Sonatrach CEO biography

["Mazine Kessaissia" <mazine.kessaissia@mail.utexas.edu>]

Chakib Khelil is the minister of Energy and Mines in Algeria, and the
president of Sonatrach, the Algerian oil and gas company. He is the former
president of Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Khelil graduated from Texas A & M University in 1968 with a Ph. D. in
petroleum engineering. He worked for both Shell and Phillips Petroleum until
1971 when he returned to Algeria to head the petroleum engineering
department at Sonatrach.

From 1973 to 1976 Khelil served as technical adviser to the president of
Algeria. He joined the World Bank in 1980, where he carried petroleum
projects in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, and served as head of energy
for Latin America and then as petroleum adviser.

In 1999, Khelil left the World Bank to become an adviser to the president of
Algeria. He was named minister of Energy and Mines in 1999. In 2001, he was
named president of OPEC, president of the African Energy Commision (AFREC),
and president of Sonatrach--a post he still maintains.