With drilling at a depth of 4,727 feet, Dammam Well No. 7 decided to disgorge its treasure. The oil began to flow at a rate of 1,585 barrels of crude a day.
Within three weeks that flow had increased to 3,810 barrels of crude a day. Casoc (Californian Arabian Standard Oil Company) informed its parent company, Socal, of the good news.
Before Dammam Well No. 7 produced oil, Ibn Saud invited some of the Casoc engineers to Riyadh to undertake some drilling there. He was more interested in water than oil. Two of the engineers set off one day to inspect the watering hole of Ain Hit, at the very spot where Ibn Saud and his small band of followers had watered their camels before taking Riyadh thirty six years earlier. In the course of their explorations, the two surveyors came upon the Bahrain cap-rock. News of this fortuitous discovery revived flagging spirits and encouraged the drillers in al-Hasa to persist in their so far fruitless efforts. Soon after this incident, Dammam Well No. 7 gushed.
In the autumn following the oil strike, Casoc officially advised the Saudi Arabian Government that the Dammam Dome represented a commercially viable oil-field and handed over the £50,000 in gold as the agreed advance payment.
