The pictures emerged Tuesday, showing a man wearing a face mask and a box with the words "hand sanitizer" written on it, as well as an actual dispenser, as part of efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, BuzzFeedNews reported.
The images were widely criticized on Twitter as exploitative and racist — another example of employees being abused in Saudi Arabia, which has been plagued by scandal after scandal around systematic mistreatment of its several million migrant workers.
An email to Brunswick, the PR firm that represents Saudi Aramco, went unanswered, but only after the pictures went viral did Saudi Aramco say on Twitter that it was "strongly dissatisfied" with what had happened and that it had taken measures to prevent it from happening again.
The statement, which was only published on its Arabic Twitter account, left unclear who had arranged for the man to be dispensing hand sanitizer in the company's lobby or why. The post did not include an apology to the man himself.
There have been 45 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia.