Speakers

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 the global energy industry, HE Al Ghais has held key senior managerial 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, HE Al Ghais worked for two years as a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the International Organizations’ Department and the Foreign Minister’s Office.

HE Al Ghais has previously represented Kuwait in multiple OPEC governing bodies and various other international institutions, such as the International Energy Forum and the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

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, and he was leader of Kuwait’s team involved in finalizing and signing the Charter of Cooperation. He was also 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.