Chakib Khelil is Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

's Minister for Energy and Mines.

He was born in Oujda

Oujda

Oujda is a city in eastern Morocco with an estimated population of 1 million. The city is located about 15 kilometers west of Algeria and about 60 kilometers south of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the Oriental Region of Morocco and the birthplace of the current Algerian president,...

 (northern Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

) on August 8, 1939, received a doctorate in petroleum engineering

Petroleum engineering

Petroleum engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas. Subsurface activities are deemed to fall within the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry, which are the activities of...

 from Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...

 in 1968. After working in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 for a few years, he joined Sonatrach

Sonatrach

Sonatrach is an Algerian government-owned company formed to exploit the hydrocarbon resources of the country. Its diversified activities cover all aspects of production: exploration, extraction, transport, and refining...

 in 1971, and became president of the Valhyd Group in 1973-1976. In 1980 he joined the World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

, working on petroleum-related projects; he retired from it in 1999, only to join President Abdelaziz Bouteflika

Abdelaziz Bouteflika

Abdelaziz Bouteflika is the ninth President of Algeria. He has been in office since 1999. He continued emergency rule until 24 February 2011, and presided over the end of the bloody Algerian Civil War in 2002...

's cabinet later that year. As Minister for Energy, he presided over a period of increasing liberalization of the formerly strictly state-owned petroleum market in Algeria.

In 2001, he was named president of Sonatrach, and he nominated and was succeeded by Mohamed Meziane in 2003 (MEM.) He was also president of OPEC

OPEC

OPEC is an intergovernmental organization of twelve developing countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, and hosts regular meetings...

for the year of 2001.

While holding the position of Minister of Energy & Mines, he successfully passed new laws governing energy, mining and most importantly hydrocarbons. These laws changed the dynamics of the relationships between the state owned Sonatrach and foreign companies and investors.

External links

• Profile (Algerian government)
• Profile (Fathom)
• NYT Interview