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2006-02-24 Arabia
Gunfire, Explosion Reported at Saudi Oil Refinery
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Posted by Glaing Sloluse2980 2006-02-24 08:35|| || Front Page|| [11128 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 Update:

CAIRO, Egypt - An explosion occured Friday at a major oil refinery in Buqayq, eastern Saudi Arabia, a Saudi oil official said.
The pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya TV reported the authorities foiled an attempt to bomb the refinery with two vehicles packed with explosives. The channel did not give a source for the report, which appeared on its scrollbar.
Earlier Al-Arabiya quoted its reporter in the kingdom as saying shots as well as an explosion were heard, and they may have been part of an attempt to attack the refinery.
The oil official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he did not know the cause of the explosion in Buqayq, which lies 45 miles southwest of Dammam.
Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Mansour al-Turki told The Associated Press in Cairo: "I have no information. I am following this up."
The Baqiq refinery is a major oil complexs on the eastern side of Saudi Arabia.
The al-Qaida terror group has long called for attacks on Saudi oil installations, accusing the country's government of selling oil to the West at cheap prices. The group is run by the Saudi-born Osama bin Laden who seeks to topple the Saudi monarchy and replace it with an Islamic state.
The Saudi authorities have said their oil facilities are well protected.

Posted by tu3031 2006-02-24 09:05||   2006-02-24 09:05|| Front Page Top

#2 More:

The blast damaged a pipeline at Buqayq, a large complex that processes crude oil 45 miles southwest of the oil hub of Dammam on Saudi Arabia's Gulf coast, the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya said. Oil stopped flowing briefly but then resumed, it reported.
Security guards opened fire on the explosives-packed cars as they attempted to drive through the facility's gates, the Saudi-owned television network said. The two cars bore logos of Aramco, the state oil company that owns the facility.
One vehicle was stopped, and two people inside it were killed. The other vehicle exploded when the guards fired on it, the Al-Arabiya correspondent said. None of the guards were hurt, he said.
Posted by tu3031 2006-02-24 09:33||   2006-02-24 09:33|| Front Page Top

#3 Way to go, True Believers. It's a fine mess you're creating here.
Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious  2006-02-24 09:38||   2006-02-24 09:38|| Front Page Top

#4 Binnys boys threaten UAE,
Kuwait releases all of their prisoners
then the Bugtistinians pipeline blows up
Then the holey shrine of Hidey Maddy
Now the Soudis oil

Are you guys sure you dont wanna bit of foreign investment in your port thingumys?
Posted by Admiral Allan Ackbar 2006-02-24 10:32||   2006-02-24 10:32|| Front Page Top

#5 If a person from Iraq is called an Iraqi,
then a person from Buqayq would be called a...
Posted by Admiral Allan Ackbar 2006-02-24 10:33||   2006-02-24 10:33|| Front Page Top

#6 the Buqayqi

the indigenous sticky ppls.
Posted by RD 2006-02-24 10:51||   2006-02-24 10:51|| Front Page Top

#7 He, he, he.
Posted by gromgoru 2006-02-24 10:54||   2006-02-24 10:54|| Front Page Top

#8 The attack was thwarted but the price of oil spikes anyway. Win/Win for the kingdom. F**kin' A**holes.
Posted by Mark Z 2006-02-24 11:01||   2006-02-24 11:01|| Front Page Top

#9 Not totally unexpected.
Posted by DepotGuy 2006-02-24 11:57||   2006-02-24 11:57|| Front Page Top

#10 Heh, probably never heard of this place, eh? Mebbe only the old hands will realize it's typical Saudi goofiness. Buqayq, my ass. This is Abqaiq (ab-cake), aka Baqaiq (back-ache, lol). It's spelled that way on the highway signs and even designated within Aramco as ABQ. Buqayq. Lol. Saudi fuckwits. BTW, it's very easy to fake an Aramco vehicle - they're all Crown Victorias or Caprices and dumped, after a few years, on the auction block, so it's easy to pick one up and reapply the logos.
Posted by .com 2006-02-24 14:02||   2006-02-24 14:02|| Front Page Top

#11 for .com's attention:
Core area resignations may start rolling in now.
Thank goodness Stabilizers were not touched.
Crude cannot be stopped briefly because of liquid inertia so that rumor cannot be true. Gate valves are primarily used to stop feeding a fire.
My guess these people came from southeast of Hofuf.
.com did you work in core area. Heard of OSPAS?
Posted by DhRTAbqUdh 2006-02-24 17:28||   2006-02-24 17:28|| Front Page Top

#12 Give us the woid .com!
Posted by 6 2006-02-24 17:38||   2006-02-24 17:38|| Front Page Top

#13 DhRTAbqUdh -
Dhahran
Ras Tanura
Abqaiq
Udhaliyah

Heh, great handle. I worked in the Core Area, mostly - Tower and Engineering Bldg - but also Westpark for awhile.

OSPAS (Oil Supply Planning and Scheduling) is the Big Boy (HQ) controlling product refining and distribution, right?
Posted by .com 2006-02-24 17:47||   2006-02-24 17:47|| Front Page Top

#14 Correcto mundo .com
I have a 5 digit badge number. Was in OSPAS for 14 years. WestPark huh! Now there is North, and East Parks, plus the old LIP area. West Park is now a part of Main Camp. Women can drive out there without leaving camp. The camp bypasses the old Palace hotel. Perimeter of camp now has 24/7 lights and motion detection. Boy Scouts can only camp inside the 4 compounds, just by the jebels.
On the phone to Dh today. Wife is there with one kid. Two other kids flying back tonight from US. I expect the gossip will take on a feel of "well is the the right timeto consider leaving?" I expect the 1600 or so US expats will seriously consider sending all family home, leaving it a bachelor camp by Sept. After 70 years it is a funny way to see the place heading. Do you check out the Aramcobrats chat site? That must be buzzing.
Posted by DhRTAbqUdh 2006-02-24 17:57||   2006-02-24 17:57|| Front Page Top

#15 Lol. A "5 digit badge number" - this means I can get a loan from you to, say, buy a small Caribbean nation, lol. Good for you - but I'm thinking you're right about exit time approaching...

I was a lowly contractor - don't shun me! - lived in Zahra in al Bustan Village - and my JVC Co was in the al Rashid PetCtr. When the Khobar Massacre occurred, I saw a small exodus of my friends remaining there - mostly among Aramcons. I expect there was another immediately after the Yanbu attack, just not felt much in Dhahran. Now they've tried Abqaiq... That's the Big Banana, alright, heh. Glad that IS went gonzo on them.

Wymyns driving all over inside Aramco areas, lol, I'll bet that gives IndSec some heartaches, lol.

If I'm not mistaken, the wait list on the One bdrm units is loooong. They're gonna have to do something, such as let Aramcon solos (having sent family back to The World) to share the 2's and 3's, else they'll have a riot on their hands. I wish I could toss some names out into the void here, but I know that wouldn't be appreciated - whether they're still there or back here.

I certainly hope you're being careful and staying in-camp as much as possible. IS is a weird outfit, but they're some serious people, as far as I could tell, and I don't think you'll see them bail on you. I was once part of a "lunch group" that went into Khobar for Thai food every Wednesday - the one near the old al Shula Mall ruins. It continued until the Khobar Massacre - then I think they abandoned it.

I'm not a "brat", technically, since a contractor, so I'm not aware of their chat scene / site, lol.

You may enjoy this site. I'll wager you've been there long enough to have serious overlap with the author.
Posted by .com 2006-02-24 18:19||   2006-02-24 18:19|| Front Page Top

#16 BTW, since I smoked, I was out in the Plaza of the Core Area 4-5 times a day and I used to go to the Dining Hall a bit - and if you saw me you just might remember, lol. I had a Fu Manchu beard, classic gray, of 14" length - that seems to be its limit. :-)
Posted by .com 2006-02-24 18:25||   2006-02-24 18:25|| Front Page Top

#17 .com, I follow your comments often here. It is fun to see how people are slowly becoming more aware of what is happening. In many ways it is like 1938. But I have said too much here. It is best to keep a low profile on the web. Too many ears and eyes. In my situation I have to just be satisfied with just reading Rantburg. I am sure you understand. Just wanted you to know that you have a reader of your comments back on main camp. The locals have not gotten round to blocking the site, but now that I have said this, they may start. Whoops. Take care, fellow cartoonist....
Posted by DhRTAbqUdh 2006-02-24 19:12||   2006-02-24 19:12|| Front Page Top

#18 This was a gold flight. In those days, part of oil royalties was paid to the Saudi Arab government in solid gold. (They certainly were foolish to stop demanding gold and start accepting dollars.) The gold, in the form of British sovereigns, was picked up in Montreal, Canada. The seals had been taken out of the front half of the cabin, and the gold, packed in what looked like nail kegs, was lashed down in their place. There was thirteen tons of the stuff, worth eleven million dollars. I was glad to see it there. I didn't know how much I was worth to the company, but I knew they were going to take damned good care of that gold.

This is a great story! Back to reading..
Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious  2006-02-24 19:13||   2006-02-24 19:13|| Front Page Top

#19 PS Hi to the Aramco folks. Glad you found our li'l corner of the Net.
Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious  2006-02-24 19:15||   2006-02-24 19:15|| Front Page Top

#20 Story gets better:

King Abdul Aziz was visiting town. He brought with him the usual mob of soldiers and hangers on. They took over Hamilton House and every other empty house in town. This put a major workload on the company, though the biggest job was cleaning up after they had left. All the houses the King's men had occupied had to be completely redecorated, and almost rebuilt. Building fires in the kitchen sink to cook coffee and slaughtering sheep in the bathtubs tend to run down a place.



King Saud was, in many ways, even a bigger headache. He liked to bathe only in ZamZam water from the sacred well in Mecca. So we brought in a 10,000 gallon tanker full of the stuff, installed a special water heater, and piped it into the royal suite bathroom. He also didn't like the smell of food cooking, so a duct was run from the kitchen vent all the way around the house to the far side, and a big fan installed to blow the odors the other way. I guess that if you're king, you're entitled to have things the way you want.
Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious  2006-02-24 19:23||   2006-02-24 19:23|| Front Page Top

#21 :) I'm humbled - seriously so. I don't do it much, anymore, since most everyone's heard 'em by now, lol. I'm cutting back across the board, in fact. I wish you could take over for me! Please don't be a stranger -- especially when I get things wrong - and I'm sure I do, lol. There are other vets from Lalaland here, too - GK (Gasse Katz) and Mike Kozlowski immediately come to mind.

You should find yourself howling at the Larry Barnes memoirs - if you haven't checked them out before - they're hysterical and enlightening - as Sea seems to have found, heh.

Your insights would be appreciated here, to whatever extent you feel comfortable, especially regards both ends of the situation, from historical perspectives (e.g. the reference to 1938 went over my head!) to what's afoot now - I've been gone since mid-2003.

Now I'll embarrass you - I really miss you guys, lol. A solid percentage of the best people I ever met were there, in the Great Litterbox. Smart, tough, truly worldly, canny, amazingly generous, hard-working folks who have learned how to manage the most insane shit with ease - and elan, I must add, lol - while weenies back in The World bitch about most every little inconvenience. Please take care (duh - me telling you, lol) and help us out when you can. From dodging prayer times to driving there to enduring security searches to dealing with the Govt and IS - I'll wager that at least 50% of what I've posted here is disbelieved or not understood, lol.

My Best Regards! :-)
Posted by .com 2006-02-24 19:37||   2006-02-24 19:37|| Front Page Top

#22 A bit more:

There was an empty area in front of the mosque that looked just right for a park, so I made up a drawing showing lawns, walks, hedges, benches, bushes, trees. I presented it to my boss, Frank Lincoln, who passed it on upward. Amazingly, it was approved and constructed. Barnes park was born. At least that is what I called it. No one else did.

Whenever something is accomplished, it appears that a new problem is introduced. The park was no exception. The local population soon decided that all this green grass and leaves would make excellent fodder for their sheep and donkeys. In a few days most all the greenery had been grazed out of existence. Was my humanitarian idea doomed to die? No. Once again American inventive genius was to save the day.

I lined up a meeting with the Emir of Saudi Camp and the Chief of Police and made a suggestion to them. The next day notices were posted throughout the area stating that any animals found in the park after that date would automatically become the personal properly of the Chief of Police. He was more than willing to enforce the edict. Instantly the animals disappeared and the grass grew. Unfortunately, Arabs aren't much to sit in parks, but that is beside the point.
Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious  2006-02-24 19:40||   2006-02-24 19:40|| Front Page Top

#23 Funny, sad, and several boggles to come, Sea, heh. It really is an eye-opener that everyone should read just to get the bits about the Saudis they won't get anywhere else. ;-)
Posted by .com 2006-02-24 19:48||   2006-02-24 19:48|| Front Page Top

#24 'Looking back over my shoulder' He ends with the comment about retirement 'come on in the water's fine. ...and the old Lucky McKlusky etc. etc. Yess, know it well. In fact know some of the people in the book, and their children. I have it in PDF format if you would like it. But I don't know how to forward it. I have all the rest of the books like 'Kings and Camels' 'Big Oil Man from Teaxs', 'Out in the Blue' which is recent. Autor was at Stenike giving away some copies 2 years back. Basicallly these are all Aramcon accounts of life in Arabia. Barnes' was a private printing. Have to go now. Bye.
Posted by DhRTAbqUdh 2006-02-24 20:12||   2006-02-24 20:12|| Front Page Top

#25 DhRT, feel free to send anything you'd like to me...I'll pass it along to .com
Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious  2006-02-24 20:16||   2006-02-24 20:16|| Front Page Top

#26 Thx, Sea!

and Thx DhRTAbqUdh!
Posted by .com 2006-02-24 20:24||   2006-02-24 20:24|| Front Page Top

#27 Welcome DhRTAbqUdh and thanks for the posts. Stay safe, but come back when you can.

and .com, thanks too.

What a place to learn.
Posted by Hupomoger Clans9827 2006-02-24 21:16||   2006-02-24 21:16|| Front Page Top

#28 That was a real treat for me, lol.

I tell ya, if he comes back stateside and begins contributing, we could all learn some truly fascinating stuff about The Magic Kingdom... the bit about the 5-digit EmpNo makes him a bona-fide "old hand" and, being in OSPAS - they control the entire process once the oil is out of the ground, I assure you he knows stuff that will evoke the entire range of reactions, lol... I've got my fingers crossed he'll do just that.

As an example, he could sketch out everything you'd need to know, at the detailed level, for making The Republic of Eastern Arabia a reality.
Posted by .com 2006-02-24 21:45||   2006-02-24 21:45|| Front Page Top

#29 What a thrill!

Expats are a whole nother animal, and those that thrive in the wild and wooly bits of the world are even beyond that. And .com, I don't know about anyone else, but I believe everything you say... even about the Vegas showgirls. Of course, Mr. Wife tells me I'm gullible... ;-)
Posted by trailing wife 2006-02-24 22:18||   2006-02-24 22:18|| Front Page Top

23:44 .com
23:42 Frank G
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23:21 twobyfour
23:11 trailing wife
23:10 trailing wife
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23:06 .com
23:03 C-Low
23:02 trailing wife
22:58 Barbara Skolaut
22:53 Fred
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22:28 Frank G









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