The Caravan Goes On

A fascinating inside look at Aramco's rise, and the oil industry's evolution.

The remarkable story of one man's journey to leadership of the world's largest energy company, The Caravan Goes On, is the first published inside account of the corporation's workings by a CEO and represents a significant addition to the literature on the turbulent development of the global oil industry.The remarkable story of one man's journey to leadership of the world's largest energy company, The Caravan Goes On, is the first published inside account of the workings of the corporation by a CEO and represents a significant addition to the literature on the turbulent development of the world's oil industry. Frank Jungers, former President, Chairman, and CEO of the petroleum giant Aramco, tells the inside story of his three decades in Saudi Arabia (1947–1978) with the world's largest oil-producing company. A North Dakota farm boy, Jungers rose to the top of one of the most important hydrocarbon enterprises ever, a company that eventually found itself responsible for nearly one-quarter of the world's oil resources. He writes of his face-to-face encounters with King Faisal and other Saudi leaders, and his role in steering the company through major international crises that included the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, the dramatic oil price increases of the 1970s, the Arab oil embargo, and the OPEC hostage incident of 1975. Central to Jungers' story is his role in helping to develop Aramco's Saudi workforce in preparation for the eventual transfer of company ownership from four American oil majors to the Government of Saudi Arabia. He explains the unique nature of the ownership transfer, which was remarkably different from the bitter nationalisation processes seen in Iraq, Libya, Iran, and Venezuela. Jungers describes how Aramco and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in an important sense, grew up together, and he highlights the crucial role played by Aramco in the development of the young nation's infrastructure and economy. This personal, colourful, and up-close view is essential reading for oil-industry watchers, as well as those interested in big business, geopolitics, America's role in the Middle East, and the extraordinary transformation and emergence of modern Saudi Arabia since oil was discovered in its Eastern Province.