31
Majid Jafar
CEO, Crescent Petroleum
MMajid Jafar is the CEO of Crescent Petroleum and vice chairman of the Board of Crescent Group. He also serves as managing director on the Board of Dana Gas, one of the first private energy firms in the Middle East. A Cambridge engineering graduate, Jafar worked for Shell’s Exploration & Production and Gas & Power divisions prior to joining Crescent.
With a multitude of producing assets across the Middle East and North Africa regions, Crescent Group has recently unveiled expansion plans in Saudi Arabia, where it operates terminals in Jeddah and Jubail through its subsidiary Gulftainer. The group is also eyeing exploration opportunities in Egypt’s gas sector.
32
Abdul Aziz Al Ameri
CEO, Gasco
Abdul Aziz Al Ameri took charge of Gasco at a time of significant expansion and growth. Under his leadership, the initial work for the $11bn Integrated Gas Development project was completed and the groundwork for a further $700mn expansion was layed out. As one of the Adnoc group of companies, Adgas will play a significant role in Abu Dhabi’s plans to boost production to meet rising demand.
The GDI project for instance is expected to add 400mn cubic feet of gas by 2017. Al Ameri started his career with Adnoc in 1982 working in projects and asset management. He has managed the execution of a number of milestone projects in the Emirate including Phase 2 of the Onshore Gas Development Project at Habshan field.
33
Badr Jafar
Chief Executive Officer, Crescent Enterprises and President of Crescent Petroleum
Badr Jafar is the chief executive officer of Crescent Enterprises and president of Crescent Petroleum. He also serves as chairman of Gas Cities, a joint venture between Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas. Jafar is the chairman of Pearl Petroleum, a partnership between Crescent Petroleum, Dana Gas, OMV of Austria and MOL of Hungary.
As executive chairman of Gas Cities, he has helped develop large natural gas-based industrial cities across the region a to maximise the economic benefit of locally produced natural gas by generating mass local industry, employment and foreign direct investment. Jafar was named Energy Executive of the Year at the Oil & Gas Middle East Awards in 2014.
34
Dr. Abdul-Jaleel Al-Khalifa
CEO, Dragon Oil
Dr. Abdul-Jaleel Al-Khalifa serves as chief executive officer of Dragon Oil, a role he has occupied since 2008. As well as being a Stanford University graduate, Al-Khalifa spent 23 years in leadership and technical roles.
Chief amongst these is his 12-year managing experience at Saudi Aramco’s exploration and production departments in Dhahran. Al Khalifa served as president of the International Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) in 2007.
During his time there, he launched the SPE Industry Advisory Council, where he focused on leveraging new technologies and engaging talent to improve corporate and industry performance. He is also a founding member of Industry’s Humanitarian Support Alliance – a non-profit, non-governmental organisation based in the US.
35
Sungan Choi
Senior Vice President & Head of Hydrocarbon Business Division, Samsung Engineering
Choi has been with Samsung Group since 1989 and has held important leadership positions in project management for hydrocarbon plants projects, followed by a six-year tenure in the shipbuilding industry. In 2012, he became the head of Samsung’s Procurement Division, where he was responsible for services and supplier’s quality control.
In recognition of his experience and great business performance in the EPC sector spanning over 32 years, Choi was named head of the hydrocarbon division. Founded as the first engineering firm in Korea in 1970, the expertise and innovation of Samsung Engineering is recognised worldwide. In 2014, it merged with Samsung Heavy Industries creating an ever more powerful conglomerate.
36
Sara Akbar
Chief Executive, Kuwait Energy
Sara Akbar is the first and only woman in the Middle East sitting in the CEO chair of an oil and gas company. Chemical petroleum engineer by education, Akbar served in a number of managing positions at Kuwait Oil Company in the late ‘80s and throughout the ‘90s, before moving on to join Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration, where she stayed until 2005.
Akbar played a vital role in Kuwait’s oil production efforts, shortly after 80% of its oil wells were destroyed following the 1990 Iraq invasion. Her adequate response to the situation earned her the name “firefighter”, and she was awarded the “Global 500 Award” from the UN Environmental Programme in recognition of her work. Akbar was born in Kuwait to an oil engineer father, who both encouraged and inspired her to pursue a career in oil and gas.
37
Nabil Al Alawi
CEO, Al Mansoori Specialized Engineering
Nabil Al Alawi is the chief executive and founder of AlMansoori Specialized Engineering, one of the most prominent oilfield service companies in the region. He received a Petroleum Engineering degree from Louisiana State University and started his oil and gas career in the US with OTIS Engineering.
He spent over 13 years working for OTIS in a number of countries, including the UAE. With the technical and worldly experience he received, Al Alawi established AlMansoori in Abu Dhabi in 1977. Today the company’s operations span on three continents, employing over 2000 people. Al Alawi is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and likes to play golf in his spare time.
38
Nabil Habayeb
President and CEO,
GE Middle East, North Africa & Turkey
Occupying the role of president and chief executive officer of MENA and Turkey since 2004, Nabil Habayeb is probably GE’s longest serving regional head. Habayeb’s loyalty to the company dates back to the ‘80s, when he first joined as part of the GE Power Systems’ Field Engineering Programme.
He served as the Europe Pole commercial leader and general manager for Africa, India and Middle East in the late 90s, before he got appointed to the role of regional executive for GE Energy at the start of the millennium. Nabil also sits on the Regional Board of INJAZ Al Arab, the Arab Forum for Environment and Development and a number of educational establishments across the Middle East.
39
Adel Khalid Al-Sabeeh
Chairman, Dana Gas
Adel Khalid Al-Sabeeh is one of the most esteemed names in the region’s oil and gas industry. As well as being the chairman of Dana Gas, he sits on the board of several energy firms and organisations.
Al-Sabeeh is the vice chairman and CEO of National Industries Company (NIC) Kuwait and has previously held several ministerial posts across the Ministry of Oil, Electricity and Water, Housing Affairs and Health. Al-Sabeeh is the former chairman of Kuwait Petroleum Company. He also serves on the Board of Kuwait Foundations for Advancement Science Kuwait.
40
Huda Al-Ghoson
Executive Director of Employee Relations & Training; and Board Director, Saudi Aramco, Yasref
Huda is the first woman in Saudi Aramco’s history to be appointed to a permanent executive role. She joined the company in 1981 and moved up the ranks to become executive director of Employee Relations and Training in 2012.
Prior to that, Al-Ghoson served as the General Manager of Training & Development at Yasref, where she was responsible for Aramco’s workforce in a number of segments. With gender diversification taking an important place in the industry and the great potential of harnessing female talent being increasingly recognised, Aramco has made great strides in train and encouraging more female engineers to get into the oil and gas field.
