May 20, 2020 Vol. LXXV, No. 21 a weekly Saudi Aramco publication for employees Dear colleagues, practicing physical distancing, and avoiding humbling and inspiring. Countless people in gatherings of any kind. Any complacency is as need will directly benefit from your generosity With the Holy Month of Ramadan coming to dangerous as an infection and continued vig- as your donations will be matched 100% by a close, I would like to extend my personal best ilance will ensure our own health and safety Saudi Aramco and distributed to a wide range wishes to you and to your families for a peace- along with the well-being of our families and of worthwhile social, medical, and educational ful ‘Id al-Fitr. friends, our colleagues and communities. causes. This ‘Id will be unlike any we have experi- During this time, our individual actions While traditionally this is a time when we enced before. are for the greater good and for the benefit gather with family and friends, we can take However, it is vital that we still observe all of others. I also want to convey my sincerest great comfort in knowing that by staying apart, the precautionary and preventive measures gratitude to all of you who contributed to our we are truly in this together. ‘Id Mubarak! that have been put in place to stop the spread donation campaigns prior to and during Ra- of COVID-19. This includes maintaining high madan. You have demonstrated an enormous Amin Nasser standards of hygiene, wearing facemasks, amount of compassion and care that is both President and CEO ‘Id Mubarak wild footprints return to soaring dunes Shaybah: Engineering feat enhancing nature Biodiversity provides us with the essential foundations for our very existence, livelihoods, and prosperity. This Friday is International Day for Biological Diversity, and we can all be proud of Saudi Aramco’s significant work toward protecting and restoring the Kingdom’s biodiversity. Working sites such as Abha protect some of our planet’s most precious biodiversity, while in the Rub’ al-Khali, an oil and gas engineering feat is enabling astonishing biodiversity restoration. see pages 5-7 Do Your Part by Wearing a Mask in Public Controlling COVID- is in our hands, and we should do whatever it takes to stop its transmission. maintain physical distancing of meters at all times May 20, 2020 the arabian sun 2 company news He thought he was just giving some feedback. Ahmed was eager to share ideas with Khaled on how to enhance their presentation and wanted to meet in person. He hadn’t been feeling all that great lately and figured it was work stress. But Ahmed was already showing symptoms of the virus. His nearness to Khaled and his casual, poorly covered cough put his colleague at risk. Never let your guard down. Because it’s not only about you. It’s about everyone’s safety. Unsafe personal behaviors can destroy lives. Do your part to keep us all safe. Maintain a safe Cover your cough or sneeze. Recognize symptoms if you distance of at Use a tissue and dispose of it responsibly. have a fever, cough, and difficulty least 2 meters If you don't have a tissue, cough or breathing, call your health care from others. sneeze into your upper arm. provider immediately. saudiaramco.com/en/covid Help desk 87-COVID (013-872-6843) JHAH 800-305-4444 (Option 3) Corporate Communication Department the arabian sun May 20, 2020 company news 3 while celebrating ‘Id, don’t let your guard down As Ramadan ends, it is a time for fami- longer, and protect those we love. ers, fathers, siblings, children, and the vul- end of this Ramadan, we must abide by lies to gather, to break the fast for the last We must continue these practices, which nerable members of our society safe. the restrictions for a little longer. time, and to congratulate each other for a by now we should know by heart: Similarly, for those who are returning successful Ramadan. If Ramadan is a time • Don’t gather with friends or neighbors at a potential turning point to work, it may be tempting to return to for turning inward for spiritual direction, (adults or children) Our society is at a potential turning the close personal contact with colleagues ‘Id is a time for turning outward and shar- • Avoid visits with extended family (par- point. The number of confirmed cases that we have missed after weeks of iso- ing joy. ents, cousins, or siblings) who are not a continues to grow, but we are starting to lation. It may be tempting to meet as we Subsequently, this year is different, as part of your current household, even if see the numbers of recovered cases grow- have in the past, in close rooms for private the COVID-19 pandemic has forced peo- they live in the gated community or the ing even faster. We have reached this point chats, to take long walks to discuss prob- ple to remain distanced from each other same apartment building through the hard won personal sacrifices lems, and so on. for the health and safety of society. It is • Wear a facemask, and observe physi- of each one of us. It would be foolish to However, these very behaviors put natural to want to gather and we all feel cal distancing of 2 meters in public spac- give up now and let down our guard. our colleagues and ourselves at risk. The frustrated about self-isolation, but for the es. Wear a facemask outside the home, In this spirit, the government has an- COVID-19 virus is unlike any other. It can safety of our families, neighbors, and col- especially where you may not be able to nounced that 24-hour curfews will return remain hidden with no visible symptoms leagues, we must be resilient and disci- observe a 2 meter distance, even though from May 23 to May 27, the period of ‘Id for days and even weeks, and pass un- plined, and avoid large gatherings. facemasks are no substitute for physical al-Fitr. This curfew is for our protection. aware from person to person. Our best The simple hard truth is that physical dis- distancing. With visible signs of people violating rules protection is to keep physical distance, tancing is the most effective way to pre- Resilience is a quality of inner strength against public gatherings, the risks to our even in the workplace, to wear a face- vent the spread of infection and the fast- that helps people get through challenging collective health are high. The more peo- mask, and to maintain strict personal hy- est way to protect our families and loved times. Ramadan is a month that tests us, ple catch the virus, the more chances that giene. ones. So this year, when we feel we should forcing us to do without to show us our some will die. If we truly value the company of our be preparing for major gatherings with our inner strength. We know we have that We can be patient. We have come friends and our family, we will all do what extended families, we must continue to strength now. We can do this. We can be this far. We may desire to see family and is necessary to keep each other safe. cancel such gatherings, at least for a little resilient to keep ourselves and our moth- friends as we have in years past, but at the Be resilient. Stay distant. Stay safe. under the Coronavirus impact What will happen to the ‘sharing economy’? by Mohammed Masrahi and Cristina Vasquez Global Analysis Department What will the world look like following COVID-19? As part of this series, we will build up from how the sharing economy has been affected by the virus outbreak, how ride-hailing will function under new questions about safety, how people will approach tourism and aviation, and what kind of disruption the globalized supply chain now faces. the disruptor disrupted Just a few months ago, the sharing econ- omy had unleashed new businesses that threatened and changed the way tradition- al industries worked. Take the hotel industry, where the rise of home rentals via shared platforms such as Airbnb challenged the traditional asset ownership model in favor of asset-free, peer-to-peer rentals. To protect their business model, hotel groups lobbied to regulate home rentals or push governments to tax the new plat- forms. In New York, short-term rentals (under 30 days) became illegal unless the permanent tenant also resides in the apart- relief funds from the company amount- normal. Restrictions of movement, fear of ment at the same time of the rental period. ing to $260 million. As shutdowns affect contagion, and businesses dissolving are Efforts to curb Airbnb’s availability and workers in their pocketbooks, consumer sending waves to this big player in the optionality were not sufficient, as con- spending is collapsing. sharing economy. The sharing economy sumers were attracted by costs savings how we work in space Reports indicate WeWork is trying to re- compared to hotel offers. Beyond cost and duce as much as 30% of its rent liabilities refers to a peer-to-peer, availability, better user satisfaction helped — physical vs. cyber to soften losses, but the shockwaves are grow the sharing economy. Another example of a sharing econ- much bigger as landlords will be left with community-driven, The pandemic, however, has disrupted omy giant is WeWork. It revolutionized less income because other tenants are in the disruptor. People have stopped travel- the workplace by scrapping the need of short supply.