H.E. Haitham Al Ghais

HE Haitham Al Ghais of Kuwait assumed office 
as Secretary General of OPEC on 1 August 2022. 
On 10 December 2024, he was reappointed for 
a further three-year period with effect from 1 
August 2025. 
With more than 30 years of experience in global 
oil and gas markets, HE Haitham Al Ghais has 
held key senior management positions for 
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) in his home country, as well as in Beijing and 
London. 
In the early 1990s, HE Al Ghais served in the military during Operation Desert Storm.
Before joining KPC in 1993, HE Al Ghais was a diplomat in the Kuwait Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs for two years, working closely with the Deputy Prime Minister and 
Foreign Minister. For KPC, HE Al Ghais held multiple managerial functions, including 
for Crude Oil Marketing and Petroleum Products in the International Marketing Sector; 
Head of KPC’s Regional Office in Beijing; Manager of KPC’s European Regional Office 
in London; and Market Research Manager in Kuwait. In 2021, HE Al Ghais was 
appointed as KPC’s Deputy Managing Director for International Marketing, responsible 
for overseeing the development of the global market outlook for KPC’s international 
marketing plans and participating in the drawing up of KPC’s strategic long-term plans. 
HE Al Ghais has represented Kuwait in multiple governing bodies of renowned 
international institutions, including the Board of Governors of the Oxford Institute for 
Energy Studies (2008-2014). He was a Member of the OPEC Board of Governors from 
2017 until 2021, and a Member of the Audit Committee (2019-2020) and its Chairman 
during 2020. 
HE Al Ghais played a leading role in the historic Declaration of Cooperation between 
OPEC and non-OPEC oil-producing countries. In 2017, he was appointed as the first 
Chairman of the Joint Technical Committee that helped facilitate the development of 
the methodology for monitoring the conformity of production adjustments. He was 
also part of the Kuwait team that participated in meetings of the Joint Ministerial 
Monitoring Committee. Between 2018 and 2019, HE Al Ghais was the leader of 
Kuwait’s team involved in finalizing and signing the Charter of Cooperation between 
OPEC and non-OPEC producing countries.