Abqaiq

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Map of Abqaiq Region

Abqaiq (also Buqayq, Arabic: بقيق buqayq, meaning "father of the sand flies") is a small Saudi Aramco camp in the interior of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia located in the desert southwest of the Dhahran-Dammam-Khobar metropolitan area. Built in the 1940s by ARAMCO now Saudi Aramco, Abqaiq had a population of approximately 1,950 in 2005.

1 Oil processing
2 Community and region
3 Climate
4 Media coverage
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Oil processing

After crude products (oil, natural gas, water, sand, etc.) are processed by the GOSPs (Gas Oil Separation Plants), the sour oil (containing H2S, hydrogen sulphide) is sent by pipeline to Abqaiq. The Abqaiq site stabilizes the oil, then pumps it to Ras Tanura (where it is exported), or further refined at a domestic refinery. Abqaiq also has NGL (Natural Gas Liquids) plants that extract natural gas liquids (butane, propane, hexane, etc.) from the oil. These NGL's are stabilized by Abqaiq, then sent to other sites for further separation and purification.

[edit] Community and region

The Abqaiq resident's compound (Aramco code: AB) is one of four residential compounds built by Saudi Aramco, including Dhahran (the main administrative center), Ras Tanura (the main refinery and oil port), and Udhailiyah. It is located between the smaller company outpost of Udhailiyah to the south and larger Dhahran to the north.

Abqaiq compound is surrounded by a security fence, however local bedouins still may access the camp through the mail center without clearing through security. Saudi employees, contractors, and their dependents live inside. Saudi employees also maintain some of their extended families inside the camp. Built originally to house only company employees, the community today is now a multi-ethnic mosaic of Saudis, other Arab nationalities (e.g. Egyptian and Jordanian), Indians, Pakistanis, and a few US and UK expats - with English as the common language. A small madinat or "town" is adjacent to the camp. A local HQ for the criminal police is located there. An islamic propagation center is also located in the town. Abqaiq is has an 18 hole golf course with the oiled-sand fairways and sand "greens.

[edit] Climate

Abqaiq's weather is 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) on winter nights to 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius) in summer daytime. On rare occasions, Abqaiq has reached freezing temperatures during the winter. There are only a few inches of rain each year. Dust storms are a regular occurrence.

[edit] Media coverage

Abqaiq was the site of a terrorist attack attempt by Al Qaeda on February 24th, 2006 to attack the oil processing facility. [1]

A moderate to severe attack on Abqaiq would slow production from an average of 6.8 million barrels a day to 1 million barrels. As mentioned earlier, the chief purpose of Abqaiq is to remove hydrogen sulfide from crude oil and reduce the vapor pressure, making the crude safe to be shipped in tankers. Abqaiq's is the world's largest facility for this stabilization. [2]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Aramco Services - Photo tour and info about Abqaiq (and other Aramco communities) under "communities" link
Aramco-Brats.com - Abqaiq - City-specific images and documents
Satellite Image from Terraserver.com