Saudi Aramco World

No longer simply a handbook for Aramco employees, this volume provides background information on Islam, the Arab world, and the oil industry.

As the first British woman convert to Islam on record as having made the pilgrimage to Makkah and the visit to the Prophet's Tomb at Madinah, Lady Evelyn Cobbold (1867-1963) cuts a unique figure in the annals of the Muslim Hajj. Lady Evelyn was in her mid-sixties when she decided to go on the Hajj. Daughter of the distinguished Scottish explorer Lord Dunmore, granddaughter of the Earl of Leicester, and great-niece of the notorious romantic Lady Jane Digby el-Mezrab, the young Evelyn Murray had spent childhood winters in North Africa. There she had been imbued with the Muslim way of life, becoming, as she puts it, 'a little Muslim at heart'. Before and after the First World War she travelled widely in Egypt, Syria and Transjordan. While strongly drawn to the Arab world, she maintained a conventional place in society at home, marrying the wealthy John Cobbold in 1891 and devoting herself to her Suffolk house and Scottish estate, her gardens, and especially deer-stalking in the Highlands, of which she was a renowned exponent. When her husband, by then High Sheriff of Suffolk, died in 1929, Lady Evelyn decided to perform the pilgrimage. Arriving at Jiddah by steamer from Suez in February 1933, she stayed with the Philbys and entered into the life of Jiddah's foreign community while waiting to obtain permission to perform the Haj. In doing so, she had to overcome the considerable suspicion surrounding foreign 'converts' who, Muslims felt, made the pilgrimage and then wrote about it as a dangerous and sensational adventure. While in Jiddah she received visits from various officials of the royal court, notably the King's son the Amir Faysal (later King Faysal). PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA is as much an account of an interior journey of faith as a conventional travelogue. It takes the form of a day-by-day journal, interspersed with digressions on the history and merits of Islam. While awaiting permission to go to Makkah, she was allowed to travel to Madinah, of which she gives an enchanting account. She is the first English writer to give a first-hand description of the life of the women's quarters of the households in which she stayed in Madinah, Makkah and Muna -- an account remarkable for its sympathy and vividness. Her book was published in 1934 to favourable reviews but has never until now been reprinted. This new edition, with a biographical introduction by William Facey and Lady Evelyn's great-great-niece Miranda Taylor, serves to rescue this unique and intriguing Anglo-Muslim from the neglect that has since befallen her, even among scholars specialising in women travellers.

A history of the most profitable company in the world, Saudi Aramco, and the story behind the family that ruthlessly maneuvered to control this multi-trillion dollar enterprise. The Saudi royal family and Aramco leadership are, and almost always have been, motivated by ambitions of long-term strength and profit. They use Islamic law, traditional ideology, and harsh justice to maintain stability and their own power, but underneath the thobes and abayas and behind the religious fanaticism and illiberalism lies a most sophisticated and ruthless business enterprise. Today, that corporation is poised to pull off the biggest IPO in history. Over more than a century, fed by ambition and oil wealth, al Saud, as the royal family is known, has come from next to nothing to rule as absolute monarchs, a contrast with the world around them and modernity itself. The story starts with Saudi Arabia's founder, Abdul Aziz, a lowly refugee embarking on a daring gambit to reconquer his family's ancestral home?the mud-walled city of Riyadh. It takes readers almost to present day, when the multinational family business has made al Saud the wealthiest family in the world and on the cusp of a new transformation. Now al Saud and its family business, Aramco, are embarking on their most ambitious move: taking the company public and preparing the country for the next generation.

This book discusses the strategic shift in ownership of Aramco, the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, and its potential impact on Aramco's role in a post- privatized world. Scheduled to become an IPO in 2018, Aramco is on the verge of becoming the largest IPO on the market. As the world’s largest oil and gas company, Aramco’s impending privatization has important implications for the world’s petroleum market. This book, therefore, undertakes an analysis of Aramco, examining its history, its current role in Saudi Arabia’s economy, and its future role as an IPO. The chapters highlight the likely outcomes for Aramco in proceeding with its planned IPO and privatization, as well as the various policy options and models available to it by drawing on the privatization of other national oil companies in Norway , Russia, Brazil, and China. The book also explores the complexities that will be involved in transforming Saudi Aramco to a privatized company—albeit with significant government oversight and control—and addresses key questions on the issues likely to be faced, such as IPO pricing, the listing, domain, and market capacity, and potential stakeholders. As such, this book will be of interest to academic researchers studying energy economics, energy policy, and the political economy of the Middle East, as well as private sector decision makers in energy related fields, international organizations, international oil companies, energy commodity traders, and public sector energy policy makers with interest in Saudi Arabia and Aramco’s IPO.