SAUDI OIL COMPANY GETS NEW ACTING GOVERNOR
The acting governor of Saudi Arabia's
state-owned oil company, Petromin, Jamal Hassan Jawa, has
retired at his own request, oil industry sources said.
    They said Ali Ibrahim Rubaishi, head of organisation
planning in Petromin, would take over as acting governor.
    Jawa held the post since his predecessor, Abdul-Hadi Taher,
left in a major oil industry shake up last December.
    The sources said Rubaishi had not been expected to hold the
post permanently.
    The government removed Taher and Oil Minister Ahmed Zaki
Yamani from their posts late last year in a move which industry
sources said was aimed at coming to grips with a buyers' oil
market.
    The two men had run the Saudi oil industry for more than 20
years. Industry sources said that despite huge resources, Saudi
Arabia had been unable to mould an oil marketing strategy tuned
to the competitive realities of the 1980s glut.
    Hisham Nazer, who replaced Yamani, successfully led an
OPEC-engineered return to fixed oil prices of 18 dlrs a barrel
last December.
    Nazer is believed to be reviewing Saudi oil operations
which could lead to a thorough overhaul in the way Saudi Arabia
does business, the sources said.
    The sources had said possible candidates for the governor's
job include Prince Abdul Aziz Ibn Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz, who
earlier ran a research center at Saudi Arabia's University of
Petroleum and Minerals, and former Deputy Planning Minister
Faisal Beshir. They also list Abdulla Bakr, President of the
University of Petroleum and Minerals, economist Ali Jonahi,
Ahmed Shinawi, and Zuheir Masoud, director of Jeddah Islamic
Port.
 REUTER
