Amin al-Nasser has been named chief executive of Saudi Aramco – and with 33 years’ experience at the world’s largest energy company, he is certainly no stranger to promotions.
Nasser’s appointment follows a reshuffle by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz, under which the former Aramco CEO Khalid al-Falih was appointed health minister and made chairman of Aramco.
Nasser – who before being named CEO was Aramco’s senior vice president for upstream operations – holds a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
He started his career at Aramco in 1982, working as an engineer in the oil-production department, and later held posts in engineering, drilling and reservoir management.
Between March 1991 and May 1997, Nasser held a number of supervisory positions in the engineering and production departments.
He became manager of the Ras Tanura Producing Department in June 1997. He was also a manager of the Northern Area Producing Engineering Department, Safaniya Offshore Producing Department and the Safaniya Onshore Producing Department.
Nasser became a senior petroleum engineer in April 2004 and was recognized for his outstanding achievements in May 2005, earning him a promotion to executive director of petroleum engineering.
In 2006, Nasser was named vice president of petroleum engineering and development, before becoming the acting head of exploration and production in August 2007. In January 2008, Nasser was appointed senior vice president of exploration and production.
Nasser has engaged in a number of outreach and training programs, including a seminar to help develop future leaders in Saudi Aramco, which was held in Washington, DC in 1999. He also instigated the Saudi Aramco international business program in 2000, and the program of senior executives at Columbia University in 2002. Nasser is a longstanding member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), and in early 2008 was named a senior member of SPE’s Advisory Board.
