The roots of Saudi Aramco go back morethan seven decades. In 1933, shortly after Saudi Arabia was unified, the Government granted a concession to Standard Oil of California who recognized the potential of oil as a valuable export commodity and a source of revenue to begin building our nation. Standard Oil of California, the parent company of Chevron, was joined later by several other major oil companies and the venture became known as Aramco - the Arabian American Oil Company. In 1938, after five long years of exploration, oil was discovered in commercial volume when a well named Dammam Number 7, near today's headquarters in Dhahran, began to flow -- and ushered in a new era for Saudi Arabia. Things moved quickly, and in 1939 King 'Abd al-'Aziz visited Ras Tanura to inaugurate the first shipload of Saudi crude oil ever exported. The young Kingdom was now officially launched into the international petroleum industry.