Meeting demand requires extensive, integrated manufacturing and transportation systems. A kingdom-wide network of refining, supply, and distribution facilities, staffed by highly trained personnel, maintains this continual supply of refined products.

Saudi Aramco's five domestic refineries, at

Riyadh, Ras Tanura, Rabigh, Yanbu' and Jiddah, have a combined capacity of approx. 1.4 million barrels per day. Adding the company's two domestic joint-venture refineries, with ExxonMobil in Yanbu' and Shell in Jubail, brings in-Kingdom refining capacity to more than 1.9 million barrels daily, making Saudi Aramco one of the largest refiners in the world.

Although a majority of Saudi Aramco's refining and distribution operations were acquired relatively recently, the company has a proud history in this field; commencing with the establishment of a 50,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Ras Tanura in the mid-1940s along with supporting tank farms, a marine terminal and a subsurface pipeline to Bahrain. Today, Saudi Aramco has a worldwide refining capacity of 3,731,500 barrels daily, making it the largest refiner in the Middle East and one of the largest in the world.

The Saudi Aramco pipeline network grew from less than 2000 kilometers in the 1950s to more than 20,000 kilometers at the dawn of the 21st century. This achievement earned Saudi Aramco its reputation today as a world-class authority on pipeline system management and product-batching operations.

Other delivery systems such as truck hauling have been made safer and more efficient both at the loading and unloading bays, as well as on the road, by the introduction of the latest product handling and transportation methods. Similar achievements have been accomplished in the shipping of crude oil and refined products, most notably the creation in 1984 of our subsidiary, Vela International Marine Limited. All of these operations are controlled 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by the planning and scheduling processing of the Operations Coordination Center.