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. References

{{OPEC, s ...

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

Ahmed Chalabi Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi ( ar, أحمد عبد الهادي الجلبي; 30 October 1945 – 3 November 2015) was an Iraqi politician, a founder of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) who served as the President of the Governing Council of ...

Biography

Born in 1929 in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

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

Baghdad University The University of Baghdad (UOB) ( ar, جامعة بغداد ''Jāmi'at Baghdād'') is the largest university in Iraq, tenth largest in the Arab world, and the largest university in the Arab world outside Egypt. Nomenclature Both University ...

and graduated in 1951 before gaining a PhD in

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

from the University of Paris. 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 ( es, link=no, Carlos el Chacal) or simply Carlos, is a Venezuelan convicted of terrorist crimes, and currently serving a life sentence in France for the 1975 murder ...

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 a cartel of countries. Founded on 14 September 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela), it has, since 1965, been headquart ...

, 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 ( ar, أحمد زكي يماني; 30 June 1930 – 23 February 2021) was a Saudi Arabian politician who served as Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources from 1962 to 1986, and a minister in the Organization of the Petrole ...

. 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.{{cite book, last1=Gruyter, first1=Walter de, title=Who's Who in the Arab World 2007-2008, date=1 January 2007, publisher=Publitec Publications, isbn=9783110930047, page=235

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

{{reflist {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Chalabi, Fadhil 1929 births 2019 deaths Iraqi economists Energy economists Secretaries General of OPEC