Abdullah M. Al-Ghamdi retires after 37 years

Abdullah M. Al-Ghamdi has retired as vice president of Gas Operations after a career spanning 37 years.

Al-Ghamdi was recognized at a ceremony in Aramco’s Dhahran headquarters by corporate management.

The Gas Operations’ administrative area is headquartered in ‘Udhailiyah and consists of 11 gas processing centers capable of processing a total of 16 billion standard cubic feet per day of raw gas.

Prior to his appointment as the vice president, Al-Ghamdi served as the executive director of Gas Operations from 2015, after filling various executive management roles within the company operations organizations. 

A long, rich career

He started his career with the company in 1983 as a participant in the summer student program for two summers before receiving a degree in electrical engineering in 1984 from King Saud University in Riyadh.

In 1984, Al-Ghamdi started work as an operations engineer for Abqaiq Plants. In 1987, he moved to the Abqaiq Plants Utilities Division as a maintenance engineer and then as an operations foreman.

In 1991, he was a foreman in Oil and Gas Operations for the Abqaiq Stabilizer South Plant and North Plant, and later became supervisor of the Inspection and Corrosion Unit for Abqaiq Plants.

Al-Ghamdi also served in several acting positions, including as superintendent of Oil Operations, before becoming superintendent of Area Maintenance for the Abqaiq Natural Gas Liquids Plant in 1995. 

By 1997, he was operations superintendent at Shedgum Gas Plant and began to serve in acting managerial positions for Abqaiq Plants Maintenance, the ‘Uthmaniyah Gas Plant, and the Shedgum Gas Plant, before becoming manager of Abqaiq Plants Operations in 1999.

In 2003, he was manager of Oil Supply, Planning and Scheduling and served as acting executive director of Supply, Planning and Terminal, and Distribution and Terminal.

He became manager of Riyadh Refinery in 2004, and then Berri Gas Plant in 2005, before becoming manager of Ju’aymah Gas Plant in 2008. In April of 2009, Al-Ghamdi was promoted to a general manager level for Northern Area Gas Operations.

Al-Ghamdi has completed several leaderships training programs, including the executive education programs at the Center for Creative Leadership, the University of Virginia-Darden School of Business, and Oxford University.

‘A Lifetime Job’

Reflecting on his career, he said, “It was a lifetime job, so Aramco means everything to me. Aramco took me as a fresh graduate from college. The company gave me the opportunity to have a very colorful and exciting career, like a tapestry.

“On a personal level, I feel it all enabled my acquisition of knowledge and to transfer that into wisdom.

“From my experience over 36 years, I have always witnessed the company going into transformation.”