ABU DHABI - PROFILE - Obaid Bin Saif Al Nasseri.

The UAE's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Nasseri tries to co-ordinate petroleum policies among the seven emirates of the federation. But in OPEC or OAPEC meetings, he actually represents the emirate of Abu Dhabi. On the federal level, he is nominally in charge of the domestic petroleum market. The Dubai-based federal entity Emirates General Petroleum Corp. (EGPC) is under his ministry.

Nasseri is a technocrat from the powerful Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. He became oil minister after a federal cabinet reshuffle on March 30, 1997, succeeding Rakad Bin Salem Bin Rakad who had been acting oil minister since June 1995. Usually, Abu Dhabi represented by Nasseri backs the Saudi line in OPEC decision making. Nasseri was OPEC president until Nov. 26, 1998.

Nasseri's other current assignments are: Chairman of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Deputy Chairman of Emirates Banks Association, Member of the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Hotel & Tourism Corp., and Member of the Consultative Committee of the SPC.

Prior to his present positions, Nasseri held several posts, such as Member of the Board of Directors of the Arab Banking Corp., Manama, Bahrain; Member of the Board of Directors of Banco Atlantico, Madrid, Spain; Member of the Board of Directors of the International Petroleum Investment Co., Abu Dhabi; Member of the Board of Directors of the Arab International Bank, Cairo; Deputy Chairman of Abu Dhabi Investment Co.; and Member of the Abu Dhabi National Consultative Council (NCC).

Nasseri was born on June 15, 1952, in Al-Ain, UAE, and got his BSc in Economics from Baghdad University, Iraq, in 1975. He joined ADIA in 1976 as a Trainee Officer in the Bonds & Equity Department. In 1978 he became Deputy Director of that Department and in 1980 he was appointed as a Director of the Commodity Department. In 1994 he was promoted to Executive Director of the same department.