I had the “opportunity” to travel to Ruwais recently. It’s near the Saudi border if you travel along the coast Southwest towards Qatar. You can’t drive from the UAE to Qatar because Saudi Arabia sometime around 1974 got a 15 mile stretch of coast land from Abu Dhabi in return for guarantees that it would not challenge the UAE’s right to the Buryami Oasis, Al Ain and surrounding areas. But once in Ruwais, I was actually closer to Doha than to Dubai if by land. It is a company town and the company is ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. It’s one of the world’s largest oil companies and the backbone of the UAE economy. I was there to participate in a design workshop as a representative of Yamasaki. Below are some images of the ADNOC executive retreat and residential compound where I stayed and the oil refinery at night.
