Fadhil Jafar al-Chalabi (1929–2019) was an Iraqi economist, and was Acting

Secretary General of OPEC Below is a list with each secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), based on the organization's official publications. The secretary general is OPEC's chief executive officer A chief executive officer (C ...

from 1983 to 1988. He was a second cousin of the politician

Ahmed Chalabi Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi (; 30 October 1945 – 3 November 2015) was an Iraqi dissident politician, convicted fraudster and founder of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) who served as the President of the Governing Council of Iraq ( 37th ...

Biography

Born in 1929 in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

to Jafar Mohamad al-Chalabi and Fatima née al -Uzri, Chalabi studied law at

Baghdad University The University of Baghdad (UOB) (, also known as Baghdad University) is a public research university in Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the ...

and graduated in 1951 before gaining a PhD in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

. In 1968 he was appointed director of oil affairs in the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, and in 1973 became Iraq's permanent undersecretary of oil. In 1975 he was one of the hostages taken by

Carlos the Jackal Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (; born 12 October 1949), also known as Carlos the Jackal () or simply Carlos, is a Venezuelan convict who conducted a series of assassinations and terrorist bombings from 1973 to 1985. A committed Marxist–Leninist, ...

at the OPEC-Conference in Vienna ( see OPEC siege). He was assistant secretary general to the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries in Kuwait from 1976 to 1978. From 1978 to 1988 he was deputy secretary general of

OPEC The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) is an organization enabling the co-operation of leading oil-producing and oil-dependent countries in order to collectively influence the global oil market and maximize Profit (eco ...

, serving as acting secretary general from 1983 to 1988. In 1987 he became Executive Director of the Centre for Global Energy Studies, a London-based think-tank founded and chaired by

Ahmed Zaki Yamani Ahmed Zaki Yamani (; 30 June 1930 – 23 February 2021) was a Saudi Arabian politician who served as Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources under four Saudi monarchs from 1962 to 1986, and a minister in the Organization of the Petroleum Ex ...

. He retired in 2011. Chalabi was interviewed in the 2006 documentary '' A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash''. He received the British Institute of Energy Economics Award for Distinction in 1988.

Personal life

He was married in 1956 to Abla Bahjat Salih and has four children.

Works

* ''OPEC and the international oil industry: a changing structure'', 1980 * ''The world oil price collapse of 1986: causes and implications for the future of OPEC'', 1986 * 'OPEC and the Present Structural Limitations on its Oil Price Control', ''OPEC Review'' (Paris), Summer 1988 * ''OPEC at the crossroads'', 1989 * ''The Gulf War and the emerging oil situation in the world'', 1991 * ''Oil policies, oil myths: analysis and memoir of an OPEC insider'', 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chalabi, Fadhil 1929 births 2019 deaths University of Baghdad alumni University of Paris alumni Iraqi economists Energy economists Secretaries general of OPEC