Hisham Nazer
Ambassador to Egypt
In office
2005–2011
MonarchAbdullah
Prime MinisterKing Abdullah
Succeeded byAhmed bin Abdulaziz Kattan
Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources
In office
24 December 1986 – August 1995
MonarchFahd
Prime MinisterKing Fahd
Preceded byAhmed Zaki Yamani
Succeeded byAli Naimi
Minister of Planning
In office
1975–1991
Monarchs
Prime Minister
  • King Khalid
  • King Fahd
Succeeded byAbdul Wahab Abdul Salam Attar
Personal details
Born
Hisham Mohieddin Nazer

(1932-08-31)31 August 1932
Jeddah
Died14 November 2015(2015-11-14) (aged 83)
United States
NationalitySaudi Arabian
SpouseAlmira Nazer
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles

Hisham Nazer (31 August 1932 – 14 November 2015) was the third oil minister of Saudi Arabia, after Abdullah Tariki and Zaki Yamani. Nazer was appointed oil minister on 24 December 1986.[1] He was also the first Saudi board chairman of Aramco, which was later called Saudi Aramco. He was one of the significant people in developing the domestic policy of Saudi Arabia.[2] He also served as Saudi ambassador to Egypt from 2005 to 2011.

Early life and education

Nazer was born in Jeddah in 1932.[3][4] He belonged to a leading family based in Jeddah.[4] He attended primary and secondary schools in Jeddah.[5] Then he graduated from the Victoria College in Alexandria, Egypt.[5][6][7] He received a bachelor of arts degree in international relations in 1957 and a master of arts degree in political science, both from The University of California, Los Angeles.[3][4][8] He completed his master study at the UCLA in 1962.[9][10]

Career

Nazer began his career at the ministry of petroleum.[11] He was among "the promising young technocrats" under Abdullah Tariki, the first Saudi oil minister, who made him assistant director general of the petroleum and minerals directorate in 1958.[4] Nazer was sent to Venezuela in 1960 to be informed about international oil matters.[4] In addition, Nazer represented Saudi Arabia at OPEC's founding meetings in 1961.[8] Then, he served as deputy of Oil Minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani until 1968.[11]

On 1 February 1968 Nazer was appointed head of the central planning authority.[11][12][13] He was made a member of the Supreme Council on Petroleum in March 1973 when it was established by King Faisal.[14][15]

His first ministerial post was the minister of planning which he began to hold in 1975 after the central planning authority was reorganized as an independent ministry.[16] Therefore, he actively dealt with the Saudi Arabia’s first five-year development plans[16] and contributed to the formation of Saudi Arabia’s two major industrial cities, Jubail and Yanbu.[17] In addition, Nazer guided the construction and management of these facilities.[17] Then, he became the head of the royal commission for Jubail.[18]

Nazer was appointed acting minister of petroleum and mineral resources by King Fahd on 30 October 1986[19][20] and replaced Zaki Yamani in the post.[3][16][21] Nazer's appointment was considered to be a shift in Saudi Arabia's policy in oil prices and production.[22][23] Nazer continued to hold the portfolio of planning minister. His term as oil minister lasted until August 1995 when he was replaced by Ali Naimi in the post.[24]

Nazer was also appointed the board chairman of the Aramco, replacing John J. Kelberer, in April 1988.[25][26] Nazer was the first Saudi board chairman of the company.[21][27][28] Following his appointment, he began to rationalize the company's operations and to nationalize it due to its low profitability for Saudi Arabia.[29] Because the company was an American-registered entity.[29] Thus, the company was nationalized, leading to its transformation as a pure Saudi entity which was renamed the Saudi Arabian Oil Company or more commonly Saudi Aramco on 8 November 1988.[27][29]

In 2005, Nazer was named as Saudi ambassador to Egypt by King Abdullah.[16][30] He was relieved of his duties by King Abdullah in March 2011 due to a controversy about remarks exchanged between him and a frustrated Saudi woman stranded in the Cairo Airport during the Egyptian uprise in February 2011.[31] Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Kattan replaced him as ambassador.[30]

Personal life and death

Nazer is known to be a poet[5] and was a soccer fan.[3] He was married to Almira Nazer who was a paediatrician working at a hospital in Riyadh.[32] His son, Loay Nazer, was arrested in the 2017 crackdown and released in January 2018.[33] Nazer's brother was a businessman and functioned as a business agent for foreign investors.[34]

Nazer died on 14 November 2015 at the age of 83 in the United States.[35][36]

Views and publications

In the 1970s when Nazer was the minister of planning he stated that the countries which had received financial aid from Saudi Arabia such as Tunisia and Egypt were much more developed than Saudi Arabia.[37]

Nazer published a book titled Power of a Third Kind in 1998.[38] His book, written in English and published by Praeger, is about the effects of the Western-dominated electronic age on the world.[38]

Awards

Nazer was the recipient of a professional achievement award from his alma mater, the University of California, Los Angeles, in June 1989.[10] He was awarded an honorary degree by American University in Cairo in 1991.[39]

References

  1. ↑ "Saudi considers Naimi's successor as oil minister". Reuters. London. 10 December 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  2. ↑ Steffen Hertog (2011). Princes, Brokers and Bureaucrats. Ithaca, NY; London: Cornell University Press. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-8014-5753-1.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Oil chief close to Saudi King". Pittsburgh Post. 31 October 1986. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Steffen Hertog (2008). "Petromin: the slow death of statist oil development in Saudi Arabia". Business History. 50 (5): 645–667. doi:10.1080/00076790802246087. S2CID 154116939.
  5. 1 2 3 Ibrahim AlMuhanna (2022). Oil Leaders. An Insider's Account of Four Decades of Saudi Arabia and OPEC's Global Energy Policy. New York; Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press. pp. 37, 42. doi:10.7312/almu18974. ISBN 9780231548496. S2CID 249323758.
  6. ↑ "Saudis fire Yamani as oil minister". Spokane Chronicle. 30 October 1986. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  7. ↑ Paul Reed Baltimore (2014). From the camel to the cadillac: automobility, consumption, and the U.S.-Saudi special relationship (PhD thesis). University of California, Santa Barbara. p. 204. ISBN 978-1-321-34912-2. ProQuest 1638271483.
  8. 1 2 John Tagliabue (21 December 1986). "Crisp, no nonsense, Saudi's acting oil minister makes debut". Houston Chronicle Archives. The New York Times. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  9. ↑ "CNES Alumni around the world". UCLA World. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  10. 1 2 Saudi Arabia: The Monthly Newsletter of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. Information Office, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. 1989. p. 7.
  11. 1 2 3 Jacob Goldberg (1988). "The Saudi Arabian Kingdom". In Itamar Rabinovich; Haim Shakid (eds.). Middle East Contemporary Survey. Vol. 10. Boulder, CO; London: Westview Press. p. 548. ISBN 978-0-8133-0764-0.
  12. ↑ David G. Edens; William P. Snavely (Winter 1970). "Planning for Economic Development in Saudi Arabia". The Middle East Journal. 24 (1): 17–30. JSTOR 4324550.
  13. ↑ "New Appointments". Arabian Gulf Digital Archive. 7 February 1968. Retrieved 6 February 2023. British intelligence document
  14. ↑ Nizar Madani (1977). The Islamic Content of the Foreign Policy of Saudi Arabia. King Faisal's Call for Islamic Solidarity 1965-1975 (PhD thesis). American University. p. 54. ProQuest 302841281?.
  15. ↑ David E. Long (Winter 1979). "Saudi Oil Policy". The Wilson Quarterly. 3 (1): 85. JSTOR 40255563.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Khaled Al Shaei (8 February 2011). "Calls for penalizing Saudi ambassador to Egypt". Al Arabiya. Riyadh. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  17. 1 2 Hasan Mansur (March 2001). "The Emperor without Clothes". Islamic Voice. 15 (171).
  18. ↑ "9 billion Arabian city of 200,000 to be built". St. Petersburg Times. San Francisco. AP. 25 June 1976. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  19. ↑ "Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, the most powerful figure". UPI. Kuwait. 29 October 1986. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  20. ↑ "King Reportedly to Make Nazer Permanent Oil Minister". Associated Press. Dhahran. 23 December 1986. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  21. 1 2 "Hisham Nazer Named Head of Saudi Oil Firm". Los Angeles Times. 7 April 1988. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  22. ↑ John West (11 November 1986). "Yamani ouster signals shift in oil policy". The Palm Beach Post. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  23. ↑ "New Saudi Oil Minister Appointed". Philly. Inquirer Wire Services. 25 December 1986. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  24. ↑ "Key ministers fired as king cleans house". Eugene Register Guard. Riyadh. AP. 3 August 1995. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  25. ↑ Arthur Clark (September–October 1993). "Saudi Aramco at Sixty". Aramco World. 44 (5).
  26. ↑ "Saudi Named Aramco Chief". The New York Times. AP. 7 April 1988. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  27. 1 2 "From Aramco to Saudi Aramco 1985-1990" (PDF). Saudi Aramco. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  28. ↑ The Middle East and North Africa 2003. London; New York: Europa Publications. 2003. p. 947. ISBN 978-1-85743-132-2.
  29. 1 2 3 Peter W. Wilson; Douglas F. Graham (1994). Saudi Arabia: The Coming Storm. New York: M.E. Sharpe. p. 210. ISBN 978-1-56324-395-0.
  30. 1 2 "Kattan named new ambassador to Egypt". Arab News. 28 February 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  31. ↑ "Saudi King sacks Egypt envoy after media criticism". Emirates 24/7. 1 March 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  32. ↑ Peter Hobday (1986). Saudi Arabia Today. An Introduction to the Richest Oil Power (2nd ed.). London: The Macmillan Press. p. 78. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-03214-3. ISBN 978-0-333-21471-8.
  33. ↑ "The High Cost of Change Repression Under Saudi Crown Prince Tarnishes Reforms". Human Rights Watch. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  34. ↑ Chung In Moon (Autumn 1986). "Korean Contractors in Saudi Arabia: Their Rise and Fall". The Middle East Journal. 40 (4): 624. JSTOR 4327423.
  35. ↑ Khaled bin Mirdah (15 November 2015). "Hisham Nazer passes away". Saudi Gazette. Jeddah. Archived from the original on 15 November 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  36. ↑ "Saudi ex-oil minister passes away". Emirates 24/7. 15 November 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  37. ↑ John Duke Anthony (Winter 1979). "Foreign Policy: The View from Riyadh". The Wilson Quarterly. 3 (1): 74. JSTOR 40255562.
  38. 1 2 "A wake-up call by Hisham Nazer". Arab News. 2 October 2002. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  39. ↑ "AUC Honorary Degree Recipients". American University in Cairo. Archived from the original on 24 February 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
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