dependence on oil and to increase employment opportunities for the swelling Saudi population. In recent decades, the government has started to not prohibit private sector and foreign investor participation in certain sectors, such as power generation and telecommunications, has and acceded to the World Trade Organization. During much of the 2000s, high oil prices allowed the government to post budget surpluses and boost spending on job training and education, infrastructure development, and government salaries. With its absolute monarchy, large state sector, and supply of welfare benefits, the Saudi economy has been described asː The gross domestic product and real gross domestic income of Saudi Arabia fluctuates dramatically according to the oil price. Market prices estimated by the International Monetary Fund and other sources, with figures in millions of Saudi Arabian Riyals (SR). Mean wages were $14.74 per man-hour in 2009. History Saudi Arabia was a subsistence economy until the 1930s. In 1933, the Saudi government signed an oil concession agreement with the Standard Oil Company of California. The development of oil fields continued in Saudi Arabia, managed mainly by Aramco, a company formed by the partnership of Texaco and Chevron. In 1951, the first offshore field in the Middle East was established by the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco) at Raʾs Al-Saffāniyyah area. By 1949, Saudi oil production reached 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) and rose rapidly to 1 million bpd in 1954. Moreover, in 1951, Aramco started operating the Trans-Arabian Pipeline that moved oil from the eastern region of Saudi Arabia to the Mediterranean Sea through Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. However, in 1981, this line was no longer used after a new line began operations that linked Jubail on the Persian Gulf and Yanbu on the Red Sea. The new pipe contributed greatly to speed up oil transport. In 1960, OPEC was established, with Saudi Arabia as one of its founding members. During the 1973 oil crisis, the price of oil rose from $3 per barrel to nearly $12, and the Saudi economy started growing rapidly, with GDP increasing from approximately $15 billion in 1973 to almost $184 billion by 1981. After gradually purchasing Aramco assets, the Saudi government nationalized the company in 1980. In 1988, Saudi Aramco was established to take over the responsibilities of Aramco. In 1980, the price of oil peaked, and demand started decreasing as a result of recessions in industrialized nations and more efficient