KUWAIT: Kuwait Petroleum Corporation's Board of Directors, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Acting Minister of Oil Anas Al-Saleh, yesterday conducted a reshuffle of major posts in affiliate companies. The board discussed nominations for the major posts in the oil sector as the term of office ended for a host of top officials, spokesman of the sector Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said in a press statement. Directors and their deputies were appointed at KPC, as well as CEOs of subsidiary companies, he added.

Hashim Sayed Hashim was appointed managing director of KPC, entrusted with management and implementation of the integration project between refining and petrochemical operations. Jamal Abdulaziz Jaafar was appointed CEO of the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC). Mohammad Abdulatif Al-Farhoud and Abdulnasser Yusuf Al-Fluij were appointed CEOs of the Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) and the Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC) respectively. Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled noted that the KPC also appointed members of the boards of directors in all the KPC affiliated companies for the coming three years, after discussing the relevant criteria and regulations.

Kuwait's previous oil minister Ali Al-Omair was moved to the Public Works Ministry after a row with senior oil execs over his plan to reshuffle oil companies' leadership. He was appointed in Jan 2014 but faced repeated controversies during his tenure and fierce opposition to his plans to swap the CEOs of two state-owned oil company subsidiaries. KPC CEO Nezar Al-Adasani refused in November last year to make the swap as Omair decreed, instead arguing that the minister had no power over such decisions. - KUNA