Yanbu City Profile

Yanbu was established thousands of years ago when early Egyptian traders crossed
the Red Sea, establishing land routes into Jordan, to the north, and Jeddah, to the
south. This area is referred to as Old Yanbu, the historical part of the town. Modern
Yanbu is a short distance away.

This city was developed along with Jubail in the Eastern Province as an industrial city.
Built on a smaller scale than its eastern cousin Yanbu comprises petrochemical & non
hydrocarbon facilities plus a refinery & also the terminal of the East-West pipeline.

Geography & Location

Yanbu' al Bahr (Arabic, “spring by the sea”), industrial and port city in Saudi Arabia,
located on the Red Sea coast in Medina Province, about 350 km (about 220 mi) north
of Jeddah. About one third of the city’s 185 square kms consists of industrial sites.

Yanbu has a great advantage in its location. It is very near to the Suez Canal opening
it to the European market for its produces. Yanbu is in the middle of Americas and the
Far East. The city is located far off from the major oil fields of the Kingdom but intra-
country pipelines convey crude oil and natural gas liquid to the petrochemical
industries.

History

‘Yanbu', as the city is commonly known, is the western terminus of parallel pipelines
that carry liquefied natural gas and oil across nearly 1300 km (nearly 800 mi) of
desert and mountains. The town is a growing industrial center with three large oil
refineries, a petrochemical complex, and a large desalination plant. Industries using
gas and oil as raw materials make a variety of consumer products, including plastics.
Yanbu' is connected with the rest of the country by a modern highway system. It also
has an airport, a large commercial port, and a naval base. During the 1st millennium
BC Yanbu' al Bahr was a stopping point for merchant caravans on the incense route
that extended from Yemen to the Mediterranean Sea. Later it also served as a resting
site for Muslim pilgrims traveling to Mecca and Medina. In 1975 the Saudi government
chose Yanbu and Al Jubail, a small town on the Persian Gulf coast, to be developed as
modern industrial cities. Both play a central role in diversifying Saudi Arabia's
economic base so that the country is not dependent solely on crude oil exports.

Population (1993 estimate) 40,000.

Developments

Twenty years ago, all that could be seen at Yanbu was an insignificant Red Sea fishing
port, surrounded by an arid coastal plain. Today, Yanbu Industrial City together with
its port ranks as one of the exporting giants of the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The construction of this ultra-modern industrial base in such a short time must surely
be counted as one of the Kingdom's most astonishing achievements.

Back in the 1960s, Saudi Arabia's vast petroleum deposits were still being largely
extracted by foreign countries, thirty years on from the first discovery of oil. The
dramatic rise in oil prices, however, which began in the early seventies, heralded a
glowing social and economic future for the Kingdom. The dream to establish Saudi
Arabia as a top worldwide industrial exporter could at last begin to take shape.

The first step was taken with a Royal Decree in 1975, which first established the Royal
Commission for Jubail and Yanbu. In 1977, after two years of hard work, the
Commission completed a 30-year Master Plan, which laid down guidelines for the
conversion of a staggering 54,362 acres (22,000 hectares) of undeveloped desert land
for residential and industrial use.

Industries

Four basic industrial categories were to be established. The first category, Primary
Industries, incorporated all petroleum-based or energy-intensive industries. Secondary
Industries included production industries using raw materials from the first category.
Support Industries and Light Manufacturing Industries were categorized as those which
produce materials or services needed by the first two categories.

Industrial City & Royal Commission

The new Industrial City of Yanbu was planned as the spearhead for the modernization
of the whole of Saudi Arabia's rural northwestern coastal region. It would also provide
a new strategic outlet on Red Sea shipping lanes, to handle most of the Kingdom's sea-
borne trade. Planners envisaged a city with housing and lifestyle facilities second to
none, and an urban population, which would exceed 100,000 by the year 2020. The
Royal Commission planned 14 neighborhoods, or residential districts in the new city,
which was to be known as "Yanbu Industrial City" (Madinat Yanbu Al-Sinaiyah).

After an initial injection of government money, the strategy was to provide incentives
for increasing private investment. The Royal Commission sought to achieve this by the
establishment of functioning primary and support industries, and by building an
attractive residential environment for both management and workforce. The
Commission's first priority was therefore to establish a physical infrastructure,
capable of supplying the needs of this growing urban community.

The city of Yanbu epitomizes practicality, efficiency and respect for tradition, and
represents one of Saudi Arabia's supreme achievements.

Yanbu Industrial City is being developed under the direction of the Royal Commission
for Jubail and Yanbu. Established in 1975 the Commission is responsible for providing
the entire infrastructure, both physical and social, needed to construct and operate
the huge industrial developments at Jubail and Yanbu. In addition, the Royal
Commission is in charge of community and human resources development,
environmental protection and the promotion of private-sector investment in two
cities. Yanbu is currently host to 15 heavy hydrocarbons, petrochemical and mineral
facilities as well as 30 light manufacturing and support industries. There are many big
industries in the pipeline at various stages of construction. In Yanbu the world-class
refining and petrochemical complexes convert oil and natural gas into products for
export and into feedstock for local manufacturers.

The required infrastructure like power, road, port, desalination unit for providing
drinking water and telecommunications network are available in both the cities. The
Royal Commission’s role in industrial development of this area is substantial.

Telecommunications

Yanbu’s telecommunications systems provide modern, citywide communications

services, as well as linkage to the rest of the world. These systems were installed
incrementally; starting with interim facilities geared to construction support
operations. These included land and mobile telephone networks, telex equipment;
microwave links Mobile Radio, Paging System and emergency services. Later, marine
radio for the port, air traffic control systems for Yanbu Airport and cable television
were added.

The Yanbu telephone system offers fully automatic access to domestic and
international networks, thanks to a broad range of technologies, microwave systems,
a satellite relay and digital switching.

A top requirement for modern international business is an efficient communications

system, and again the Royal Commission surpassed itself. Direct dial fiber-optic and
satellite relays carry telephone, telex and fax communications around the world, and
a new cable TV station broadcasts programs throughout the day. Over 12,000
telephone and four telex lines can handle 168 simultaneous users on a 'time share'
system and by a mobile radio paging system. The Emergency Services Control Centre
is computer-controlled.

Roads

Yanbu Industrial City parallels King Abdul Aziz Road, the highway connecting Jeddah-
Medina Highway and communities up the coast. Six lanes wide within the city, this
main artery forms the spine of the industrial development in the area. Feeder and
collector roads branch off to community and industrial zones.

The Yanbu road network, which consists of nearly 460 Kilometers of paved surface,
provides for rapid, safe and convenient travel within the city. The primary road grid
in the residential area helps define and enclose the community’s 14 districts. Traffic
flow is regulated by a computerized and synchronized traffic control system.

Besides roads, pedestrian paths link residential zones with neighboring commercial
centers and other high-use areas, such as apartments, schools and recreational
facilities. Pleasantly landscaped, those paths are an integral part of the community’s
open-space and recreation plan, and greatly contribute to Yanbu’s “pedestrian-
friendly” city layout.

Airport

Yanbu Airport is located six Kilometers from Yanbu Al-Bahr and 25 Kilometers from
the industrial city. In use since 1979, the airport includes a 3,210-meter-long, 45-
meter-wide runway, with a control tower and passenger terminal, requisite
navigational systems, and modern cargo handling facilities. Although most of the air
traffic consists of small and medium-sized aircraft, B-747 Jumbo Jets and even the
Concorde have used the airport on occasion.

Yanbu Airport currently handles regularly scheduled flights by Saudi Arabian Airlines
to and from Jeddah and Riyadh.