SAUDI ARABIA - Key members of the Saudi Aramco Executive Management.

The following are the other key members of Saudi Aramco's Executive Management:

Sadad Al Husseini, EVP and member of Saudi Aramco's board of directors.
Salem Said Aydh, SVP for engineering & operations services.
Mohammed al Iraani, SVP for finance & controller.
Abdel Aziz Al Khayyal, SVP for international operations.
Yusof Rafie, SVP for industrial relations & affairs.
Abdullah Bin Saif Al Saif, SVP for E&P.
Saad Al Shaifan, SVP for refining, supply & distribution.
Dhaifallah Al Otaibi, SVP for gas operations.
Stanley McGinley, general counsel & secretary.

The Board Of Saudi Aramco: This company's board has 12 members. On Oct. 30, 2001, King Fahd issued a Royal Order changing four of the members, with the board's three-year tenure effective from Nov. 30. The previous board change was made in late February 1996. The board is a follows:

1. Minister Naimi (see his profile in OMT), as chairman. The board's meeting can be held at the chairman's request, when necessary, or upon the recommendation of more than half of the board's members.

2. Dr. Abdel Rahman Bin Abdel Aziz Al Tuweijri, close to Prince Abdullah and secretary general of the Supreme Economic Council. Until 1999 he was an executive director in the IMF. He was appointed as board member on Oct. 30, 2001 to succeed Commerce Minister Osama Al Faqih who became a board member in late February 1996.

3. Finance Minister Dr. Ibrahim Al Assaf (retained since 1996).

4. State Minister and Saudi Ports Authority Chairman Dr. Abdel Aziz Bin Ibrahim Al Manie', who in November 2001 replaced State Minister Musaed Al Ayban (member since February 1996).

5. Dr. Mohammed Bin Ibrahim Al Suwayel, vice president of the King Abdel Aziz City for Science & Technology, who in November 2001 replaced Abdel Aziz Al Dukhayil (rector of King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals)

6. Ghazi Al Gosaibi, the minister of water and electricity.

7. Abdullah Jumaa, president of Saudi Aramco, retained since August 1995.

8. Sadad Bin Ibrahim Al Husseini, EVP, retained since February 1996.

9. Abdullah Bin Saif Al Saif, SVP for E&P, retained since 1989.

10. Victor Beghini, former CEO of Marathon of the US, who in November 2001 replaced Harold Haynes (vice chairman of Bechtel Enterprises and former chairman of Chevron. Haynes had been a member since 1989).

11. James Kinnear a former CEO of Texaco, retained since February 1996. Before Kinnear the member used to be Clinton Garvin, former chairman of Exxon who had been on the board since 1989.

12. Rodney Wagner, of Morgan Guaranty, retained since 1989.

Attached to the board of directors are executive commissions. These are formed on ad hoc basis, especially when the board needs additional studies concerning major projects or a big overseas acquisition. Such a committee is formed also to study major problems or disputes.

Saudi Aramco now is structured into four divisions, reduced from seven in 1993 and from five in late 1998. These are known as "business centres" (see details in 1999 survey of Saudi Arabia in Vol. 53).

Sadad Bin Ibrahim Al Husseini is the company sole EVP. Until late February 1996, he used to head the E&P division. He belongs to a prominent clan of Palestinian origin which claims descent from the Prophet Mohammed. Members of this clan hold key positions in Saudi Arabia, including the oil sector. Born in 1946, he joined Aramco in 1972, shortly after receiving his doctorate in geology from Brown University in Providence, USA. Earlier he had a master's degree in geology from Brown and a BS in geology from the AUB. In 1972 he became a staff geologist at the Aramco exploration Dept., a post he held until 1976, when he was named supervisor of the exploration area. He completed an Aramco management development seminar in the US in 1977 and the Management Development Programme at Harvard in 1982. He was made assistant chief geologist in 1977. He became director of budgets and programmes for corporate planning in 1978. He was promoted to relief chief petroleum engineer early in 1980 and was named manager of the Production Engineering Dept. later that year. In 1982 he was promoted to general manager of petroleum engineering. In 1984, he was made VP with responsibility for the northern producing area. He became VP for petroleum engineering & development in 1985, and was promoted to SVP in December 1987 in charge of E&P. His prominence rose in early June 1989, when his division found sweet oil and gas in Hawtah, 190 km south of Riyadh. Further finds proved the Najd fields contained big reserves of oil, condensate and gas. In late 1991 he was elected to the board of Ssangyong Oil Refining in South Korea, after Saudi Aramco bought 35% in it.

The Supreme Council of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, chaired by King Fahd, was formed in early 2000. In early October 2000 King Fahd decreed that the council take over the management of Saudi Aramco. Its 12 other members are: CP Abdullah, Defence Minister Prince Sultan, FM Prince Saud Al Faisal, Oil Minister Naimi, Finance Minister Assaf, Industry Minister Hashem Yamani, Planning Minister Khalid Al Qusaibi, State Minister and SCPMR's Secretary-General Mutleb Bin Abdullah Al Nafisah, President of King Abdel Aziz City of Sciency & Technology Saleh Al Ithil, former deputy finance minister Abdel Aziz Al Rashed, Saudi Aramco President Jumaa, and the Gas Opening's Negotiating Committee Secretary-General Abdel Rahman Al Suheibani.