Saudi Aramco Residential Camp in Dhahran is a residential community built by Saudi Aramco for its employees to live in. It is located within the city of Dhahran (Arabic: الظهران) in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. There are three areas recognized by the inhabitants in the Dhahran camp. The first built is known as the Main Camp. It is the oldest part and the busiest as it contains the commissary, various shops and parks, and infrastructure. The second area, known as the Hills, is the quietest since it is mostly residential and more family friendly. In 2017, a new residential area was opened and is known as Jebel Heights, it is an extension of the camp on the western edge of the facility. The area of Jebel Heights contains modern villas that vary from three bedroom houses to five bedroom houses as well as apartment blocks.
The Dhahran residential camp is a private company compound, protected by armed guards, only Saudi Aramco employees and their dependents may live inside. It is located near the grounds of the former US consulate as well as the Dhahran military airbase, which formerly housed the domestic and international air terminals for the Eastern Province. All commercial air passenger operations have since been moved to King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.
The Dhahran camp (Aramco code: DH) is one of three original expatriate oil company compounds or "districts" in the east of the country, along with the camps in Ras Tanura (refinery and port), and Abqaiq (also Buqayq). Later, other Saudi Aramco compounds were built, such as Udhailiyah, Safaniyah, and Tanajib. More recently, the company established housing areas in various other Saudi cities including Jubail, Yanbu, Jeddah, and Rabigh among others - though not all of these are self-contained company compounds. Dhahran camp was the first company compound, founded in the late 1930s, and is still the largest, with space to accommodate over 11,000 residents. Over the last several years the camp population has moved from an American only camp, to one containing residents from a mixture of different nationalities, including a majority of Saudi nationals. The town consists of four main divisions: Dhahran "main camp" (the oldest section), Dhahran Hills, Jebel Heights, and the newer Ar-Rabiyah (Executive Housing Area).
Geography
The Dhahran residential camp is a short distance west of downtown Al Khobar, the closest Saudi town to Dhahran, and its traditional shopping center. The camp is about 15 km south of Dammam, both older Saudi port cities on the coast of the Arabian Gulf. Looking farther afield, Dhahran is northeast of Abqaiq, also a Saudi Aramco compound, and southeast of Qatif, and further north, Ras Tanura, Saudi Aramco's main oil port. The island nation of Bahrain is also within easy driving distance to the east (about 32 km) across a causeway from Al Khobar.
Economy
The economy of the Dhahran Residential Camp is exclusively based on one company, Saudi Aramco, as everyone who lives in the compound is either employed by the company or the dependent of an employee. Dhahran has been Saudi Aramco's HQ since 1952 when it moved from New York, and is the center of the company's finance, exploration, engineering, drilling services, medical services, materials supply and other company organizations.
Demographics
Aramco has several self-contained communities to house its employees in the Eastern Province of which Dhahran is the largest with a total population of about 11,000. While in the past, the "senior staff" inhabitants of Dhahran were mainly US employees of Saudi Aramco, this is no longer the case. Due to the ongoing Saudization of the workforce, along with a drive to recruit from less far afield, Western expatriates make up fewer than 5% of employees, both in the company as a whole and in the Dhahran residential community.
The community today is mostly Saudis, other Arab nationalities (e.g. Lebanese, Egyptian and Jordanian), Asians, various South and North American nationalities and a few British expats. After several decades of Saudization, many Saudi families now live on the compound, but within it cultural rules are still more liberal (E.g English is the common language, western clothing is normalized).
The community is also unusual demographically in that all residents of Dhahran are either employees of Saudi Aramco or their dependents; consequently, several age demographics are under-represented; 15- to 25-year-olds (Saudi Aramco provides no university for employees' dependents so many leave for schools elsewhere) and persons aged 60+ (retirees leave the company).