Kuwait

Tareq Al-Wazzan: Biography
Mr. Al-Wazzan, Managing Director and CEO of AREF Energy Holdings, has held this position since 2007.  During that time he has guided the company in its investment decisions and operating philosophy to a point where it was recently awarded an international BB+ rating by Capital Standards.  Factors leading to this award were low debt, a highly liquid balance sheet and the diverse nature of its holdings, resulting in a high risk tolerance.
Mr. Al- Wazzan has been involved in all phases of the oil supply chain and global marketing throughout his varied career in the petroleum industry. This ranges from crude oil sales, thru refinery planning and operation, refined products marketing and customer relations.   Indeed, his early experience in crude oil sales served as a foundation on which he built his extensive career, matching refinery operations to meet world  wide demand and environmental issues, competitive analysis, and product marketing strategy.
He exhibits proven expertise in the following areas:
Sales and Marketing,  with his ability to identify and pursue opportunities, negotiate complex marketing contracts, and  create value maximized pricing;
Technical Analysis,  creating clear financial models based on marketing analysis;
Leadership,  with his ability to win commitment from varied groups on complex strategies and corporate goals;
Communications,  providing clear, concise presentation of complex ideas and plans to management, international customers and employees.    
 Prior to moving to AREF Energy, Mr. Al- Wazzan, held a succession of increasingly important management posts over his 23 years with the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, focusing on the Far Eastern Markets.   An eleven year varied sales path lead to his appointment in 1995 as Coordinator of Crude Oil Sales as covered earlier. A brief stint as Manager of the Tokyo Regional Office preceded his appointment, in 1999, as Manager of Crude Oil Sales, the core activity of the corporation.
For three years, 2003-2006, he was Far East Regional Manager.  Based in Tokyo, his responsibility included all Hydrocarbon sales to China, Taiwan, S. Korea and Japan.   His final position at KPC was Market Research Manager.  As such, he served on the KPC long/short range strategic planning team and instigated several creative ‘think-tank’ projects.  While with KPC he served as board member of the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC)
He holds a BSc in Business Administration, San Diego, USA, and has been a member of the Kuwait delegation at OPEC, and on many international conference venues such as Enterprise Risk Management, IT, Health, Safety & Environment and Personnel Development Planning.  He is also a board member of Kuwait Energy, and chairman of the board of Higleig Petroleum and Investments.
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