Aramco Handbook: Oil Industry, Local Culture, and State Development in Saudi Development, Revised 1968 Edition

Aramco

First Edition

Arabian American Oil Company. Aramco Handbook: Oil and the Middle East. Revised Edition. Dhahran, Saudi Arabia: Arabian American Oil Company, July 1, 1968. Printed in the Netherlands by Joh. Enschede en Zonen–Haarlem. 276 pp. Profusely illustrated with color maps, black-and-white photographs, and diagrams. Original red cloth stamped in gilt and black. A richly produced in-house reference volume issued by the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco) at the height of U.S. corporate influence over Saudi petroleum production. This 1968 revised edition—distributed to employees, investors, and government contacts—offered a comprehensive corporate narrative combining Middle Eastern history, petroleum geology, and company operations into a single, authoritative-seeming text. Divided into five major sections, it covers the “Background of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East,” “The Oil Industry and Its Growth in the Middle East,” “The Aramco Venture,” “Saudi Arabia: The Government, the People and the Land,” and “The Culture and Customs of the Arabs.”

The handbook blends industrial achievement with cultural introduction, framing Aramco as both a modernizing force and a respectful observer of Saudi tradition. Detailed maps include a “Tribal Map of the Arabian Peninsula” naming dozens of Bedouin groups, from the Al-Mutair in the north to the Al-Murrah in the Empty Quarter. A sidebar on the “Conquest of Najd” summarizes Ibn Saud’s early 20th-century military campaigns with arrows and battle notations on a green-shaded map. Industrial sections celebrate engineering triumphs such as the Trans-Arabian Pipeline (TAPLINE): “Since much of Aramco’s oil production is destined for European markets, a pipeline shortcut across northern Saudi Arabia… was undertaken in July, 1945,” accompanied by a stark black-and-white photograph of parallel pipe lengths receding into the horizon, “nearly half of Tapline… constructed above ground” to save excavation costs.

Cultural sections include black-and-white photo essays of public life, such as a panoramic image of a formal Arab feast with dozens of men seated cross-legged around communal trays, captioned to note the position of honor and service sequence for guests. The “Social Etiquette” section instructs foreign employees in Arabic greetings—is-salaam ‘alaykum (“Peace be upon you”), kayf haalak? (“How are you?”)—and warns against “social blunders… more serious than in America.” The tone blends anthropological observation with present day commentary on the burgeoning petroleum industry, presenting the Kingdom as a traditional society successfully integrated into global capitalism through Aramco’s stewardship. Light rubbing to boards, a touch of fraying at spine ends, and minor handling wear to text edges; interior clean and binding sound. Overall very good condition.

Item #22549

Price: $225.00