The future of oil and gas—a perspective from Saudi Arabia

His Excellency Ali Ibrahim Al-Naimi is Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a post he has held since 1995. He is a member of the Cabinet of the Council of Ministers, the Supreme Petroleum Committee and the Supreme Economic Council, Chairman of the Kingdom’s national oil company, Saudi Aramco, and Chairman of the Saudi Geological Society and of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.

He is a world authority on oil pricing, market stability and energy security and a primary architect of OPEC strategy. He is the Kingdom’s first minister to pursue the development of a petroleum strategy and gas strategy. He has also overseen a restructuring of the Kingdom’s minerals sector and he helped restructure the International Energy Forum to be a neutral, intergovernmental facilitator of producer-consumer dialogue. He is a champion of solar energy, and carbon capture and sequestration in the Kingdom.

In 1988, Saudi Aramco was created by Royal Decree to succeed the Arabian American Oil Company, the culmination of a negotiated and managed process begun in the 1970s. Al-Naimi became CEO, a post he held until his ministerial appointment. In 1984, he made history as the first Saudi to become President, the company’s highest office.

During his tenure as President and CEO of Saudi Aramco, the company reached oil production capacity of 10 million barrels per day, established global refining and product marketing joint ventures, increased pipeline capacity and amassed one of the world’s largest fleets of very large crude carrier ships. The company also discovered high-quality Arabian Superlight crude oil and emphasised the need for education and innovation for 21st-century energy challenges. Al-Naimi has held a range of senior posts at Aramco, including vice president of industrial relations, community services, power systems, and supply and transportation. In 1977, he was Acting President of Aramco Overseas Company in The Hague. He became Senior Vice President (Oil Operations) in 1978, and a member of Aramco’s Board of Directors in 1980. In 1982, he was promoted to Executive Vice President (Oil and Gas Operations), overseeing Aramco’s core business.