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Oil production

We began producing commercial quantities of crude oil in 1938. Supplying energy markets around the world with a reliability that has built Aramco’s global reputation among our customers across the following nine decades. Today, this essential energy source and resource remains at the core of our business.

The scale of Aramco’s crude oil production is virtually unrivalled. And, under the expert management of our highly-skilled workforce, backed-by Aramco’s globally-recognized digitalization strategy, we’re able to ensure that each barrel lifted from Saudi Arabia’s vast reserves sustains the industry-leading cost and carbon-intensity standards the Company has become known for.

We produce five grades of crude oil: Arabian Heavy, Arabian Medium, Arabian Light, Arabian Extra Light, and Arabian Super Light. This flexibility, guided by our assessment of future refinery requirements in our markets, helps us quickly adjust our crude oil production mix to better meet our customer’s varying needs. And we continue to invest in our Upstream capabilities to ensure we will be able to continue to meet rising demand, now and well into the future.

We derive additional value from our crude oil by using it to create and bring to market new products such as chemicals, base oils, and finished lubricants. Looking ahead, we’re leading research into converting crude oil directly to chemicals, and to blue hydrogen — a possible ‘energy product of choice’ for the future.

Capitalizing on the size and quality of our reserves, our expertise in both exploration and recovery, and our state-of-the-art, integrated Upstream and Downstream network, we’re redefining the benchmark for global hydrocarbon-energy production.

The Manifa Story

Just off the coast of Saudi Arabia, in Manifa Bay, lies one of the world’s largest oil fields. But it’s also a precious, highly-sensitive ecosystem. So began Aramco’s quest to make the most of natural resources in the bay, while protecting the human livelihoods depending on it, as well as the marine life, mammals, and migrant birds.

The birth of oil, of a kingdom, of Aramco

But where did Saudi Arabia’s oil come from in the first place?