Abdulrahman Ben Yezza () is a

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

n businessman and politician who is the Oil Minister in the government of

Abdurrahim El-Keib Abdurrahim Abdulhafiz El-Keib, PhD, (; also transcribed ''Abdel Rahim AlKeeb,'' ''Abdul Raheem Al-Keeb,'' etc.; 2 March 1950 – 21 April 2020) was a Libyan politician, professor of electrical engineering, and entrepreneur who served as interim ...

. Prior to the 2011

Libyan Civil War Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. All figures are from the United Nations Demographic Yearbooks ...

, Ben Yezza served as "chairman of the operator's management committee" for

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

oil company

Eni Eni is an Italian oil and gas corporation. Eni or ENI may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Escuela Nacional de Inteligencia, the Argentine intelligence academy * Groupe des écoles nationales d’ingénieurs (Groupe ENI), a French engi ...

. He also worked for Libya's

National Oil Corporation The National Oil Corporation (NOC; ) is the national oil company of Libya. It dominates Libya's oil industry, along with a number of smaller subsidiaries, which combined account for the vast majority of the country's oil output. It is led by Fa ...

during Libya's governance by

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...

, but he quit the company voluntarily due to reported differences with its then-leader Shokri Ghanem, a member of Gaddafi's inner circle. In 2014 the Libyan government has named Abdulrahman Ben Yezza as chairman of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA). He temporarily replaced AmbdulMagid Breish who had to step out pending investigation into his role in the Gaddafi administration. Ben Yezza was originally considered for an appointment to government under the interim administration of

Mahmoud Jibril Mahmoud Jibril el-Warfally (), also transcribed Jabril or Jebril or Gebril (28 May 1952 – 5 April 2020), was a Libyan politician who served as the interim Prime Minister of Libya for seven and a half months during the overthrow of Muammar Gadd ...

, the

National Transitional Council The National Transitional Council (NTC) was a transitional government established in the 2011 Libyan civil war. After rebel forces overthrew the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya of Muammar Gaddafi in August 2011, the NTC governed Libya for a further ...

's prime minister during the fight to overthrow Gaddafi. Jibril's overt contemplation of naming Ben Yezza, who was ultimately passed over in favor of retaining Deputy Prime Minister

Ali Tarhouni Ali Abdussalam Tarhouni (; born 1951) is a Libyan economist and politician. Tarhouni served as the minister for oil and finance on the National Transitional Council, the provisional governing authority in Libya, from 23 March to 22 November 2011 ...

, to head the Oil Ministry was seen by some analysts as a gesture to the

government of Italy The government of Italy is that of a democratic republic, established by the Italian constitution in 1948. It consists of Legislature, legislative, Executive (government), executive, and Judiciary, judicial subdivisions, as well as of a head of ...

, a major investor in Libyan oilfields and an important supporter of the Libyan civil war. Ben Yezza was ultimately given the portfolio of Oil Minister by Jibril's successor,

, on 22 November 2011.

References

Oil ministers of Libya Living people Members of the National Transitional Council Members of the Interim Government of Libya Libyan businesspeople Year of birth missing (living people) {{Libya-bio-stub