Following a series of changes in its management team, Saudi Aramco has appointed a new CEO for its investment arm, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources.
Mahdi Aladal, who previously headed Aramco’s base oils and lubricants division, will become the CEO of Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures (SAEV), as former CEO Majid Mufti reportedly stepped down from the role.
Mufti has run SAEV for the past four years, backing 45 technology companies mostly based in the US and Europe. In a May 2020 interview with Oil & Gas Middle East, Mufti explained that Saudi Aramco has moved “from buying technology to producing and contributing to technology development,” hence its investment in startups across upstream, downstream, renewables, energy efficiency and the water sector.
The company recently announced a second $500 million fund to invest in more technology companies, seven years after it began operations. He noted that “we are starting to see the startups that we invested in back in 2013 becoming ready and ripe for an exit.”Â
The reason for his exit from the company was unclear.
