Shaybah

Shaybah Oil Field is a major crude oil production oil site in Saudi Arabia, located approximately 40km from the northern edge of the Rub' Al-Khali ("Empty Quarter") desert. It is about 10km south of the border to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, which is a straight line drawn in the desert. It is 40km south of the eastern part of Abu Dhabi's Liwa Oasis.Shaybah was developed for the purposes of exploiting the Shaybah oilfield. It was established by Saudi Aramco during the 1990s, and, prior to this, only the rough tracks used by early exploration teams existed in this isolated desert region. All materials for the establishment and construction of Shaybah were transported the 800km from Dhahran to Shaybah by road.Shaybah has housing facilities for 1,000 men, administrative offices, an airstrip, a fire station, recreation areas, maintenance and support workshops, and power stations for generation and distribution. There is a 650-kilometer fibre optic cable linking Shaybah to the main radio system at Abqaiq.When established, the Shaybah oilfield had estimated reserves of over 14Goilbbl of crude oil and 25Tcuft of gas. Saudi Aramco brought the project on-stream in 1998. The crude is Arabian extra light, a high-quality crude grade with a specific gravity of 42 degrees api and a sulphur content of less than 0.7 percent. The oil reservoir is found at a depth of 1,494 meters and is itself 122 meters thick. The oil pipeline from the Shaybah field to Abqaiq is long, with a further 735km within the field itself.