OREANDA-NEWS. October 15, 2014. Saudi Aramco has announced the appointment of two people to general management level.

Nabeel I. Al Afaleg, who had been appointed to King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) on an interim basis, has been assigned to the position of chief petroleum engineer, effective October 1. Samer S. AlAshgar has been appointed general manager — on special assignment — effective September 14 and will be on loan to KAPSARC until further notice.

In his previous post, Al Afaleg was the manager of Finance and Operations at KAPSARC, where he oversaw the establishment of operating systems, facilities and the organization.

Before that, he was manager of the Southern Area and Northern Area Reservoir Management departments, respectively, and was responsible for planning and executing best in class hydrocarbon recovery strategies of Saudi Aramco oil fields and nonassociated gas reservoirs.

Al Afaleg joined the company in 1987, taking on tasks within Upstream. He holds a B.Sc. from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, as well as an MSc and Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, all in petroleum engineering. He also holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he received a Sloan Fellowship.

Al Afaleg has received the Distinguished Service Award for his contribution to the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).

AlAshgar had previously led the Upstream Research Center in Saudi Aramco, EXPEC Advanced Research Center (EXPEC ARC), which is responsible for research and development of subsurface upstream technologies.

As head of EXPEC ARC, AlAshgar was responsible for driving the technology agenda and growth of the center both locally in Dhahran and globally through the establishment of several global research centers in North America, Europe and Asia. He oversaw six research teams who develop technologies relevant to oil and gas exploration, development and production, in addition to a Technical Services organization responsible for field operations, support and studies.

AlAshgar began his Saudi Aramco career as an engineer in 1993 and has held several management positions. Before joining EXPEC ARC, he was the head of the Oil and Gas Production Planning Division within Saudi Aramco. He joined Saudi Aramco after obtaining his B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Tulsa. He holds a master’s degree in petroleum engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from MIT.

KAPSARC is an international, independent, nonprofit research institution dedicated to researching energy economics, policy, technology, and the environment across all types of energy.

The mandate of KAPSARC is to advance the understanding of energy challenges and opportunities facing Saudi Arabia and the world today and tomorrow, through unbiased, independent, and high-caliber research for the benefit of society. During its establishment phase, the center has developed more than 20 research projects, conducted numerous international workshops and released several research papers.