Petromin

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PETROMIN

Catalyst for the Saudi acquisition of ARAMCO.

The General Petroleum and Mineral Organization (PETROMIN) was established by Saudi Arabia in 1962. In 1963, PETROMIN began marketing petroleum products in the kingdom. By 1980 PETROMIN was marketing all the oil produced in the kingdom that was not lifted by the ARAMCO (Arabian American Oil Company) partners, about 20 percent of total production. Under its president, Dr. Abdal Hadi Taher, a U.S.-trained petroleum engineer, PETROMIN developed as a fully integrated oil company. It established a vast number of subsidiaries in refining, transport, and distribution. By the mid-1970s, PETROMIN was able to show the American owners of ARAMCO that the Saudi government, in the long run, could potentially control their oil operations independently from ARAMCO. It is not known if PETROMIN was actually an important factor in the negotiations for the friendly acquisition of the U.S. oil companies' interest in ARAMCO. After ARAMCO was turned over to the Saudis, however, the role of PETROMIN started to decline. In 1994, PETROMIN and its successor company SAMAREC were merged into ARAMCO.

see also arabian american oil company (aramco).

jean-franÇois seznec

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