By the early 1930s, geologists had a good idea that there was oil under the sands of the newly-formed kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Oil had been found in Persia in 1908, and wells had been producing in Iraq since 1927. In 1932, Bahrain stuck oil. So in 1933, Standard Oil of California (Socal, later to become Chevron) was granted the right to prospect for oil in Saudi Arabia's eastern provinces.
In May 1936, the “Dammam 2” well struck oil. But soon it was producing more water than oil. It took five more years of looking, but on 3 March 1938, the “Dammam 7” well struck oil. Within three weeks, it had produced over 100,000 barrels.
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