Memories of Islamic Middle East and Africa

Al Hanners is a retired geologist who worked worldwide for a major U.S. oil company for nearly five decades. He worked in the Middle East for the company in the early 1970s.

Part 1

The history of oil is replete with oil company involvement with national politics at home and abroad. A friend who used gasoline to drive his car asked, “How can you work in such a business?” My job was technical, not political. I felt I was providing a service to fellow Americans who drove cars.

From 1968-1972, I worked as an oil geologist in Texaco’s headquarters in New York City dealing with explorations in the Eastern Hemisphere where all of Texaco’s operations were joint ventures. That required numerous trips abroad.

I had already worked and lived 12 years in Latin America. That experience stimulated my awareness of cultures and politics abroad including U.S. foreign policy.

I was a petroleum geologist from Texaco’s headquarters in New York City headed to a technical meeting of geologists and engineers representing the companies that owned Aramco. The Mideast airline out of Beirut was a practical way to get there. For travelers flying out of New York, there was a day layover in Beirut ostensibly for an opportunity for those going east to reset their biological clocks. I suspected the reason was as much an opportunity to attend a Beirut nightclub. No stripper shows but a loud and wild extravaganza.

As I was about to take an aisle seat in a Mideast airline plane from Beirut to Saudi Arabia in the 1960s, a man carrying a brown paper bag opened the top and tipped it to show me what was inside. To my surprise it was a bottle of whiskey. Then he took the aisle seat opposite me. Evidently he had been to Beirut to indulge in vices not permitted in Saudi Arabia: night clubs, alcohol and prostitution, a situation similar to that of Cuba before Castro when Americans went there to play. Revolutions wiped out both playgrounds, Cuba first, Beirut later.

After the plane was airborne my newly found friend opened the bag and signaled he would like to drink with me. The airline did not sell alcohol but did sell setups and one could take all the alcohol one could drink into Saudi Arabia provided it was in one’s body. What should I do? Americans were the good guys in those days. I could ill afford to offend his hospitality. I drank with him and between us we killed a whole fifth of Scotch. I was drunk but managed to maintain my equilibrium when getting off the plane. My new friend invited me to come to his place the next day, but I said, “I’m sorry, I have to go to an Aramco meeting.” I went to the Aramco Compound and I never saw him again. As for the meeting, nothing really was required of me. Never known for being silent, I was quiet that day.

During World War II almost all of American industrial production was directed toward the war effort. Development of oil fields began at the end of World War II when spare parts were still difficult if not impossible to buy, so Aramco built a fabulous machine shop where just about anything needed could be built. Saudis noticed that and began to ask Aramco to do engineering and construction for them. We protected the Saudi monarchy and its treasure trove of oil, Saudi Arabia provided America with cheap oil. Saudi Arabia collected a modest royalty on the oil produced.

Life outside the compound was ruled by Islamic law. American women seldom had the respite of leaving the compound, could not drive cars outside and to a degree had to conform to Islamic dress code. Inside the compound Americans could do whatever they wanted within the bounds of conventional American customs.

Alcohol has been important in the lives of people in isolated places with limited recreational opportunities at least as far back as the Whiskey Rebellion during the presidency of George Washington. More recent examples in my experience include Dutch Harbor, a base for fishing vessels in Alaska, Tennessee hillbilly country and Las Mercedes, an Eastern Venezuela oil field base.

The Aramco oil field compound in Saudi Arabia was similar. The Aramco engineering department provided blueprints of a still for making whiskey. Cocktail parties were convenient ways to entertain guests, for amateur bootleggers to test their skills and for them to enjoy praise from grateful guests.

Much of Saudi Arabia is desert, the Empty Quarter. We visitors from the United States were entertained by a trip to an oilrig drilling an exploration well there. A big African man is burned into my memory. Born a slave, he had gained his freedom and became a local role model. He had three wives and was the boss on the drilling rig.

Scattered among the sand dunes was camel bush, green food for herds of camels and goats, but the range for nomads living in the desert had been limited by natural oases to water their flocks. That was changed by Saudi law requiring that an exploratory well that found no oil but potable water must be completed as a water well. We visited an oasis created by a well, saw herds of camels and goats, dung and flies everywhere. I was forever grateful for living in a better environment.

Hedging is trying to avoid loss by making counter balancing actions and/or investments. Standard Oil Company discovered oil in Saudi Arabia and hedged its investment by forming Aramco, the Arabian American Oil Company. Saudi oil fields were highly profitable. A typical oil well did not require pumping but flowed at a rate on the order of 20,000 barrels per day for years. Expenditures for exploration and development were minimal. In the 1960s, the cost of producing a barrel of Saudi oil was only 30 cents per barrel. In terms of present dollars that would be on the order of one dollar per barrel. That was far less than the cost of producing oil in the United States.

So why didn’t the American companies that owned Aramco cut back on domestic production and buy Saudi oil instead? Because, then as now, investments in the Middle East were considered quite risky. It was hedging against risk. Moreover, much of Saudi oil was sold in Europe. Thus, Arabian American companies expanded markets and profit. That was then. Today over one-half of oil consumed in the United States is imported but only 15 percent is from Saudi Arabia. The rest is from other countries, mostly Venezuela, Mexico and Canada. Hedging is involved, but most of those oils also are of higher quality than Saudi oil.

During the Gulf War, Saudi Arabia allowed Americans to use Saudi Arabia as a military base. Osama bin Laden, a Saudi, was angered by American (infidel) troops on what he called ‘sacred soil,’ and by the low prices Americans paid for Saudi oil. He was not alone. The majority of 9-11 hijackers were Saudis.

Because the Saudi royal family needed American support, Osama bin Laden fell into disfavor and fled to Afghanistan before 9-11. There are creditable allegations that the royal family is hedging by selling Americans oil while funding terrorists. As late as Feb. 5, 2006, Wolf Blitzer, CNN television anchor, quizzed the Saudi Ambassador, a member of the royal family, on allegations that Saudi Arabia is funding terrorists by laundering the money through charities

One time when I was in Saudi Arabia attending an Aramco technical meeting I received a telegram from Texaco’s head office in New York. Instead of returning directly to New York I was to attend a meeting in British Petroleum’s office in London.

“What is the best way to go to London?” I asked my Aramco colleagues. “Take the German airline, Lufthansa,” I was told. “It will fly you past the Pyramids of Giza on the outskirts of Cairo. You can then stop six hours in Athens to see the Acropolis.” Fred, a Texaco engineer attending the same Aramco meeting and I did exactly that.

Unexpectedly, we had the good fortune to land at Cairo Airport. Egypt was still technically, but not actively, at war with Israel. Military planes in revetments surrounded the landing strip. There was a short stopover, so we went into the terminal and had snacks. Egyptians, apparently hurting form loss of tourist revenue, were very friendly. Fred and I resolved to stop a day in Cairo the next time we went to an Aramco meeting in Saudi Arabia.

The Acropolis is a large, open, stone building on a hill where it was a religious shrine. Acropolis means the top of the town. What we saw at the Acropolis will never be seen again as we saw it. Tourists were allowed to enter the building but are no longer permitted. There were statues both inside and along the walk leading to it, all deteriorated from foul air caused by automobile exhaust. Crews were at work moving the statues to air-conditioned storage. About half of them had already been removed. Did I see some of them years later in the Athens museum?

Fred returned to New York and I went onto London. Still stimulated by an exciting day, I had a drink in a London pub before retiring.

The reason for the meeting of members of the Iranian consortium at British Petroleum’s office was this: British Petroleum owned the largest share of the consortium and wanted to hear from the other shareholders regarding a request from the Shah, the de facto dictator. He wanted to increase Iranian oil production to fund an Iranian military buildup. In those days, neighboring countries feared the Shah just as they feared Saddam Hussein when he invaded Kuwait at the time of the Gulf War.

There would be no merit in the Shah increasing his ability to dominate the Middle East. From the consortium point of view, increased oil production would decrease the price of oil and accelerate depletion of oil reserves without increasing profit. Members of the technical committee unanimously recommended no increase in the rate of oil production. Later, management compromised by a moderate production rate increase but not what the Shah wanted.

The next time I went to an Aramco meeting in Saudi Arabia I was determined to spend a day in Cairo. My boss forbade me to do it because of the war with Israel. “You’ll get stranded there,” he said. I did it anyway.

Fred and I stayed at the Cairo Hilton where we had rooms overlooking the Nile River. Before dinner, we sat on the balcony having drinks and watching a dhow sailing up river and passing under a bridge. Having been an avid sailor while living in Trinidad but never having seen a dhow, I was fascinated. A dhow is a narrow open boat with a single triangular sail. It is attached to a steeply inclined yard. The yard is affixed to a shorter mast without stays. Just before passing under the bridge the crew quickly took down the sail and mast. Momentum carried the boat past the bridge where the crew quickly put up the mast and sail and were on their way.

I knew what I wanted to see. Fred did not and mostly left it to me to plan the next day. After dinner, we went to the hotel lobby where we found a cab driver fluent in English. We told him where we wanted to go and made a deal for him to stay with us the entire day. The places were the Sphinx and Pyramid of Giza, traditionally visited by tourists, the Cairo Museum that had many Egyptian relics superior to those in the London Museum, the Muhammad Ali Mosque renowned for its inanimate art and stained glass windows, and a Coptic Church. “I’m a Copt,” the cab driver said, “I’ll take you.” As it turned out, the route to the church was about as interesting as the church itself.

Our first stop was at the Sphinx and the Pyramid of Giza just beyond the outskirts of Cairo. Both were built during the age of great pyramid building from 2613-2494 B.C.

The Sphinx is carved from bedrock still in place. The nose is missing, said to have been shot off by French troops at the time Napoleon conquered Egypt. We followed the usual tourist regime and rode a camel to the Sphinx while having pictures taken. I found the motion of the camel quite different than that of a horse and uncomfortable.

The pyramid was built of large polished rocks that had been transported miles. We climbed about half way to the top. What a thrill to touch a famous monument made by humans thousands of years ago! We also walked the passage that led into the pyramid interior. It is narrow and low, requiring one to stoop low. Some Egyptian pharaohs are said to have been six feet tall, but they entered the pyramid as mummies. Working class ancient Egyptians must have been much shorter than people today.

At the Cairo Museum we saw real mummies. There was a better representation of ancient treasures than I had seen in the London Museum. Only one remains burned into my memory, a chariot in perfect condition that had been in a tomb. At the time the Pyramid of Giza was built, royalty rode in chariots pulled by donkeys. Horses were introduced in 1700 B.C. and the camels much later. Camels replaced wheeled vehicles in sandy deserts where water was scarce.

Mention Muhamed Ali and most Americans think of the boxer. He was known as Cassias Clay when he was an amateur light heavyweight boxer. He gained weight, converted to Islam and took the name of the famous Islamic person, Muhamed Ali. The mosque is named after the same person.

The mosque is an attractive large domed building with stained glass windows circling the lower part of the dome. The walls and windows are completely decorated with inanimate art. We arrived there in the late afternoon when the sun was low and there were rays of light streaming through the windows. It was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen.

Past experience led to my interest in Copts and the Coptic church. I had taught a Sunday school class in a Unitarian church with the purpose of teaching tolerance of other Christians. When I became a Middle East geologist I thought I should know something about the people and culture in those countries. That led to Egyptology, the Rosetta Stone and the Copts.

The Rosetta Stone was discovered in the Nile delta Circa 1789 and now is in the London Museum where I saw it. To the uninformed it is a very ordinary irregular rock. To Egyptologists it is the key to deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphs. The same historical message was written in three different forms: Egyptian hieroglyphs, Greek and Coptic. The Copts are believed to be descendents of the ancient Egyptians. The Coptic language is the last form of ancient Egyptian language, but is not spoken today except for liturgical purposes. Today about one-twelfth of the Egyptian population is Coptic. Arabs dominate the population and politics and have the better jobs.

During the Christian era prior to Islam, all of North Africa was either Christian or still pagan. During the golden days of Islam, 750-1250 A.D., Islam swept westward as far as Spain and wiped out most of the Christian churches. Today only two churches remain that have never been connected to Roman Catholic or Greek Orthodox churches. There is at least one Coptic church in Cairo and another in Ethiopia where the religion is said to be similar to Coptic. From a quick look at a Coptic church and priest, they seemed somewhat similar to Greek Orthodox but not at all similar to Roman Catholic.

Our Coptic chauffeur and guide parked his cab and walked us along long, narrow alleys in what seemed to be at least marginally a slum. The church itself turned out to be a basement. Apparently Copts are allowed to pursue their ways if they stay out of sight and do not make any waves. Such is the degree of freedom of religion in an Islamic country. Two priests, dressed in their vestments were there. We made contributions for the privilege of visiting. Satisfied by a wonderful day ending with off beat tourism, we returned to our hotel. §

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