Ras Tanura (more accurately Ra's Tannūrah, Arabic: رأس تنورة meaning "cape oven, cape brazier" presumably due to the unusual heat prevalent at the cape that projects into the sea) is a city in the
Eastern Province of
Saudi Arabia located on a peninsula extending into the
Persian Gulf. The name Ras Tanura applies both to a
gated Saudi Aramco employee compound (also referred to as "Najmah") and to an industrial area further out on the peninsula that serves as a major
oil port and oil operations center for
Saudi Aramco, the largest oil company in the world. Today, the compound has about 3,200 residents, with a few Americans and British expats.