This Day in History (1983): Third Middle East Oil Show opens in Bahrain; Aramco participates

From the March 16, 1983, edition of The Arabian Sun

The Middle East's largest petroleum technology exhibit -- the third biennial Middle East Oi Show and Conference -- opened Monday in Bahrain Aramco was prominently represented with a company exhibit and by the active roles Aramcons played in the technical conference.

 Aramco's Executive Vice President Ali I. Naimi delivered the conference keynote address, following a welcoming speech by His Excellency Yusuf A. Shirawi, Bahrain's Minister of Development and Industry.

Of the 72 research papers presented at the conference, a dozen were written or coauthored by Aramco scientists and engineers. Aramcons also filled the posts of session chairman or cochairman at three of the 13 technical meetings held during the four-day show.

The Oil Show serves as "an important measure of the meaningful transfer of expertise ... to the oil-producing people of the Gulf," Naimi said.

Naimi, who served for two years a chairman of the conference's program planning committee, pointed out in his address that many of the exhibits and technical papers to be presented at the Oil Show highlight the management of maturing oil fields and the techniques of enhanced oil recover," an indication of the farsighted vision that characterizes the national oil industries in the Gulf countries. Although these techniques have little immediate application," Naimi added, "they will no doubt increase in significance over the next decades.

Caption for the top photo: Chairman of the board John J. Kelberer discusses a display at the Aramco exhibit with Bahrain's Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa. Touring the Oil Show exhibit with the official party were J.R. Jorden, president-elect of the Society of Petroleum Engineers; Ali I. Naimi, Aramco Executive Vice President; and HE Yusuf A. Shirawi, Minister of Industry and Development of Bahrain.

Also on this date

2022 — A 7.4 magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Fukushima, Japan, killing four and injuring 225

2020 — The Dow Jones falls by 2,997.10, the single largest point drop in history after the U.S. Federal Reserve announces that it will cut its target interest rate to 0.25%

1995 — Mississippi formally ratifies the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The amendment was officially ratified in 1865.

1975 — T-Bone Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist dies in Los Angeles at age 64

1966 — Gemini 8 launches with astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott; it would later perform the frist docking of two spacecraft in orbit

1941 — Chuck Woolery, American game host and TV personality, is born in Ashland, Kentucky

1926 — Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts

1898 — In Melbourne, the representatives of five colonies adopt a constitution, which would become the basis of the Commonwealth of Australia

1872 — The Wanderers F.C. win the first FA Cup, the oldest football competition in the world, beating Royal Engineers A.F.C. 1-0 at The Oval in Kennington, London