Saudi Aramco Residential Camp in Dhahran
Saudi Aramco Residential Camp in Dhahran is a residential community built by Saudi Aramco for its employees to live in. It is located within the city of Dhahran (Arabic: الظهران) in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. There are three areas recognized by the inhabitants in the Dhahran camp. The first built is known as the Main Camp. It is the oldest part and the busiest as it contains the commissary, various shops and parks, and infrastructure. The second area, known as the Hills, is the quietest since it is mostly residential and more family friendly. In 2017, a new residential area was opened and is known as Jebel Heights, it is an extension of the camp on the western edge of the facility. The area of Jebel Heights contains modern villas that vary from three-bedroom houses to five-bedroom houses as well as apartment blocks.
The Dhahran residential camp is a private company compound, protected by armed guards, within which only Saudi Aramco employees and their dependents may reside. It is located near the grounds of the former US consulate[3] as well as the Dhahran military airbase, which formerly housed the domestic and international air terminals for the Eastern Province. All commercial air passenger operations have since been moved to King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.
The Dhahran camp (Aramco code: DH) is one of three original expatriate oil company compounds or "districts" in the east of the country, along with the camps in Ras Tanura (refinery and port), and Abqaiq (also Buqayq). Later, other Saudi Aramco compounds were built, such as Udhailiyah, Safaniyah, and Tanajib. More recently, the company established housing areas in various other Saudi cities including Jubail, Yanbu, Jeddah, and Rabigh among others - though not all of these are self-contained company compounds. Dhahran camp was the first company compound, founded in the late 1930s, and is still the largest, with space to accommodate over 11,000 residents. Originally built to house Aramco's American workforce and their families, Dhahran has in recent decades shifted from being predominantly inhabited by Americans to containing residents from a mixture of different nationalities, including a majority of Saudi nationals.
Geography[edit]
The Dhahran residential camp is a short distance west of downtown Al Khobar, the closest Saudi town to Dhahran, and its traditional shopping center. The camp is about 15 km south of Dammam, both older Saudi port cities on the coast of the Arabian Gulf. Looking farther afield, Dhahran is northeast of Abqaiq, also a Saudi Aramco compound, and southeast of Qatif, and further north, Ras Tanura, Saudi Aramco's main oil port. The island nation of Bahrain is also within easy driving distance to the east (about 32 km) across a causeway from Al Khobar.
Economy[edit]
The economy of the Dhahran Residential Camp is exclusively based on one company, Saudi Aramco, as everyone who lives in the compound is either employed by the company or the dependent of an employee. Dhahran has been Saudi Aramco's HQ since 1952 when it moved from New York, and is the center of the company's finance, exploration, engineering, drilling services, medical services, materials supply and other company organizations.
Education[edit]
Within the compound itself, Saudi Aramco operates two schools, the Dhahran Hills School (Elementary, K-4) and the Dhahran School (5-9). The company has never provided a high school level, which used to compel employees to send dependent students out of country after the 9th grade for secondary school and college.[4] (A graduation ceremony is attached to this rite of passage, and graduating 9th grade Aramco students identify themselves thereafter as the "Class of 2022", for example.) Rumours have aroused that Saudi Aramco is planning to build a High School. Currently however, the International Schools Group (ISG) Dhahran campus, located within a mile of the Saudi Aramco compound in Dhahran, has offered US-based curriculum education through 9th to 12th grade, enabling Dhahran residents to send their children there after leaving the Saudi Aramco school system, if they wish.
Dhahran schools employ an American-based curriculum. The children of Saudi Aramco expatriate employees of whatever nationality are allowed to attend, however the children of Saudi employees may not attend (with exception of K4 and kindergarten level), unless they have special permission from the Ministry of Education (very rarely given and only temporarily). Until 1980, Saudi employees living on camp were allowed to register their children in the company school, but thereafter the Saudi Ministry of Education regulations were enforced.
Beyond the compound, the greater Dhahran area is home to the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), a national technical institution built just outside the compound's original perimeter fence, and the Industrial Training Center (ITC), which includes the campus of the selective College Preparatory Center for promising Saudi secondary students preparing for study abroad.
Media[edit]
Newspapers and magazines[edit]
All papers published locally are either owned by Saudi Aramco or special community interest groups (SIGs), and they are all free. The main weekly is the Arabian Sun newspaper. Most Saudi Aramco-owned papers and magazines are available online at Aramco's official website (anyone may request a hard-copy subscription free of charge). The papers that are owned by SIGs are available online only through Saudi Aramco's internal network.
Like the publications listed above, the company's highly regarded Aramco World magazine of Middle Eastern and Islamic cultural topics can be subscribed to worldwide for free.[5]
Television[edit]
Aramco TV (Dhahran TV, and named Channel 3 later) was the first TV channel in the Arabian Gulf area and the second in the Middle East. Dhahran TV started broadcasting on September 17, 1957.[6] Although originally in English, it later started to broadcast in Arabic, but at the same time, viewers could listen to the English version of the TV programs through Aramco radio simultaneously. By 1970, it had become a commercial free, all-English channel after Al Saudiya started broadcasting in 1966. Up until the first Gulf War Channel 3 was the only English language television station readily available and it was sometimes the object of humour for its airing of dated and censored entertainment programming, and a bland nightly news broadcast. Programming included on screen calligraphy that announced prayer times and shows that were dated. The channel could not show any kissing between men and women. Most Dhahran residents used their television set to watch VHS tapes or play video games. The main attraction of Channel 3 was that it aired well made documentaries concerning Middle Eastern history, culture, cuisine and environment.
The demise of Channel 3 was due to the fact that Dhahran residents started to get other choices for English language entertainment and news television. In the early 1990s the first Persian Gulf War gave Dhahran residents the ability to pick up the American Forces Network. By the late 1990s, satellite television services were becoming more affordable and offering a wider selection of commercial news and entertainment programming that was less censored and more contemporary. The result was that in 1998, Saudi Aramco discontinued the channel.
Radio[edit]
Saudi Aramco operates the radio stations '91.4 Energy Radio 1' and '101.4 Energy Radio 2'.
91.4 Energy Radio 1, 'Saudis Number 1 Hit Music Station' is a Top 40 pop music station with a line up including key shows 'One Breakfast with Jacob' airing 6-10am each weekday and 'The Homerun with Faz and Danny' airing 4-8pm each weekday.
101.4 Energy Radio 2, 'Music Beyond the Mainstream' is an alternative music station with a line up including key shows 'Good Morning Saudi Arabia with Marie Claire' airing 6-10am each weekday and 'House Blend with Comet' airing 4-8pm each weekday.
Both stations stream on the Energy Radio KSA app, as well as a mix of online music stations branded as 'Energy Radio X'. All stations and shows are based in Dhahran and broadcast 24/7 with many listeners using the app to stream in other regions of KSA.
Sport[edit]
The Dhahran community once had a very active social calendar undertaken through 'Self-Directed groups' within the Saudi Aramco community. Since post Covid-19 many of the expats that supported these groups were let go by the company or retired. As a result very few remain and those that do are finding it hard to find volunteers to run their operations.
The groups that remain are organized through four main areas; Cultural Groups; Service Groups; Special Interest Groups and Sports Activities, with the latter being the most active. A number of the sporting groups have in previous years participated internationally, for example Saudi Aramco Youth Soccer Organization (SAYSO) travel teams regularly participated in tournaments in the Middle East and Europe (notably the Gothia Cup, Dana Cup and Norway Cup) and the running group competed in races all over the Middle East. The Little League Baseball team from Dhahran qualified for the Little League World Series in 1983, 1985, 1987–1989, 1991, 1994–1998, and 2000–2011.[7]
Rolling Hills Country Club House
Near golf course, Dhahran Hills
Rolling Hills Putting Area
