Ghawar oil field

Ghawar is an oil field in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, in Al-Ahsa Governorate. It measures about 280 by 30 kilometres, around 8,400 square kilometres, and is by far the largest conventional oil field in the world.

It is owned and run entirely by the state oil company Saudi Aramco. By 2018 it accounted for roughly a third of all the oil Saudi Arabia had ever produced. Aramco's records show it is not as productive as long believed, but it is still the world's biggest conventional field, and it has shaped the history of Saudi Arabia. The oil sits in rock that is as much as 35 per cent empty space, like a hard sponge.

Discovery

In the early 1940s, geologists Max Steineke, Thomas Barger and Ernie Berg noticed a bend in a dry riverbed called Wadi Al-Sahbah. Measurements showed the land had been pushed upward, a sign that oil might be trapped below.

Oil was found in the southern part of Ghawar, and the field was discovered in 1948 and began producing in 1951. The oil was found in what turned out to be the southern reaches of Ghawar.

How much oil?

The oil sits in Jurassic limestone about 1,800 to 2,100 metres deep. Ghawar has five production areas, from north to south: 'Ain Dar and Shedgum, 'Uthmaniyah, Hawiyah and Haradh.

In 2019 Aramco said Ghawar can pump a maximum of 3.8 million barrels a day, lower than the 5 million long assumed by the market. Experts disagree on when output will peak.

On the globe

Find it on the globe in eastern Saudi Arabia and zoom in to open its card.