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Dhahran Camp
Aramco compound | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country | Saudi Arabia |
| Province | Eastern Province |
| City | Dhahran |
| Founded | 1933[1] |
| Area | |
| • Total | 58 km2 (22.5 sq mi) |
| Population | |
| • Total | <9,700[2] |
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, 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, within which only Saudi Aramco employees and their dependents may reside. It is located near the grounds of the former US consulate[3][non-primary source needed] 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 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. The 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. Originally built to house Aramco's American workforce and their families, Dhahran has in recent decades shifted from being predominantly inhabited by Americans to containing residents from a mixture of different nationalities, including a majority of Saudi nationals.
- ^ Taylor, Marisa Schwartz. "Inside a Saudi Arabian Oil Giant's American Oasis". Time.com. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
- ^ "Dhahran, el extraño "pueblo californiano" construido en medio de la zona petrolera de Arabia Saudita" (in Spanish). London: BBC. July 20, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
- ^ "Contact us". Consulate General of the United States. Retrieved 2015-01-23.