New heads appointed for Aramco’s upstream and downstream businesses

Saudi Arabian Oil Co. has named new presidents for its upstream and downstream businesses as the oil giant looks to materialize its long-term strategies across the global portfolio and value chain.

According to a press statement, Saudi Aramco has appointed Nasir K. Al-Naimi as the president of its upstream business and Mohammed Y. Al-Qahtani as the president of the downstream business.

The company’s board has approved the newly created positions and appointments of directors, and the changes will be effective from July 1, 2023.

Al-Naimi and Al-Qahtani will report to Amin Nasser, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco.

“I am delighted to announce these appointments, which demonstrate our emphasis on the upstream and downstream components of our business as Aramco continues to transform to meet the world’s energy demand,” said Nasser.

He added: “We expect this decision to help drive operational and financial performance, supporting our upstream capacity growth and our downstream expansion, together with our ambition to achieve net-zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions across wholly-owned operated assets by 2050.”

Both Al-Naimi and Al-Qahtani have been handling crucial roles in Saudi Aramco for the past few years.

Al-Naimi has been the executive vice president of the upstream business since April 2021, while Al-Qahtani has served as the executive vice president of downstream since September 2020.

“We continue to identify ways to further optimize and innovate across the Aramco group, and I am confident these newly created roles will help us deliver on our objectives,” Nasser added.

Earlier this month, Aramco reported a net profit of SR119.54 billion ($31.88 billion) in the first quarter of 2023, up 3.75 percent from SR115.22 billion recorded in the previous quarter.

This was more than three-quarters of the $40.5 billion in combined first-quarter profits reported by five oil majors: BP and Shell in Britain, Exxon Mobil and Chevron in the US, and Total Energies in France.

The company, in a Tadawul statement, noted that the rise in quarter-on-quarter net profit was driven by lower income taxes and zakat, lower operating costs, and higher finance and other income.