Saudi Aramco to appoint new CEO for trading arm

Saudi Aramco will appoint Yasser Mufti as the head of trading arm Saudi Aramco Products Trading Co, industry sources said.

Mufti, who has been leading mergers and acquisitions (M&A) at Aramco, will replace Said al-Hadrami as chief executive of Aramco Trading, the sources said on condition of anonymity because the appointment has not yet been announced officially.

Hadrami will be named as head of international operations at Aramco, one of the sources said.

Mufti served as Saudi Arabia’s OPEC governor from March 2012 until December 2013. His latest posts have included head of Aramco’s Accelerated Transformation Programme in which the company said will focus on few pillars to become a more diversified energy firm.

Saudi Aramco declined to comment on this report.

Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest state owned oil company, is undertaking a massive increase in refining capacity. It started operations of its trading subsidiary in 2012.

Currently, products traded include refined products, condensate, naphtha, gasoline, middle distillate fuels, fuel oil, residual petroleum products and sulfur.

In 2014, Aramco Trading expanded its market presence by marketing directly to third parties. It started marketing petrochemicals too, it said in its 2014 annual review.