Hollywood movie to feature true story of Saudi oil giant

By Sibel Morrow

A new Hollywood movie, "Sands of Fortune," will tell the story of Saudi Arabia's oil discovery and the beginning of the nation's state-owned energy company, Aramco.

Initiated by Israeli producer and businessman Uri Singer, the movie will tell the true story of US geologists Max Steineke and Khamis Bin Rimthan, who together discovered the country’s first oil well in 1938, today known as Dammam No. 7, according to reports by regional news outlets.

Steineke was a renowned petroleum geologist in the US, having served as the head geologist of the California-Arabian Standard Oil Co. from 1936 to 1950, during which the company's name was changed to Aramco.

Saudi Aramco’s oil production hit 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 1949, and the company currently produces around 9 million bpd, making it one of the world’s largest oil producers.