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RIYADH: Khalid A. Al-Falih has been appointed as the new president of Saudi Aramco, Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi announced yesterday. Al-Falih will take over from Abdallah S. Jum’ah, who has been holding the position for the last 14 years, on Jan. 1. Al-Naimi said the Supreme Council for Petroleum and Mineral Affairs, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, appointed Al-Falih as Aramco president on the recommendation of the oil giant’s board of directors. Jum’ah will retire at the end of this year after serving the company for 40 years. Al-Falih, who became executive vice president for Operations Business Center in September last year, has 30 years’ experience at Saudi Aramco. He has held different posts in the areas of exploration, production, refining and international operations. He has also been a member of Aramco’s board of directors since October 2004. He joined the Consulting Services Department in 1992, supervising several technical units. In 1994, he became coordinator of the Mechanical and Civil Systems Division before becoming the division’s manager at the beginning of 1995. He was assigned as manager of the Ras Tanura Refinery Maintenance Department in late 1995; manager of the Ras Tanura Refinery Operations Department in 1997; and manager of the Business Analysis Department in 1998. In July 1999, he became president of Petron Corporation, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and the Philippine National Oil Company. He returned to the Kingdom in September 2000 to serve as vice chairman on the Saudi Aramco Study Team for Gas Ventures until his appointment as vice president of Gas Ventures Development and Coordination in May 2001. In early 2003, Al-Falih headed a newly formed administrative area called New Business Development, and in April 2004 became vice president of exploration, before being named senior vice president of gas operations in August 2004. He later became senior vice president of industrial relations and board chairman of the South Rub Al-Khali joint venture between Shell, Total and Saudi Aramco. |
