Abdulbari al-Arusi

Position: Oil minister, Libya

Biography: Abdulbari al-Arusi was appointed Libya’s oil minister in October 2012. Before joining the ministry, he worked as an executive at Green Holding Company, a subsidiary of the Libyan Africa Investment Portfolio sovereign wealth fund. Prior to this, Al-Arusi held a succession of oil engineering posts.

He was an engineer at Sirte Oil Company from 1982 to 1998, a senior corrosion engineer at Mellitah Oil & Gas in 2006-07, and general director for operations at engineering firm Taqniyat Libya in 2009-11. He was also director of operations at UK-based subsidiary of National Oil Corporation (NOC), Teknica, in 2007-09.

Al-Arusi has a master’s degree and a doctorate in corrosion protection. The ministerial appointment was a surprise to many and is widely considered a political decision rather than one based on industry expertise. Nonetheless, Al-Arusi must now marshal the oil sector through its most difficult period in recent history.

Contact Tel: (+218) 21 333 7141