![]() ![]() ![]() In the 1990s, the company quickly scaled up production to meet supply shortages caused by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Saudi Aramco has exerted its hefty influence on the global crude supply several times in its long history. ![]() Synonymous with the Saudi Arabian oil industry, the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (colloquially, Saudi Aramco or just Aramco) has emerged as a key player in the global petroleum scene. Weaving Together the Threads of Saudi Aramco ![]() Initially established as a camp for wildcatters, and then permanently settled after the delivery of commercial oil production, Dhahran has been Saudi Aramco’s headquarters for nearly 80 years. Less than 10 miles south of the prolific Dammam Dome sits Dhahran, a city closely linked to the Saudi oil industry. More than 200 of these giant oil and gas fields are concentrated in the Persian Gulf region - meaning that Saudi Arabia drew a lucky hand, indeed. A supergiant field is one containing more than 5 billion BOE in reserves. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists has identified more than 500 oil fields as world-class “giants” - those with proven oil reserves of 500 million barrels of oil or natural gas reserves exceeding 3 Tcf. With 71 billion barrels of estimated oil in place, Ghawar takes the prize as the largest conventional oil field ever discovered. The fabled Dammam No.7 well established the existence of the supergiant Ghawar field in the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia and ushered in a new age of petroleum wealth and power for a land that had comprised mostly nomadic tribes. But the hole everyone must see to believe is the par-3 fifth, “Het Girdle,” its green a frying pan turned upside down with bunkers gouged into its sides.In March of 1938, on the heels of six commercial failures, wildcatters drilled a new well that heralded the arrival of the most prolific oil field yet discovered. Over the decades, various publications have listed various Gleneagles holes as Best in the World, including the long, uphill par-4 fourth, the dinky “Denty Den” 14th, now a drivable par 4 thanks to advanced technology, and the short par-4 17th with its wasp-waist of a fairway. It’s a pleasant stroll but a difficult test of golf. But to golf architecture fans, and Golf Digest panelists, the King’s is still king, (Braid, by the way, always considered King’s to be his best work.) The course meanders along novel topography, full of odd elephant-shaped mounds, humps and abrupt gulches, lined with pine, fir, heather and bracken. Hutchison, and studiously preserved for the last hundred years, the King’s Course at Gleneagles Hotel has been overshadowed in recent times by the emergence of the resort’s Jack Nicklaus-designed PGA Centenary Course, which hosted the 2014 Ryder Cup. Rock outcroppings are a frequent hazard in the rough, and a few greens are protected by manmade fault lines that look incredibly natural, like the ground had slumped following a tremor.Ĭonstructed just after the First World War by James Braid, with the assistance of then-budding designer C.K. “We sought to mimic the surroundings,” Cochran says, “creating natural, distressed-looking bunkers and greens that blended perfectly.” The result are fairways that ripple and rumble from side to side and greens sometimes recessed into folds of the land. “The land is simply cascading toward Lake Taupo,” says Chris Cochran, longtime Nickaus senior designer, who assisted Nicklaus in the design, as did design coordinator Brian Pollock, who lived on the site for two years. Its slow gestation gave Nicklaus and his builders time to fine-tune every feature, including the routing that encompasses every possible slope and direction. Built along the base of volcanic slopes on New Zealand’s North Island, three hours south of Auckland, this outstanding Jack Nicklaus design was started in 2001 but not completed until 2007. ![]()
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