SAUDI ARABIA - Abdullah Saleh Al-Jum'ah.

Two days after Na'imi became oil minister, on Aug. 4, 1995, Jum'ah was made acting president and CEO of Saudi Aramco to succeed him. Jum'ah's position as chief executive of the company was confirmed by a royal decree in December 1995. Jum'ah was on Sept. 20, 2005, honoured as the recipient of the Petroleum Executive of the Year Award for that year (see down17SaudiWhoOct24-05).

Jum'ah was born in al-Khobar in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, very close to Saudi Aramco's Dhahran headquarters and the site of the country's first commercial oil discovery in 1938, a few years before his birth. He studied political science at the American University of Cairo and at the American University of Beirut, and he also completed a management development programme at Harvard University. He began his career at Saudi Aramco in 1968, holding a series of leadership assignments with responsibility for electric power, employee relations, government affairs, and international operations before being named to the board in 1994. Since taking the helm at Saudi Aramco in 1995, Jum'ah has led the far-reaching expansion of its downstream and gas businesses, renewing business processes and transforming the company into a fully integrated international oil and gas enterprise.

Under Jum'ah's leadership, Saudi Aramco refocused its strategic direction to maintain its position as the world's premier energy supplier, while supporting the expansion and diversification of Saudi Arabia's economy with a continued strong commercial orientation.

In a keynote address to the prestigious Oil Summit of the Cambridge Energy Research Associates' Annual Conference (CERA Week 2005) in Houston on Feb. 15, 2005, Jum'ah called for greater global co-operation in increasing upstream investments and expanding and upgrading refining capacity to ensure the world's energy future. He said oil producing nations were likely to build more refineries because of hurdles oil companies faced in developing new plants in consuming countries.

A close associate whom Na'imi had favoured as his replacement to head Saudi Aramco, Jum'ah previously was executive vice president and board member and headed the International Operations division. It was explained in late 1995 that, while Na'imi as a geologist was made oil minister to help speed up upstream expansions at home and function as a minister, Jum'ah was given the top Saudi Aramco post to emphasise the company's international role and overseas acquisitions.

Jum'ah has vast experience in downstream operations overseas, marketing and industrial relations, which now are key elements in Saudi Aramco's marketing strategy. He was the man who negotiated Saudi Aramco's move into South Korea in 1991, into the Philippines in 1994 and into Greece in 1995.

Jum'ah participated in the negotiations on the 50-50 JV of Saudi Aramco and Texaco, which in late 1988 led to the setting up of Star Enterprise in the US. This is now called Motiva Enterprises, a 50-50 JV of Shell and Saudi Aramco, of which he is chairman. The International Operations unit was partly re-organised after Saudi Aramco's late November 1992 decision to reduce the number of its divisions from seven to five (see background in Vol. 61, DT No. 17).

Like Naimi, Jum'ah upholds the US style of management inherited from the days when Aramco was an American company owned by Chevron, Texaco, Exxon and Mobil. When Naimi was president of Aramco, the American style was carried on in the 1980s and the early 1990s.

In his 60s, Jum'ah belongs to a well-established Saudi family. He pursued studies in petroleum at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Mineral Resources in Dhahran. At Aramco Jum'ah was promoted steadily and in 1981 he became VP for the power systems. In 1984-88 he was Saudi Aramco's VP for government affairs. In July 1988, he became SVP for industrial relations. In 1992, he was made EVP for International Operations, the post he held until he became CEO of Saudi Aramco on Aug. 4, 1995. He has an attractive personality and good leadership qualities.

There has been speculation about whether Jum'ah might be asked to step up to the post of petroleum and mineral resources minister of another challenging position within the next few years.

The Supreme Council of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, chaired by King Abdullah, was formed in early 2000. In early October 2000 then King Fahd decreed that the council take over the management of Saudi Aramco. King Fahd died on Aug. 1, 2005, and was succeeded by Abdullah who made his half-brother Sultan crown prince (see OMT).

On Oct. 16, 2007, King Abdullah reshuffled this council, but reappointed most of its members. Crown Prince Sultan is its deputy chairman. The council's other members are: Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, Labour Minister Ghazi al-Gosaibi, State Minister Matlab al-Nafeesa (also the council's secretary-general), Commerce and Industry Minister and SABIC Chairman Hashem Yamani, Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali al-Na'imi, Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf, Economy and Planning Minister Khaled al-Gosaibi, King Abdul-Aziz City of Science and Technology President Muhammad al-Suwaiyel, and Saudi Aramco President and CEO Jum'ah.