Saudi Aramco's Al-Falih selected Petroleum Executive of the Year

H.E. Khalid A. Al-Falih, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), has been named 2016 Energy Intelligence Petroleum Executive of the Year.

A committee made up of top global oil industry executives selected Al-Falih for the award, making him the 20th winner of the industry prize.

Al-Falih led the expansion of Saudi Aramco’s oil production capacity through a number of upstream projects and also significantly increased its refining and petrochemical capabilities through a series of new world-class facilities.

“The selection of H.E. Khalid A. Al-Falih by his peers is a reflection of his strong leadership of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, during a period of dynamic growth and unprecedented challenges to the international petroleum industry,” said Thomas Wallin, Editor-in-Chief of Energy Intelligence.

Al-Falih was appointed Chairman of the Board of Saudi Aramco in April 2015. He joined the company in 1979 and has held a number of positions of increasing responsibility, including Executive Vice President of Operations, and President and Chief Executive Officer from January 2009 until April 2015.

Under his leadership, the company became a major natural gas producer as part of a strategy to reduce domestic use of liquid fuel for power generation and to drive economic growth and diversification.

Previous winners include Rex W. Tillerson of ExxonMobil (2015), Emilio Lozoya Austin of Pemex (2014), Peter Voser of Royal Dutch Shell (2013), Fu Chengyu of Sinopec (2012), José Sergio Gabrielli de Azevedo of Petrobras (2011), and Andrew Gould of Schlumberger (2010).