Udhailiyah

Udhailiyah is a small oil company compound in the interior of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia located in the desert southwest of the Dhahran-Dammam-Khobar metropolitan area. Built by the national oil company Saudi Aramco, Udhailiyah has a population of approximately 1,350 residents. Udhailiyah can also be seen with the spellings Udeliya, Udayliyah, and other variations with the same phonetics.Udhailiyah compound is the smallest of four residential compounds built by Saudi Aramco, including Dhahran, Ras Tanura, and Abqaiq. It is the southernmost and most isolated of the four communities, Abqaiq being its closest Saudi Aramco compound to the north, about an hour away by car. To the northeast is the city of Hofuf and the expansive Al-Hasa oasis. Udhailiyah takes its natural character from the numerous rocky hills or outcroppings, called "jebels", that surround it. The tallest and most popular Jebel is "Pioneer Mountain." An equally popular and impressive jebel is named "747" due to its likeness of a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet.Similar to the other three compounds, Udhailiyah is surrounded by multiple perimeter fences, Saudi Aramco employees and their dependents live inside. The community today is a multi-ethnic mosaic of Saudis, Americans, other Arab nationalities, Indians, Pakistanis, etc. - all of whom live with English as the common language.