Ras Tanura

Ras Tanura رأس تنورة
City
Flag Coat of arms
Ras Tanura Location of Ras Tanura
Coordinates:26°39′N50°10′E
Country	Saudi Arabia
Province	Eastern Province
Government
• Mayor	Abdulrahman Bin Othman Al Rshodi
• Provincial Governor	Saud Bin Nayef Al Saud
Area
• Total	242.5 km2(93.6 sq mi)
Population (2022)
• Total	62,314
• Density	260/km2(670/sq mi)
	Ras Tanura governorate
Time zone	UTC+3
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3
Postal Code	32819
Area code	+966-13

Ras Tanura(Arabic:رأس تنورة,romanized:Ra's Tannūrah,lit. 'cape oven, cape brazier', presumably due to the unusual heat prevalent at the cape that projects into the sea) is a city in theEastern ProvinceofSaudi Arabialocated on a peninsula extending into thePersian Gulf.The name Ras Tanura applies both to agatedSaudi Aramco employee compound (also referred to as "Najmah" ) and to an industrial area further out on the peninsula that serves as a majoroilport and oil operations center forSaudi 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 south of the modern industrial port city ofJubail(formerly a 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 smallpeninsula,due to modern oil tankers' need for deeper water,Saudi Aramcohas built numerousartificial islandsfor easier docking. In addition,offshore oil rigs and production facilitieshave been constructed in the waters nearby, mostly bySaudi Aramco,Schlumberger,andHalliburton.

Demography

Ras Tanura is one of four residential compounds built by ARAMCO in the 1940s and the only one located on the coast of the Persian Gulf itself. Ras Tanura refinery is surrounded by a heavily guarded security fence, and Saudi employees and their dependents 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 by a single two-lane highway with theDhahran–Jubail Highway,which links it with neighboring cities such asJubailandDammamas well as with the regional Aramco headquarters inDhahran.

Airport

The city is served byKing Fahd International Airport.

Although there is a small airport in the cityRas Tanura Airport,it is for the exclusive use ofSaudi Aramco,mainly helicopters. The distance from the city center to the terminal in Dammam Airport is approximately 50 km (31 mi). However a current project is ongoing to shorten that distance to 40 km (25 mi) if the new road is completed.

References to Ras Tanura in popular culture

A movie-length documentary production of theSaudi Aramcocompany-built towns, including the Ras Tanura employee camp Najmah, is the nostalgically-titledHome: The Aramco Brats Story,promoted and released with a trailer and DVD in December 2006.

Selection of images

• 
  Tarut Bay, seen from theInternational Space Station;Ras Tanura is on the north side of the bay
• 
  Oil tanks in port
• 
  Saudi AramcoTank in Ras Tanura, 1980s.

See also

• Saudi Arabia portal
• Abqaiq
• Dhahran
• Khobar Towers
• List of cities and towns in Saudi Arabia
• SAR201
• Udhailiyah

External links

• 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 theAramco-Brats website
• Aramco Services Company site:By clicking the "communities" link, information and a 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