27 May 2008
Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani has named the director-general of South Oil Co. (SOC), Jabbar al-Luaibi, as a special adviser. Al-Luaibi’s deputy at SOC, Kifah Numan, will take over as the new director-general in the coming days, an Iraqi oil source in Baghdad told International Oil Daily Friday.
It is not clear why al-Shahristani moved al-Luaibi, but analysts said it could be because of a power struggle in the oil ministry.
Al-Luaibi, 62, was instrumental in speedily restoring output from the southern oil fields after the fall of the previous regime in April 2003. He has been credited with managing to maintain output — and even increase it in some fields — despite dilapidated infrastructure and lack of equipment and materials.
Iraqi oil sources say al-Luaibi, a Basrah native who comes from a well known southern family, has effectively shielded the southern oil industry against political upheaval by deftly maneuvering around the political parties and militias that have been fighting for control in the area. At one point, he recruited tribes around the fields to help protect oil infrastructure and ensure oil exports continued uninterrupted.
But the south has been plagued by oil smuggling. Reportedly protected by the armed militias of various parties, the smugglers have systematically sabotaged oil pipelines in order to load crude directly onto trucks.
Al-Luaibi, who gained a chemical engineering degree from the UK’s Cardiff University in the 1968, joined Iraq National Oil Co. (INOC) in Basrah after graduating and worked in the production department. In the 1990s, he became head of southern production and later head of projects. He was considered for the oil portfolio in one of the post-war governments headed by Ibrahim al-Jaafari, but declined. He also turned down the post of deputy oil minister.
His successor at SOC, Numan, has been his right-hand man as deputy director-general and head of the engineering department since 2003. Also in his early 60s, he joined INOC in Basrah after graduating in the UK in the early 1970s.
By Ruba Husari, Dubai
(Published in International Oil Daily May 27, 2008)