First tanker takes oil from Dhahran
First tanker takes oil from Dhahran

Ibn Saud, with Abdullah Suleiman in attendance, arrived in Dhahran, with a caravan of 500 cars and a company of 2,000 people to mark and to celebrate the loading of the first oil tanker. After two days of banqueting and the exchange of courtesies, Ibn Saud inspected the oil installations. A harbor and tanker-loading facilities had been constructed at Ras Tanura, precisely where Twitchell had recommended the location of a port. On completion of his inspection, Ibn Saud dined aboard the Socal tanker, the D.G. Scofield.

King Abdul Aziz (Ibn Saud) takes the salute aboard the D.G. Scofield, the first tanker to take on oil from the Ras Tanura terminal, 1 May 1939. Click to view high resolution version On May 1st, Ibn Saud opened the valve and the D.G. Scofield began to fill with the first load of Saudi Arabian oil.

The Kingdom's black gold was at last being drawn from beneath the Kingdom's soil. The land that had always been a harsh environment in which only a hardy people could survive and subsist was about to produce wealth beyond imagining.

King Abdul Aziz (Ibn Saud) inspects "Lucky 7" well on his visit to Dhahran, May 1939, to celebrate striking of commercial quantities of oil. Click to view high resolution version

King Abdul Aziz (Ibn Saud) inspects "Lucky 7" well on his visit to Dhahran, May 1939, to celebrate striking of commercial quantities of oil

Other events of the period:

Main reference point: