 6

5 p.m.

8 p.m.

PG

PG-13

NOTE: Movie schedules are subject to change. To avoid disappointment, call 875-FILM (3456), check the

mycommunity app, or visit http://reclibraries for the most up-to-date movie schedules.

The cinema is closed for renovation.

Dhahran

adventure, fantasy

The Hobbit: The Desolation of SmaugMartin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage

May 30-June 2

May 30-June 2

7:30 p.m.

9:30 p.m.

PG-13

13this and thatthe arabian sun

Aramco Beach Run attracts thousandsNearly 1,700 runners and thousands of others flock to the Aramco Beach run at The Hague, Netherlands.

see page 11

by Ching Yeh

Yasser Al Abbas practices in Dhahran under the watchful eye of coach Samer Al Kha-teeb. Yasser, 11, won the Saudi national squash competition championship in the U-11 category in 2016 and in the U-13 category the following two years. Last year, he made it to the Saudi national team.

Ahmed M. Awad captured this photo of the Qatif Corniche earlier this spring while walking with his family along the scenic area. Awad, who says he walks with his family along the corniche almost daily, used an iPhone 7 to take the photograph. Awad lives in Qatif and works in Dhahran as a graphic designer with Geospatial and Data Management Solutions. He has been with the company for seven years.

the beauty of home

Dhahran — Eleven-year-old Yasser Al-Ab-bas has made history in Saudi Arabia, bring-ing home the highest honors for a young Saudi national in an international squash competition last month. Yasser earned a bronze medal from the Norwegian Junior Open 2018 in the U-13 category.

Yasser’s father Hussain Al-Abbas, an Ar-amcon, attributed his son’s success

to the support he has received from the company. “If it were not for Saudi Aramco, he would not have such success,”

he said. “Aramco has the best squash facility and that gives him the edge.”

Built in 1992, the four squash courts at Dhahran Hills meet international standards.

“Nowhere else in Saudi Arabia can you see such

quality of squash facil-ities,” said Yasser’s

coach, Samer Al

Khateeb, a retired Aramcon and former na-tional squash champion. “These are the best courts in the Middle East.”

better every year“Yasser’s growth in squash has been ex-

ponential in the past two years,” said Hus-sain.

Yasser won the Saudi national squash competition championship in the U-11 cat-egory in 2016 and in the U-13 category the following two years. Last year, he made it to the Saudi national team.

“He has the potential to make it to first place in other international competitions if he keeps doing what he is doing,” said the father.

“He has the build, the talent, and most importantly, he is committed,” said Al Kha-teeb, who has been Yasser’s coach for two years and provided him with free coaching.

Al Khateeb has also helped Yasser obtain sponsors to provide rackets, clothes, shoes, and other needed items to play the sport.

from a very young ageYasser developed an interest in squash at very young age when he was taken to the squash court to watch his father play. “He came with me to the courts

when he was still in diapers.”The coach said he remembered one ep-

isode when “Yasser cried loudly when he was told to leave the court” at a very young

age after coming to the squash court with his father.

 “He loves the sport. That’s what made him special,” the father said.

Yasser practices two to three hours a day, six days a week. The ultimate goal for him is to enter the Professional Squash Association as he continues to advance in the sport.

According to the coach, the next step for Yasser is to have him play in more national and international competitions. Yasser, the third of six children, will compete in the Asia Open in Malaysia in June and the Arabia World Squash Tournament in Egypt in Au-gust.

education and excellencePlaying squash has also helped the boy

succeed at school, said the father. “Yasser is very proactive with schoolwork because he knows he has to finish his homework before he can play squash.”

The coach emphasized that “my students must do well at school … a good player with no education is zero.”

Education is the backbone for playing squash or any other sports as players need to be able to think strategically and logically, he said.

At such a young age, Yasser has proven to be the right seed for a potential future Sau-di Arabian international squash champion. With proper support and nurturing, such a seed can grow to its fullest potential.

a champion in the makingAramcon, 11, shines in international squash tournament

14the arabian sun

The Arabian Sun is a weekly publication issued free of charge by the Corporate Communication Support Department for Saudi Aramco employees.

Publishing director:Haitham K. Al-JehairanEditors: Jamsheed Din, Todd WilliamsEditorial staff: Musherf Alamri, Eamonn Houston, Scott Baldauf, Jeff McCoshen, Ibrahim AlRajhi, and Shaistha Khan.Designer: Husam Nasr.

Articles and coverage can be requested through the company’s CRM system.Correspondence may be addressed to the editor, North Admin Building, Room AN-1080, C-05A.

North Admin Building, Room AN-1080, C-05A, Dhahran, Saudi ArabiaTelephone (013) 876-0374 Email: publishing@aramco.comISSN: 1319-156XArticles may be reproduced provid-ed The Arabian Sun is credited.