87 years ago on March 3rd, Saudi Arabian oil was first discovered
Wednesday, 12 Mar 2025
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…and everyone lived happily ever after…
AND 52 years ago, the OPEC Oil Embargo shocked the entire world, causing
* US inflation to rise to 12.3%.
* 55 MPH to become the speed limit
* The Dow Jones to lose 50% of its value in one year
* Japanese cars to dominate the US car market.
[Dammam oil well No. 7](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_oil_industry_in_Saudi_Arabia) was the first well to find oil in what is now modern day Dhahran
Final Fantasy 7 was a prophecy
“And I took that personally”
-the rest of the developed world
Roughly sixty years later the oil money paid for fifteen Saudis’s one-way tickets to NYC.
There was a time when Turkiye was the leader of the Muslim world i.e. the Ottoman Empire. But it started declining after its defeat in the WW1.
Saudi Arabia, Emirates and pretty much the whole of middle East was an extreme arid region without much wealth, development or geopolitical influence.
Then the Americans came and discovered oil there which changed the fate of the entire region.
Pretty wild story the few years leading up to this, how the whole country of Saudi Arabia was consolidated by Ibn Saud. He was a legit, bad ass, he was a Bedouin, the leader of his tribe, which is now the royal family of Saudi Arabia.
He conquered four regions of Saudi Arabia, united them and created the country. He met with FDR in the mid 40s, on a navy destroyer and agreed to a partnership with the United States for oil exploration.
It’s just a really interesting story, and he was a legit Lawrence of Arabia type bad ass. He also knew it was gonna be problems, he knew that amount of wealth coming that quickly was going to change everything. They were a very, very poor country, their whole economy was based on tourism, having Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia would bring in Muslims annually by the millions.
Anyway, it changed the entire world. This dude, who was very poor, lived as a nomad with his tribe in the desert, and just like that changed everything.
The picture is Dubai before.
And that’s how the world got fugged
Give me the blood…
The Prize – Daniel Yergen is an excellent book on the history of Oil. The Saudi Aramco story is worth knowing
And then people started to get greedy.
There Will Be Blood vibes
Fuck the Saudi government.
Was all downhill from there
There must be a movie about that, right? What tipped off the first prospectors that there was oil in them thar hills?
That worked out well…….thanks BP!!!!
And they bought Mercedes Benzes…
“I’m an oilman”
“How did our oil get under their sand?”
i will leave my truck running all night in their honor
And the rape of Mother Earth began in earnest.
The freedom maker!
Yet no women in Saudi have driven a car legally since then.
Yo, brats!
It’s a fad.
OIL🔥🔥🦅🦅
Definitely belongs on the small-to-huge dominoes meme.
Its amazing what they were able to build in short amount of time
Who found the oil? You think they would go back in time and not find it given the chance ? Probably not because I’d imagine they got paid. But what do I know !?
I wonder what will be next.
Money
Thanks to Max Steineke. Your welcome Saudi Arabia.
“and they bought Mercedes Benzes. And Prince Charles started wearing all of Lady Di’s clothes. I couldn’t believe it. He took her best summer dress, put it on and went to town.”
Discovered by an american oil company
Was there very much of it?
>My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, and his son will drive a Land Rover…but my great-grandson will ride a camel.
-Sheikh Rashid of Dubai
[just going to drop this here, well worth the listen. funny and entertaining](https://youtu.be/PW6lg-7L7yk?si=L_qB48uET9hQT1bt)