In unexpected move, the Council of Economic Affairs and Development agreed in Saudi Arabia on Thursday on the view of Prince Mohammed bin Salman Crown Prince to restructure Aramco, in a move designed to give the company more independence.
Sources also revealed for "Elaf" that the visions of the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman include separating Aramco from the subordination of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, so that the company to be independent, also Economic Council forms a legal committee to work on the restructuring of the company.
Sources indicate that the restructuring decision includes the conversion of the company into a holding company, includes number of specialized companies in oil and gas industry, production, exploration, refining, marketing, and other joint international projects.
Saudi Aramco controls 261 billion barrels of oil and 234 trillion cubic feet, and employs sixty thousand employees and a budget of 40 billion per year, also Aramco company manages giant joint petroleum projects, such as petroleum refineries in Greece, the Philippines, South Korea and the United States, worth up to about nine billion Saudi riyals, also Aramco manages several local oil refineries and joint ventures Petroleum products and other huge gas projects inside the kingdom, such as petroleum refineries in Jeddah, Riyadh, Yanbu, Rabigh and Ras Tanura.
Aramco date as far back as 1933, when Saudi Arabia signed an agreement with Standard Oil of California Company (Socal previously and now Chevron), where the company got a concession to explore for oil in the eastern coast of the Kingdom.
The duration of the agreement was sixty years, and then the company passed at various stages of changes in ownership. In 1936, (Socal) company sold half of its share of the franchise to Texas Company (Texaco currently), and Socal was operating through a subsidiary company called Klafornean Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc), and in May 1939 m, it held other supplemental agreement, added to the original agreement six years, then in 1944, was renamed Klafornean Arabian Standard Oil Company, and changed to the Arab-American oil company Aramco.
In 1948, Aramco sold 30% of its stake to Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, now known as (Ascon), and 10% to Sokona Vacuum Company (now known as Mobil Oil).
In 1962, the Saudi government established the first national oil company in the country, and entrusted the task of project preparation and implementation for the development of the petroleum and petrochemical industries in the country. And it was named the General Organization for Petroleum and Minerals (Petromin).
In 1973, the Saudi government got a stake in Aramco amounted to 25%, and increased in 1974, to 60%.
In 1980, it was amicably agreed that Aramco become owned by Saudi Arabia's 100%, with retroactive effect from 1976, after eight years, specifically in 1988, the Royal Decree was issued to establish the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), to take over the management of Aramco's assets, and in the same year (1988), the Saudi government agreed to establish the Arab Company for marketing and refining "Smark", to be a branch of the General Organization for Petroleum and Minerals (Petromin). The establishment of "Smark" was an interim step to assemble the refining and distribution sectors of petroleum products under one area, and that to achieve the highest return from them.
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