Six consultants advising the government and international oil companies in Iraq: Thamir Ghadhban, Abdul Hadi al-Hassani, Luay al-Khatteeb, Tariq Shafiq, Thamir al-Uqaili and Ali Hussain
Thamir Ghadhban
Position Chairman, Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister of Iraq, and former oil minister
Biography Thamir Ghadhban has had a long career in Iraq’s oil industry, starting at Basra Petroleum Company in 1973. From 1989 to 1990, he was director general of field development at the Ministry of Oil, where he supervised field development, technical and economic feasibility studies, and the negotiation of contracts. By the time of the US-led invasion in 2003, he was chief executive of the ministry. He became Iraq’s oil minister during the Interim Government from June 2004 to May 2005, when control of the ministry was handed over to the Iraqi government. Ghadhban was elected to the Iraqi National Assembly in January 2005. He is currently chairman of the Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister of Iraq. He has a bachelor’s degree in geology from University College in London and a master’s in petroleum reservoir engineering from Imperial College London in the UK.
Contact Tel: (+964) (40) 618077
Abdul Hadi al-Hassani
Position Vice-chairman, oil and gas committee, Council of Representatives of Iraq
Biography Abdul Hadi al-Hassani is a member of the Iraqi parliament, the Council of Representatives, and vice-chairman of its oil and gas committee. He is a member of the State of Law Coalition, an Iraqi political coalition formed by incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Islamic Dawa Party. He is also chancellor of the University of Iraq in Baghdad. Al-Hassani graduated with a degree in chemistry from the University of Basra before moving to the UK to study chemical engineering at the University of Bradford. He has a doctorate in fracture mechanics and the mechanical properties of epoxy resin coatings in oil and gas pipelines from the UK’s Loughborough University of Technology. Al-Hassani is the founder and chairman of the Basra Society for Social and Civic Development and general director for the Basra Centre for Strategic Studies.
Contact Tel: (+964) (40) 618077
Luay al-Khatteeb
Position Founder and executive director, Iraq Energy Institute
Biography Luay Jawad al-Khatteeb is director of the Iraq Energy Institute, an independent think-tank based in London. Founded in 2008, the non-profit organisation aims to provide policy recommendations for Iraq’s energy sector, as well as acting as a reliable source of information and research for policymakers and the private sector. Al-Khatteeb previously worked for UK/Dutch energy firm Shell as a senior adviser, playing a key role in the development of its exploration and production strategy for Iraq in 2004-08. He has also worked as director in Iraq for Sharjah-based Crescent Petroleum. Al-Khatteeb advises the Iraqi oil and gas committee through the Iraq Energy Institute. He graduated in 1993 with a degree in business information technology from the UK’s Kingston University and subsequently did research on Iraq’s petroleum industry at Salford University.
Contact Tel: (+44) (0)20 7245 6967
Tariq Shafiq
Position Managing director, Petrolog & Associates
Biography Tariq Ehsan Shafiq has worked in the oil and gas industry for more than 50 years. He is currently managing director of Iraqi oil consultants Petrolog & Associates and chairman of Baghdad-based Fertile Crescent Oil Company, a privately owned Iraqi oil company. Shafiq was the principal author, along with Farouq al-Qasem and Thamir Ghadhban, of Iraq’s hydrocarbons law, which has been stalled in parliament since January 2007. Shafiq was one of the founders and directors of the Iraq National Oil Company, serving as vice-chairman and executive director from 1964 to 1967. Prior to this, he worked at Iraq Petroleum Company in various technical capacities in Iraq and London, from 1954 to 1964, including as head of petroleum engineering. Shafiq worked with the US Kellog Corporation on the construction of the Dora Refinery in Iraq from 1953 to 1954.
Contact Email: tshafiq4@aol.com
Thamir al-Uqaili
Position Independent consultant
Biography Thamir al-Uqaili is a senior associate of the Centre for Global Energy Studies in London. He graduated from Imperial College London, in 1962, before joining the Iraq Petroleum Company in 1963 and then the Basra Petroleum Company. He obtained a master’s degree in water resources technology from the University of Birmingham in 1970 and a doctorate in petroleum engineering in 1974 from Imperial College London. Al-Uqaili joined Iraq National Oil Company in 1975 as head of petroleum engineering in Basra and later worked for North Oil Company in Kirkuk, before becoming general manager of Central Petroleum Organisation in 1980. From 1983-86, he was general manager of planning in the oil ministry. In 1990, Al-Uqaili founded the Iraq Drilling Company. He left in 1992 to join Spain’s Repsol, later joining US oil services company Baker Hughes as business development manager for Iraq and the Middle East.
Contact Tel: (+44) (0)20 7235 4334
Ali Hussain
Position Independent consultant
Biography Based in Abu Dhabi, Ali Hussain has worked as an independent oil consultant since 1995. He graduated in economics and political science from Baghdad University in 1967 and received a master’s degree and doctorate in oil industry economics from Exeter University in the UK in 1970 and 1974, respectively. After graduating, Hussain worked for two years as a professor of economics at Baghdad University and at Al-Mustansiriyah University in Iraq from 1974-76. He then left academia for a few years to work as a senior researcher at the Iraqi oil ministry until 1981. Hussain subsequently moved to Vienna to work for five years as a senior researcher at the economics and finance department in the headquarters of the oil producers’ group, Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. He has been working as an oil consultant in Abu Dhabi in the fields of oil, gas and petrochemicals since 1995.
Contact Email: ahussain@eim.ae
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