Ras Tanura

File:Saudi dhahran rt abqaiq jubail.png

Map of Ras Tanura Region

Ras Tanura
Flag of Ras Tanura Flag Coat of arms of Ras Tanura Coat of arms
Country	25px Saudi Arabia
Province	Eastern Province
Government
• Mayor	Faihan bin Jarwan bin Gaweed
• Provincial Governor	Muhammed Bin Fahd
Population (2009)
• Total	73,933
	Ras Tanura city
Postal Code	(5 digits)
Area code(s)	+966-3

Ras Tanura (more accurately Ra's Tannūrah, Arabic: رأس تنورة meaning "cape oven, cape brazier" presumably due to the unusual heat prevalent at the cape that projects into the sea) is a city in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia located on a peninsula extending into the Persian Gulf. The name Ras Tanura applies both to a gated Saudi Aramco employee compound (also referred to as "Najmah") and to an industrial area further out on the peninsula that serves as a major oil port and oil operations center for Saudi Aramco, the largest oil company in the world. Today, the compound has about 3,200 residents, with a few Americans and British expats.

Geographically, the Ras Tanura complex is located a distance south of the modern industrial port city of Jubail (formerly a sleepy fishing village) and north across Tarut Bay from the old port city of (Al-)Dammam. Although Ras Tanura's port area is located on a small peninsula, due to modern oil tankers' need for deeper water, Saudi Aramco has built numerous artificial islands for easier docking. In addition, offshore oil rigs and production facilities have been constructed in the waters nearby, mostly by Saudi Aramco, Schlumberger, and Halliburton.

Najmah compound (Aramco code: RT) is one of four residential compounds built by ARAMCO in the 1940s and the only one located on the gulf itself. Ras Tanura refinery is surrounded by a heavily guarded security fence, and Saudi employees and their dependants may live inside the Najmah residential compound which is less heavily guarded. Built originally to allow expatriate oil company employees (mainly Americans) a degree of Western comfort and separation from the restrictions of Saudi and Islamic laws, the community today has shifted somewhat in line with the reduction of western residents into a multi-ethnic mosaic of Saudis, other Arab nationalities (e.g. Egyptian and Jordanian), Filipinos, Indians, Pakistanis, and a few Americans and British expats - all of whom live with English as the common language.

Transportation

Highway

Ras Tanura is connected with the Dhahran-Jubail Highway which links it with far away towns such as Jubail and Dammam.

Airport

Although there is a small airport in the city "Ras Tanura Airport", commercial air transportation is provided by King Fahd International Airport in Dammam as the local one is for the exclusive use of Saudi Aramco, mainly helicopters. The distance from the city center to the terminal in Dammam Airport is approximately 50 km (31 miles). However a current project is ongoing to shorten that distance to 40 km if the new road is completed.

References to Ras Tanura in popular culture

A most recent movie-sized documentary production of the American oil company-built towns, including the Ras Tanura employee camp Najmah, is the nostalgic titled "Home - The Aramco Brats Story", promoted as released with a trailer and DVD, December, 2006.

See also

• SAR201
• Ras Tanura Middle School
• Dhahran
• Abqaiq
• Udhailiyah
• Khobar Towers

External links

• [1] Satellite image showing most parts of Ras Tanura: Aramco residential area, common city, and the huge oilfarms and oil seaport.
• City-specific images and documents from the Aramco-Brats.com website
• Aramco Services Company site: By clicking the "communities" link, information and photo tour can be found about Ras Tanura as well as other Aramco communities.
• A billion barrels ago..., stories in the Ras Tanura refinery
• Ports of Ras Tanura

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ar:رأس تنورة