Saudi ex-oil minister passes away

Saudi Arabia’s former oil minister Hisham Nazer has died at the age of 83 years, the Gulf Kingdom’s press reported on Sunday.

Nazer, who was born in the Saudi capital Riyadh in 1932, died at his home on Saturday night after retiring from his long diplomatic career.

Nazer had taken up many posts in Saudi Arabia since he graduated from California University in international public relations in 1957.

He was first named Saudi Arabia’s first governor in OPEC in 1961 and undersecretary of the Kingdom’s oil ministry during 1961-1968. He was then moved to other posts before he was appointed planning minister in 1975. In 1986, late King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz issued a royal decision naming him oil minister at a time when Opec was reeling under a product war that pushed crude prices to one of their lowest levels in history.

In 2005, Nazer was appointed Saudi Arabia’s ambassador in Egypt by late King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. He remained in that post until 2011.

According to the Saudi daily 'Ajel', he Nazer was awarded 19 medals and orders from countries worldwide.

 

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