Abdallah Salem el-Badri

The OPEC conference decided to appoint Mr. Abdullah Salem El Badri from Libya as Secretary General of the OPEC Organization for a period of three years with effect from 1 January 2007. This Decision was taken in the 143^rd (Exraordinary) Meeting of the OPEC Conference convened in Abuja, Nigeria on 14^th December, bringing to a close the impasse which lasted for three years regarding the appointment of a Secretary General for the Organization. When the appointment of the previous Secretary General Mr. Alvaro Silva came to an end, OPEC could not reach an agreement on who would be his successor

Two candidates were competing for this post; Mr. Adnan Shehab from Kuwait, OPEC Researches Manager and Mr. Hussein Kazamburah, Iran's Governor for OPEC for 20 years and former minister in the Iranian government.

 

Since 1986 Iran has been insisting that it should be entitled to the post of Secretary General, as each of the other member countries had previously held this position, which started in 1960. The objection of some member countries, due to political differences, deterred Iran from undertaking this post.

 

The Libyan candidate Mr. El Badri was appointed after discussions took place in this regard. The Libyan Delegation headed by Dr. Shokri Ghanem convinced the attendees of  Libya's right to take over this post, which may be regarded as a solution, thus ending the differences between other member countries .

 

The Libyan delegation emphasized the necessity of appointing a resident Secretary General in this period to overcome difficulties and challenges facing the Organization such as constant price oscillation, political and geographical conflicts …etc.

 

Mr. El-Badri is highly qualified and very well experienced in the field of the oil and gas industry.  The following is a brief C.V. of Mr. El-Badri :

 

·        He was born in Ghemmines, Libya in 1940.

·        He obtained his Bachelor Degree in Accounting from University of Florida in 1974.

·        His professional experience began in 1965 as an employee at Esso-Libya and later in 1977 he was seconded by NOC to become Member of Umm Al-Jawaby Management Board.

·        In 1980 he was appointed as Waha Oil Company Chairman which company was and has resumed its participation with the American parties : Continental, Marathon and Amerada.

·        In 1983 he was appointed as NOC chairman .

·        In 1990 he was nominated as the Secretary of the General People's Committee of Petroleum, and became later in 1993 the Secretary of the General People's Committee of Energy which included petroleum and electricity.

·        In 2000 he was appointed as NOC chairman and later in the same year he was elected as Under-Secretary of the General People's Committee for Services.

·        In 2002 he was appointed as Under Secretary of the General People's Committee.

·        From 2004 until 2006 he was appointed as NOC Secretary of the Management Committee.

·        During his appointment as Secretary of Energy he was elected for chairmanship of  the OPEC Conference for two periods; the first one was in 1994 in which period he was empowered with the duties of the Organization's Secretary General on a part  time basis and the second was in 1996 .

·        He was also appointed as member and chairman of the management committees of AOPEC organization, the Arab Petroleum Services Company and Oil Investments Company.

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