By Baron Henri Estramant.
The world’s largest oil corporation Saudi Aramco has picked a career petroleum engineer, who oversaw its biggest projects of the past decade, Amin Nasser, to lead it through a price downturn and a market share battle.
The announcement from the Saudi Arabian state company ends five months of uncertainty about the new boss of the oil monopoly. Mr Nasser is known for pushing for cutting edge technology, and once said he sought to emulate the gas fracking revolution in the United States.
Amin Nasser had been acting chief executive at Aramco since April 2015, when his predecessor Khalid al-Falih was appointed Aramco’s chairman and also Health Minister.
Nasser, now in his 50s, joined Aramco in 1982 after studying oil engineering at King Fahd University. Over the past decade, he oversaw some of Aramco’s biggest projects, including the 2008 launch of the $10 billion Khurais oil field.
The April changes followed a shake up of leadership initiated by King Salman of Saudi Arabia who made Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the most powerful figure in economic and energy policy, while abolishing the old Supreme Petroleum Council, where energy policy had been historically made. The deputy crown prince is now the head of both an economic development super-committee and a new council overseeing Aramco, making him the first royal ever to directly supervise the state giant.
