Rauf al Hamayal


	Dhahran Diary®
Title: Rauf al Hamayal DD19		South Admin, completed in 1950, was the first permanent office space in Dhahran. This building and other complexes across the Saudi Peninsula were developed under the guidance of Rauf al Hamayal.. By 1983, the Dhahran Metroplex alone had six building housing 8,000 office workers. (rcc)

South Administration Building started with just one wing but this was quickly modified into a 'U' shaped structure by 1950. The Admin Building, referred to as the Ad building became the hub of ARAMCO's oil business as well as its passenger transportation hub. Resident busses began their runs from the Ad building because workers needed to have transportation to the pool, the dining hall, and home at both ends of the work day and lunch.

The first event held after its opening was a Christmas Season Fly-In as Santa arrived with gifts by helicopter from the Dhahran Air Base.

Santa landed in the Ad building parking lot in December 1949. The U.S.A. F. graciously loaned their search and rescue vehicle for the trip. Fred Casto and Santa welcome an enthusiastic crowd of oil workers, their dependents, and Saudis alike. (rcc)

The camp was growing fast in 1949 as the Ad building went up at one end of King's Road. It was a big, stone structure- two floors. Several wings were added as oil workers poured into Dhahran; portables clustered around the Ad building to accommodate departments as they grew. This is where Rauf al Hamayal began the modest office services unit. He had a small staff of laborers and they did everything imaginable to support the needs of office space. They had a bubbler in the main room of their portable and it was one of my stops on a hot day. I do not remember Rauf then; I remember someone talking on the phone and giving orders but that is all. The portable had one seasoned desk, a few cranky chairs, and a telephone. These were the meager beginnings of office services.

I have to thank Steve Furman for introducing me to Rauf. Steve is remembered for being the first boy-child to come to ARAMCO's oil camp of Dhahran. That was in 1945, I think around October. Steve's dad worked for ARAMCO before WWII and when things got dangerous, they closed the field and sent everyone home. When hostilities were on the wane, Steve's dad returned, and Steve followed with his mother.

In the mid-1960s, the South Administration Building was still the staging area for events such as this parade led by the Dhahran Marching Band. King's Road began at South Admin and went all the way past the ball field. (rcc)

Leap ahead to 1981 when I was hired by ARAMCO to work for Offices Services as a planning and programs analyst. Rauf signed my field hire request after Steve Furman's introduction. Offices Services now had 1,500 employees, a planning staff of 35, and more than three million square feet of office space to assign and maintain. The space was scattered around the kingdom, from Jeddah to Ras al Mishab, Ras Tanura, Abqaiq, Ud'daliyah, Dhahran, and points in between. There were many other locations and new opportunities came quickly as the off shore oil reserves were exploited. It was a very political department because the amount of office space an organization had depended on each worker's grade code. Department heads got the most and clerks got the least. Our job was to make sure people got what they deserved not what they thought they deserved. Of course, executive management got more space but they represented a small number and were not seen as an erosive element.

Rauf was intense. I never saw him slouch against furniture or stand around with his hands in his pockets. He was a lean machine, always working and he expected the same of us. His English was outstanding. His wife, Fredah, was the first Saudi to attend the Dhahran Senior Staff School. She was about my sister's age, seven years my junior, and I am told that later she went on to school in Beirut. I was told Rauf was graduated from the American University of Beirut. I suppose he was in the company's Professional Development Program (PDP) or its precursor. I always thought of Rauf as the standard by which any Saudi Arab could measure his career. He rose from the bottom, through the ranks of this large petrochemical company to become department head in an expatriate controlled environment; he was bilingual, articulate, shrewd, motivated, and he set an even handed example to all his staff. He was well respected; although we might not agree with Rauf's particular decision, everyone understood that he accepted responsibility for his actions and that he understood office worker needs better than anyone else. He was the man. He was a strong leader. He would give you a decision before the words were hardly out of your mouth and he could develop alternatives faster than a hood-hood could flex its crest. He knew the department better than any of its employees. He was the only department head Office Services ever had, I'm told. I liked Rauf and I developed understanding of the work under his guidance. Work was very busy, even confusing, but with direction from Steve Furman and Marshall Jones, another early days Dhahran classmate, I soon learned how to cope with the unique opportunities of ARAMCO. Marshall had been the lead engineer on construction of the University of Petroleum and Minerals (UPM) before moving across the fence to ARAMCO. Steve had been a U. S. Marine major, later worked various petroleum positions in South America, the Ivory Coast, and Iran before returning to Dhahran.

The Dhahran metroplex had changed from that one Ad building. Its new name was South Admin, and now there were East Admin, North Admin, the Tower, the EXPEC, and the Engineering buildings. There were over 8,000 office workers in this clustered complex! It was a wonderful place to work, modern, cool, and shaded. There were marble panels, modern art on the walls, and the most up to date office, communications, and computer equipment money could buy. Rauf was the metroplex architect.

Then one day Rauf was reassigned to the Storehouse as department head. I don't know the details but it must have been hard on him to see all that he had built restructured by others. Office Services became Office Systems and Support with a general manager, and three or four department heads. Petroleum is a dynamic business and ARAMCO was changing almost monthly; Iran and Iraq were still at war and this made issues even more tenuous. The Dhahran metroplex even became an enclave with its own fence and security.

The last time I saw Rauf, he was leaving the Storehouse area. He was walking tall and briskly, as he always did. It was one week before I left ARAMCO in January 1985. Wherever you are Rauf, I wish you and your family the best. You were a great boss and you left ARAMCO with a great legacy.

Dhahran Diary®