Yanbu' al Bahr (Arabic, “spring by the sea”), industrial and port city in Saudi Arabia, located on the Red Sea coast in Madinah Province, about 350 km (about 220 mi) north of Jiddah. Yanbu', as the city is commonly known, is the western terminus of parallel pipelines that carry liquefied natural gas and oil across nearly 1300 km (nearly 800 mi) of desert and mountains. The town is a growing industrial center with three large oil refineries, a petrochemical complex, and a large desalination plant. Industries using gas and oil as raw materials make a variety of consumer products, including plastics. Yanbu' is connected with the rest of the country by a modern highway system. It also has an airport, a large commercial port, and a naval base.
During the 1st millennium BC Yanbu' al Bahr was a stopping point for merchant caravans on the incense route that extended from Yemen to the Mediterranean Sea. Later it also served as a resting site for Muslim pilgrims traveling to Mecca and Medina. During World War I (1914-1918) the city was the site of a military base for the Arab revolt, which British colonel T. E. Lawrence (also known as Lawrence of Arabia) helped to lead. In 1975 the Saudi government chose Yanbu' and Al Jubayl, a small town on the Persian Gulf coast, to be developed as modern industrial cities. Both play a central role in diversifying Saudi Arabia's economic base so that the country is not dependent solely on crude oil exports. Population (1993 estimate) 40,000.
