H. E. Thamir Ghadhban

Advisory Commission to the Iraqi Prime Minister, Iraqi Government

H.E Thamir Ghadhban was born in Babyl in April 1945. He holds a BSc in Geology from University College and an MSc in Petroleum Reservoir Engineering from Imperial College, London University. After graduation, he joined Basra Petroleum Company in 1973 and later Iraq National Oil Co. He worked in Basra until 1989 in the disciplines of Petroleum and Reservoir Engineering of Southern Iraqi oil fields. He became Head of Petroleum and Reservoir Engineering Department. In 1989–1990 he worked as Director General of Reservoir and Field Development in the Ministry of Oil, Baghdad, supervised Reservoir and Field Development Studies as well as Technical and Economic Feasibility Studies and Negotiation of Contracts. In 1991-1992 he worked as Director General of Planning and Studies in the Ministry of Oil. After the fall of the regime in April 2003, he took the initiative and played the leading role in managing a severely damaged oil industry leading to the resumption of oil activities throughout the country. He became CEO of the Ministry of Oil on 3 May 2003 and later Minister of Oil in June 2004 until May 2005. He was elected on 30 January 2005 for membership of the Iraq National Assembly and became a member of the constitutional and economic committees. He is currently Chairman of the Advisory Commission of the Prime Minister’s office. He is Author and Co-Author of more than fifty studies and technical papers dealing with various aspects of Iraqi oil fields in addition to several published papers about Iraq’s oil industry delivered at many international oil conferences. He was winner of OAPEC scientific award in 2000.