Crown Prince Abdullah, Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard, today patronized the official opening ceremony of Saudi Aramco's new facilities for oil production and processing at Hotat Bani Tameem in Riyadh Province.  Crown Prince Abdullah was welcomed to the site by Governor of Riyadh Province Prince Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz, Oil Minister and Chairman of the Board of Saudi Aramco Ali Al Naimi, and Aramco's Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Saleh Jumaa.

Addressing the gathering, Minister Al-Naimi referred to the 18 oilfields discovered in Riyadh Province as the first outside Aramco's traditional zone, adding that the kind of crude oil they produce is distinguished as being fine, with a low percentage of phosphates and poisonous gases, a fact which qualifies this crude, labeled Arabian Premium Light Oil, as the world's most preferred, thus adding great momentum to the Saudi marketing capabilities.  The Minister went on to say that all upstream and downstream oil operations are now processed by the Kingdom's national oil company, Saudi Aramco.

CEO Jumaa reported that Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil producer, is now able to produce 200,000 barrels a day of the Arabian Premium Light.  The facilities opened today, he said, include a 340-kilometer pipeline from the production area to the western export terminal at Yanbu, plus another 150-km-long pipeline network serving the production area itself, in addition to an airstrip, a telecommunications network, and a residential complex.

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