Posted on 08/22/2008 5:53:18 AM PDT by bert
To engineer a huge expansion in the chemicals business, the oil giant has put a woman in charge
Nabilah Al-Tunisi was wrapping up an executive M.B.A. at Stanford University two summers ago when she got an urgent call from Saudi Aramco headquarters in Dhahran. Pack your bags, she was told, and move to Houston. Al-Tunisi had just been put in charge of the engineering on a new $25 billion refinery and petrochemicals plant--the Ras Tanura Integrated Project.
Ras Tanura, a tiny finger in the Persian Gulf, already has a 550,000-barrel-per-day refinery, Aramco's biggest. Under a joint venture with Dow Chemical (nyse: DOW - news - people ), refining capacity will nearly double; 4.5 million tons a year of basic chemicals and 7 million tons of plastics will be produced. It is the most prodigious diversification ever for the world's largest producer of oil--and the state-owned Saudi company put a woman at the helm.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Aramco went to Forbes, a trusted conservative publication to break this story.
A Saudi Woman, a US educated electrical engineer and MBA, is running one of the largest engineering projects on earth.
The announcement is an indication that the Saudis believe the Gulf area is safe for a development of this size.
The fact a Saudi woman is in charge indicates that there is change away from the rigid past.
The work is taking place in Houston. Houston has always been the second home for Aramco and has returned to that position for this important project. It implies that Aramco has returned to American engineering after a hiatus. It seems ironic that the work is in houston and not Dhahran after 20+ years of Saudization.
It spells trouble for nations that produce from petroleum feed stock. It provides a glimpse into the future up north in Iraq.
Lastly, it indicates what I have said for years..... there is a side of Saudi Arabia that is unknown to America and especially to FReepers. There is a vast pool of Saudis educated in small state and community colleges that are coming of age and making their presence felt on the nation.
this might be of interest to your mideast ping list
She could never be CEO of Aramco. If she ever did, the No-BRAINED MUSLIMS would be attacking Aramco. In my opinion, the Islamics are like the KKK, thou instead of terrorizing blacks like the KKK, they terrorizes women.
Blah, Blah, blah, yada yada yada.
Were you opposed to women’s sufferage in 1920 as were most conservatives?
If I was alive in the 1920s I would been for women's right to vote!!
She better be careful and incognito if she ever goes back to Saudi Arabia.
Well you know, a lot of the customs & regulations (including strict segregation of women) imposed on Saudi Arabia are actually Nadji customs & views. Al Hasa, Jbal Shammar, ‘Asir, & the Hijaz had their own, quite different cultures & were generally more relaxed than the Nadjis.
True, but I think her burka would cover everything!
That would make for some interesting live interviews on noontime financial programs.
They do not live like the emancipated women of Kennebunkport because they do things differently in KSA, which is not always to our taste. In fact, they send hordes of their layabout no-good youths on terror missions, which is definitely a problem with me.
However, there is a future. As we become more energy self-sufficient, the Saudi main markets could shift toward China and India. Until the main Saudi religion modernizes, most of their culture will seem at odds with ours, because well, it is. A a popular muezzin called from his minaret at 10 Million dB as I walked down the street, "Come to the mosque so Allah can give us the strength to slay the infidels in our midst."
Having lived and worked in KSA, let me tell you, it ain't never going to be like Bangor. However, you don't want to know who and what are waiting in the wings to replace the present regime, i.e., the devil we know.
You help make the point..... Change is underway and is at the root of problems that occur. Change is also very recent.
We can take 1976 as the year that the construction of all that is modern began. There were no offices on the hill at Dhahran. I know because I was a major subcontractor for the construction. Riyadh was a backwater, there were no malls or skyscrapres. Jubail was flat nothingness from horizon to horizon.
The change that has taken place in 30+/- years is immense. Americans tend to disregard the tremendous change and I mean awesome change, that has taken place in the Kingdom. they know nothing of the young well American educated Saudis who are now in transition of taking on the power of business and governments from fathers and uncles.
The Gulf States are taking on the world as equals in the business and trade competition that makes the world go round.
I misunderstood your point. I took it to be the standard antiarab rant.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.