Trailblazer Amin H. Nasser

Amin H. Nasser

As President and CEO of Saudi Aramco, the ‘HOMEGROWN TECHNOCRAT’ Amin H. Nasser is setting world-breaking oil production records and reaching landmark financial targets for the world’s most profitable integrated energy and chemicals enterprise

Saudi Aramco was established in 1933, but it wasn’t until 1938 that the company first struck oil with the discovery of the appropriately named “Prosperity Well” in the Saudi desert.

Since then, Aramco has continually hit recordbreaking oil production milestones, supplying crude oil to global markets and remaining an economic force in the Middle East. Now, under the leadership of President and CEO Amin H. Nasser, the company has broken its own financial record, with a US$48.4bn profit for the second quarter of 2022 and US$279.4bn profit over the last 12 months – that’s a 90% year-on-year (YoY) increase in net income.

According to Bloomberg, Aramco celebrates the largest quarterly adjusted profit of any listed company. Its yearly profit is equal to the combined profits of Apple, Alphabet, and Microsoft.

“Our record second-quarter results reflect increasing demand for our products — particularly as a low-cost producer with one of the lowest upstream carbon intensities in the industry,” said Nasser in Saudi Aramco’s latest economic report.

“We expect oil demand to continue to grow for the rest of the decade, despite downward economic pressures on short-term global forecasts”

“While global market volatility and economic uncertainty remain, events during the first half of this year support our view that ongoing investment in our industry is essential — both to help ensure markets remain well supplied and to facilitate an orderly energy transition. In fact, we expect oil demand to continue to grow for the rest of the decade, despite downward economic pressures on short-term global forecasts.”

An advocate for fossil fuels as part of the cleaner energy transition

As CEO of the world’s most valuable oil company, Nasser is outspoken on the need to continue using fossil fuels amidst the transition to cleaner energy. At the World Petroleum Congress in Houston, Texas, he explained that a lack of spending on oil production would lead to “energy insecurity, rampant inflation and social unrest.”

At the same time, Nasser leads the company’s efforts to invest in cleaner technologies, including next-generation fuel-engine interfaces, crude oil-to-chemicals processes, and renewable energy applications. Aramco is also striving to minimise greenhouse gas emissions through the industry-wide Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI).

“While there is a very real and present need to safeguard the security of energy supplies, climate goals remain critical, which is why Aramco is working to increase production from multiple energy sources — including oil and gas, as well as renewables, and blue hydrogen,” said Nasser.

Dedicated to the development of education, research, and technology in Saudi’s energy sector

Since joining Aramco in 1982, Nasser has held various technical, operational, and strategic positions - gradually climbing the career ladder from petroleum engineer to Senior Vice President of Upstream to CEO.

A ‘homegrown technocrat’, Nasser is an advocate of education and training for his 79,000 employees. He supports Aramco’s Young Leader’s Advisory Board, and is renowned for promoting a decentralised work culture by spending time with both leaders and workers. During the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Nasser travels to different Aramco plants each evening to break the fast with his employees.

Nasser also believes in crafting an efficient supply chain ecosystem that includes smallto-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to support the company’s growing procurement needs.

In 2020 Nasser achieved The Chemists’ Club Cavaler Award by Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (ICIS) and was named Energy Intelligence’s Energy Executive of the Year. According to Jim Krane, Energy Research Fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute, Nasser’s job is extraordinary for a CEO because it’s as much about keeping the Saudi government financially afloat as it is about producing oil.

In the Middle East, Nasser is celebrated as an innovator making the most of chemical energy in the shift to decarbonising Aramco’s operations.

“Climate goals remain critical, which is why Aramco is working to increase production from multiple energy sources — including oil and gas, as well as renewables, and blue hydrogen”