Thomas Barger (1909 – 1986) was an American

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

, explorer, miner, businessman and former CEO of the Arabian American Oil Company (formerly Aramco now

Saudi Aramco Saudi Aramco ( ar, أرامكو السعودية '), officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (formerly Arabian-American Oil Company) or simply Aramco, is a Saudi Arabian public petroleum and natural gas company based in Dhahran. , it is one of ...

Biography

Thomas Barger was born in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

in 1909 to Mary Barger and Michael Thomas Barger. He grew up in

Linton, North Dakota Linton is a city in and the county seat of Emmons County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 1,071 at the 2020 census. When compared with the other 356 cities in North Dakota, Linton ranks in the top twelve percent based on the num ...

and graduated from the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of ...

's College of Engineering in

Grand Forks, North Dakota Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...

with a degree in

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

and

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

in 1931. After college he worked as a surveyor and miner in Canada, an engineer, assayer, and assistant manager of a silver and

radium Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rather t ...

mine in the Northwest Territories and as an assistant professor of mining at the University of North Dakota. He accepted a position at the Anaconda Copper Mining Company but the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and falling copper prices resulted in his being forced to find work elsewhere. In 1937 Barger interviewed with J.O. Nomland, the chief geologist at the Standard Oil Company of California, in San Francisco and accepted a job as a surveyor in Saudi Arabia. He married Kathleen Elizabeth Ray on November 18, 1937, shortly before heading off to Saudi Arabia by himself for what ended up being three years exploring potential oil sites in the Saudi Arabian desert. He worked alongside Ernie Berg under the American geologist Max Steineke, who used a group of

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...

trackers headed by Khamis bin Rimthan. Together, they discovered the

Ghawar Field Ghawar (Arabic: الغوار) is an oil field located in Al-Ahsa Governorate, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Measuring (some ), it is by far the largest conventional oil field in the world, and accounts for roughly a third of the cumulative ...

. After the men discovered Saudi Arabia's vast fields of oil Barger began a career with Aramco that would last 32 years. He started as a surveyor and geologist then worked as the director of Local Government Relations, was the company representative to the Saudi government and was the manager for Concession Affairs. Fluent in Arabic, Barger was a key element in the company's relationship with the Saudi government and people. He ensured that the goal of the company was to be mutually beneficial, training and employing thousands of Saudis and eventually becoming a Saudi run and owned entity (which it is today). In 1957 Barger became a vice president and assistant to President Norman Hardy. In 1959 Barger became president of Aramco and in 1961 he was appointed the company's Chief Executive Officer.Time Magazine
Business: Personal File
1961-10-20. Kathleen and Thomas lived in

Dhahran Dhahran ( ar, الظهران, ''Al-Dhahran'') is a city located in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. With a total population of 240,742 as of 2021, it is a major administrative center for the Saudi oil industry. Together with the nearby cit ...

and had six children. Barger retired from the company in 1969. Thomas Barger died June 30, 1986, in San Diego at the age of 77

References

*"Tom Barger of N.D. Heads One of World's Oil Giants." The Forum. 24 Apr. 1966. (The Forum is a newspaper in Fargo - Moorhead North Dakota).
North Dakota Entrepreneur Hall of Fame Inductees

External links

- Obituary

- Pictures of Tom Barger and his wife and of Saudi Arabia from the 1930s onward

- Personal File on Thomas Barger

- Saudi Aramco World Magazine cover story {{DEFAULTSORT:Barger, Thomas 20th-century American geologists Saudi Aramco 1909 births 1986 deaths Businesspeople from Minneapolis University of North Dakota alumni Explorers of Arabia American expatriates in Saudi Arabia People from Emmons County, North Dakota 20th-century American businesspeople

Biography

See also

References

External links