KUWAIT CITY, Oct 13, 2010 (AFP) - The Kuwaiti cabinet has approved a decree to appoint Faruq al-Zanki as the new Chief Executive Officer of national oil conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC), the oil minister said on Wednesday.
The decision was taken at a Tuesday night meeting by the cabinet, said Sheikh Ahmad, cited by the official KUNA news agency.
Zanki replaces outgoing CEO Saad al-Shuwayeb who completed his three-year term last month, and whom the government decided not to re-appoint.
The US-educated Zanki has been the head of KNPC, the KPC's refining subsidiary, since 2007. Before that, he served as head of Kuwait Oil Co., KPC's exploration and production arm, for several years.
KPC was established in the early 1980s to oversee the emirate's oil industry at home and overseas. Along with its several subsidiaries it controls close to 100 billion barrels of crude reserves.
The fifth largest producer in the OPEC oil cartel, Kuwait currently pumps around 2.3 million barrels per day. Oil income accounts for about 94 percent of the country's total revenues.
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Copyright AFP 2010.
