ZAHRAN, AZ-

also spelled Dhahran, town, northeastern Saudi Arabia, in the Dammam oil field, just south of the Persian Gulf port of ad-Dammam. Near the scene of the original discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia in 1938, it is now a modern community that serves as the administrative headquarters of the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco). A major United States Air Force Base was built in 1945 and continues in use. The town has petroleum-extraction and shipping facilities, a stabilizing plant, a modern international airport, and rail connections to Riyadh and ad-Dammam. The government-sponsored King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals was founded there in 1963. Pop. (1979 est.) 35,000.