Al-Muhanna, Ibrahim. Oil Leaders: An Insider’s Account of Four Decades of Saudi Arabia and OPEC’s Global Energy Policy. New York: Columbia University Press, 2022. 280 pages. Hardcover $35.00
Reviewed by Hamdullah Baycar
The 2022 release of Ibrahim Al-Muhanna’s book, Oil Leaders: An Insider’s Account of Four Decades of Saudi Arabia and OPEC’s Global Energy Policy, is timely as it corresponds to the global crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As apparent from the title, the book provides the story of Al-Muhanna’s personal experience in his different capacities in Saudi Arabia’s energy sectors. The author does not claim to reveal any secret or confidential information. Instead, he presents observations gained from data from OPEC, the International Energy Agency, the International Energy Forum, the World Bank, and interviews he conducted over the course of four years. The book narrates the development of the oil industry within the Kingdom and the globe, more so as a reflection on people’s lives, targeting a multifaceted audience. Thus, the book resembles an anecdotal biography of several vital figures whose lives and personalities have significantly impacted the oil and energy sectors. It sheds light on direct and indirect relations within oil politics from, primarily, the Saudi perspective; the book consists of eleven chapters, with an introduction and conclusion.
Al-Muhanna emphasizes the role of Arab and world leaders and policymakers, as well as oil experts. He exemplifies the importance of major figures to assess the impact their policies have had on key decision-making processes, the oil industry, and, more broadly, world affairs. The first chapter covers the service of Ahmed Zeki Yamani, the Minister of Saudi Arabia’s Petroleum and Mineral Resources. The author reveals Yamani’s personal motives, such as his ego, thinking capacity, and above all, his over-self-confidence that misled him into thinking that he was “irreplaceable” (36). The same narration continues in other chapters, such as in Chapter 2, where he gives a professional biography of Yamani’s successor, Hisham Nazer.
Chapter 3 narrates the development of the Saudi Oil industry from the 1980s until the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq and the retreat of the Iraqi army as a result of the US-led coalition, in February 1991. The author portrays the events between 1987–1990 by examining some important figures who played significant roles in the 1991 war on Iraq. Although Saddam Hussain played a more negative role, the Iraqi leader was the direct cause of the war; he and Sheikh Ali al-Khalifa al-Sabah, who served as both Minister of Oil and Minister of Finance in Kuwait, at different terms, are held accountable for the war. King Fahd of Saudi Arabia is portrayed as the person who strived to solve the problem diplomatically by offering mediation. However, Saddam’s wayward attitude, combined with Ali al-Sabah’s adventurous policies, whose little regard for regional balance, made the war a reality and caused a catastrophe for both Kuwait and Iraq.
Al-Muhanna’s biographical narration continues in Chapter 4 as he relates the role of a non-Arab figure, Luis Giusti, the Chairman of Petróleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA), the Venezuelan oil company. Giusti’s disregard for OPEC’s quota system and the fact that many other states who wished to follow his lead are discussed in detail; the author commends Saudi Arabia for its leading position in the organization, having exhibited some responsibility in the conflict with Venezuela. Aside from the question of whether OPEC was an effective tool for energy stability and for protecting oil exports’ interests, OPEC became a forum where states promised to cut oil production but did not implement such a cut, the subject of Chapter 5. In consequence, the drop in oil prices continued, leaving all oil-exporting states in economic hardship. Thus, each state blamed the others, making OPEC a forum for the “blame game,” in Al-Muhanna’s words (104).
Furthermore, we get a picture of the impact of the fall in oil prices on Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The Jakarta Agreement in 1997 neither stopped the blame game nor caused an increase in oil prices. Oil prices fell to $10.00 USD per BBL, in June 1998. That decline had a devastating impact on the oil-exporting countries, at different socioeconomic levels, resulting in different people being targeted for blame. In Saudi Arabia, for example, neither the royal family nor Aramco was seen as responsible for the economic crisis, but Ali Al-Naimi was under fire. In Venezuela, the government and PDVSA were criticized, which influenced the incoming elections in which Hugo Chavez was elected president. With Chavez in charge, Chapter 6 continues, and the Latin American nation began to have more wealth, thanks to increased oil prices. However, in the early 2000s, corruption and mismanagement led to strikes, which devastated the Venezuelan oil industry. While low oil prices critically impacted oil-exporting countries, high oil prices damaged most of the world, including the global hegemonic power. The US high oil prices have had a decisive effect on the outcome of the Presidential elections, says Al-Muhanna. He demonstrates how the American and Saudi Arabian leaderships become politically closer when there is US presidential alarm regarding the oil price. George W. Bush’s visit to Riyadh is one example the author brings to the discussion. During the high oil prices of 2020, President Bush’s request for an increase in production reached $120.00 USD per BBL. As discussed in Chapter 7, this is an interesting comparison with President Joe Biden’s visit to the Kingdom in 2020. In the latter instance, the visit resulted in a U-turn for Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman.
Chapters 8 to 11 narrate more biographical information about characters, such as Muhammed bin Salman, Salman bin Abdul-Aziz, Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden, and Donald Trump, regarding their personalities that affected their decisions about oil policy. In Chapter 10, the rise of Russia as a global oil and gas power is detailed, and the role of Putin in this rise is presented. The impact on the oil and gas sectors after the demise of the Soviet Union and the establishment of the Russian Federation is briefly explained. For instance, one of the most controversial Russian groups, the oligarchs, are the product of the first government of the Russian Federation under Boris Yeltsin; then, some rich oligarchs received shares in public companies in return for a loan, though the process was corrupt. The present Saudi oil policy is explained in Chapter 10, where the roles of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Minister of Energy, are explored. Mohammed bin Salman’s vision for privatization in 2016 is explained, along with his commitment to the global energy sector. The privatization of Aramco, part of the reform plan in “Vision 2030,” is justified for several reasons, including, but not limited to, transparency, accountability, and providing funds for public investments (223).
The story Al-Muhanna presents is a guidebook for policy workers in the oil and gas industries, but it falls short on conceptual, methodological, and theoretical backgrounds. Yet, emphasizing Saudi’s national and global standpoints, which rely on Al-Muhanna’s memoirs and experiences, provides interesting insight into the internal affairs of the industry. The book is recommended for students and researchers in political science, international relations, and Global Affairs, and economists and business personnel in oil production and marketing.