Mohammed bin Ali bin Mohammed Al Barwani (born October 30, 1951) is an Omani

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultr ...

businessman, the founder and chairman of

MB Holding MB Holding Company LLC or Mohammed al Barwani LLC (MB LLC) is an Omani conglomerate with interests in oil and gas exploration and production, oilfield services, engineering and mining. The company was founded in 1982 by Mohammed Al Barwani a ...

Group of companies, which operate in oil and gas exploration and production, oilfield services, engineering and mining.

Early life

Mohammed Al Barwani was born in Oman. In 1975 he earned a bachelor's degree in Science from

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

, Ohio, and a bachelor's in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

in 1981. In 1980, he earned a masters degree, and in 2010 received an honorary doctorate in

petroleum engineering Petroleum engineering is a field of engineering concerned with the activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas or both. Exploration and production are deemed to fall within the ''upstrea ...

, both from

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by roya ...

in Edinburgh, UK, yet styles himself as "Dr. Mohammed Al Barwani".

Career

Barwani started his career in the oil industry as a reservoir engineer for

Petroleum Development Oman Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) is the leading exploration and production company in the Sultanate of Oman. The Company delivers the majority of the country's crude oil production and natural gas supply. The company is owned by the Government of ...

(PDO), a joint venture of

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

and the

Government of Oman A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

, where he worked from 1976 to 1986. Barwani founded

in 1982 to provide oilfield services. MB expanded into oil and gas exploration and production, and then engineering services and subsequently founded Mawarid Mining in 1987 and

Petrogas Applegreen Limited is an Irish company founded in 1992 that operates 620 petrol stations in Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain (under the Welcome Break arm) and the United States. It is a major petrol retailer in Ireland, ...

in 1999. In 1997 he acquired KC Drilling in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, in 2000, Erdol-Edgas Workover in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and in 2004 United Engineering Services, in Oman. He also acquired Hyspec in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, in 2012. Barwani owns the Dutch yacht builder

Oceanco Oceanco is a privately owned custom yacht builder, based in the Netherlands, that has been building full displacement yachts in the range since 1987. It is owned by Mohammed Al Barwani, an Omani billionaire. History Oceanco came into existenc ...

. He first visited the company in 2009,The Interview
/ref> and acquired it from Greek businessman Theodore Angelopoulos in 2010. In 2015, Barwani bought the Turkish shipyard Turquoise Yachts. He runs Musstir, a property developer with "stakes in several hotels in Oman". Barwani is a non-executive director of a number of publicly traded and joint stock companies, Al Madina Insurance co. SAOG, Al Madina Investments SAOG (Muscat Stock Market),

Nautilus Minerals Nautilus Minerals Inc. was a Canadian deep sea exploration and mining company founded in 1997, and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange between 2007 and 2019. The company was known for Solwara-1, the first deep sea mining project, an attempt to ex ...

. He was formerly a non-executive director of Oman Air, Shell Oman Marketing Company, Taageer Leasing Company, Oman, and

National Bank of Oman Founded in 1973, the National Bank of Oman (NBO) was the first local bank in Oman. NBO has over 60 branches and 173 ATMs and Cash Deposit Machines across Oman. The bank has two international branches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is ...

. He is a member of the International SeaKeepers Society. Barwani was included in the book ''Those Who Inspire Oman'', published in November 2012 by the publishing house Those Who Inspire Ltd. As of May 2016, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' estimated his net worth at US$1.01 billion. In 2020, Barwani was appointed as chairman of

Oman Air Oman Air () is the flag carrier of Oman. Based at Muscat International Airport in Muscat, it operates domestic and international passenger services, as well as regional air taxi and charter flights. History Background Oman was one of the four s ...

the national airline of

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

Personal life

He is married to Sharifa al Harthy, who has always been involved in the company, and she is deputy chairman of

. They live in

Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...

, and have five children, all of whom work for

. Barwani owns several boats, with the 32-metre yacht ''Sharifa'' being the largest.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barwani, Mohammed Living people Omani billionaires Omani businesspeople Omani engineers Omani expatriates in the United Kingdom Omani expatriates in the United States Miami University alumni Alumni of Heriot-Watt University People from Muscat, Oman 1951 births