| Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia |
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Information AboutEastern Province, Saudi Arabia |
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Eastern Province ( Arabic الشرقية ''Ash Sharqiyah'') is the largest Province of Saudi Arabia , located in the east of the country on the coasts of the Persian Gulf , and has borders with Kuwait , Qatar , the United Arab Emirates , Oman , and Yemen . It has an area of 710,000 km&2 and a population of 3,360,157 ( 2004 census). Its capital is Dammam . A few kilometres from Dammam is the second city, Al-Khobar a commercial center and a vibrant seaport. The King Fahd Causeway , completed in the 1980s, links the Eastern Province to Bahrain . Typically, the causeway is crowded with expatriates and Saudis on a Thursday afternoon as they all head for the clubs and nightlife in Saudi Arabia's more tolerant neighbour. The Governor of the province is Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud . The Eastern Province was conquered by the Saudis in 1914 on the Ottoman Empire . It had been known as Al Hasa (الأحساء) under Ottoman rule. The Eastern Province is largely Shi'ite, which makes it a very dangerous place for the ruling Sunni family to visit. Some villages are virtually no-go areas for the security forces. The reason for this is that Shi'ites in the country often live in bad conditions because Wahhabism is the State Religion , and shi'ites classification as Kuffar has led to the denial of certain rights for them. Saudi Aramco , the Oil producing company of the Kingdom, is based in Dhahran , which is located in the Eastern Province, and most decisions on oil policy and production that affect the global economy are made there. Saudi Arabia's main oil and gas fields are mostly located in the Eastern Province, onshore and offshore. Petroleum from the fields is shipped to dozens of countries from the oil port of Ras Tanura and is also used as feedstock in numerous industrial plants in Jubail . The Kingdom's second major product, Dates , is also a large part of the Eastern Province's economy. Every year thousands of tonnes of dates are harvested from the date palms in the giant oases of Al Hasa and Al-Qatif . MAJOR CITIES
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