Kuwaiti oil executive Haitham Al-Ghais appointed OPEC new head
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OPEC appoints Kuwait's Haitham Al Ghais as the organization's new secretary-general.
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OPEC's new Secretary-General Haitham Al-Ghais
Kuwait’s long-serving oil executive Haitham Al Ghais took office on Monday as secretary-general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the group of the world's largest oil exporters.
The OPEC appointed the 52-year-old Kuwaiti by acclamation at a special meeting in January. Al Ghais succeeds Mohammad Barkindo, who died last month.
"I look forward to working with all our member countries and our many partners around the world to ensure a sustainable and inclusive energy future which leaves no one behind," Al Ghais said at a ceremony in Vienna.
His career in the global oil industry spans 30 years. He was the advisor of six Kuwaiti oil ministers in the past years and served as deputy managing director for international marketing at the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.
In OPEC, Al Ghais was a leading member of his nation’s delegation, having chaired OPEC’s Internal Audit Committee and the Joint Technical Committee of OPEC and non-member producers.
![In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had "engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)](https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2024/12/21/b4a69f2e-8682-43e4-9d37-49482b304ab3/3.png?v=2&format=webp "In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had \"engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)")
