Abdullah Tariki

Tariki was born on 19 March 1919 in Al Zulfi, Najd. His father was a Najdi townsman{{cite journal

|author=William Rugh|title=Emergence of a New Middle Class in Saudi Arabia|journal=The Middle East Journal|date=Winter 1973|volume=27

|issue=1|pages=7–20|jstor=4325018}} and a camel owner who organized caravans between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. His mother was a bedouin. One of Tariki's childhood friends was Mustafa Wahba, son of Hafiz Wahba and the founding and long-term secretary general of the Communist Party in Saudi Arabia.{{cite news|title=عاش مع الطريقي طفولة الكويت، السيد مصطفى حافظ وهبة لـ"إيلاف" : لم يكن الطريقي متعالياً ولا مغروراً، وعلى طاشكندي أن يراجع كلامه!!|url=https://elaph.com/Web/Archive/1056434797410822700.html|access-date=7 May 2021|work=Elaph|date=24 June 2003|language=ar}}

Tariki received his early education in Kuwait and in Cairo. In total, he spent twelve years studying in Egypt. He received a bachelor's degree in geology and chemistry from Cairo University in 1944. He graduated from the University of Texas in 1947, earning a master's degree in petroleum engineering and geology.{{cite journal|author=Joe Neal|title=A Sheikh of Arabia|journal=The Alcalde|date=May 1961|page=16|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p9IDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA16}}{{cite journal|author=Stephen Duguid|title=A Biographical Approach to the Study of Social Change in the Middle East: Abdullah Tariki as a New Man|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|date=July 1970|volume=1|issue=3|pages=195–220|jstor=162327

|doi=10.1017/s0020743800024168|s2cid=163854423}} He was also trained at the Texas Oil Company after graduation before returning to Saudi Arabia.{{cite book|author=Robert Vitalis|page=23|title=America's Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZW4iR67-3U4C&pg=PR23|year=2007|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-5446-0

|location=Stanford, CA}}

After his graduation, Tariki was employed as a geologist for the Texas Oil Company in Texas and California. He returned to Saudi Arabia in 1948{{cite thesis|author=Constance Eileen Chaffin Lewis|title=From concession to nationalization: Saudi Arabia and the Arabian American oil company, 1933-1988|location=Northeast Missouri State University|degree=MA|isbn=979-8-208-13986-8|date=1990|page=59

|id={{ProQuest|303932363}}|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/303932363}} and began to work at the ministry of finance office in Dammam from May 1953 to December 1954. He served as an interpreter at the initial phase of his career at the ministry.{{cite journal|author=Steffen Hertog|title=Shaping the Saudi state: Human agency's shifting role in the rentier state formation|issue=4

|pages=539–563|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|year=2007|volume=39|doi=10.1017/S0020743807071073|s2cid=145139112|url=http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/29872/1/Shaping_the_Saudi_state_%28publisher%29.pdf}} In December 1954, Tariki was appointed director-general of petroleum and mineral affairs in the ministry of finance and national economy.{{cite journal|author=Steffen Hertog|title=Petromin: the slow death of statist oil development in Saudi Arabia|journal=Business History|year=2008|volume=50|s2cid=154116939|issue=5|pages=645–667|doi=10.1080/00076790802246087|url=http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/29865/1/Petromin_the_Slow_Death_of_Statist_Oil_Development_in_Saudi_Arabia_%28LSERO%29.pdf}} This "made him the highest-ranked Saudi in the oil industry" at the time.

Tariki's work at the directorate involved processing the petroleum production statistics provided by the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco), and analysis summaries were then presented to the Saudi royal family. Tariki represented Saudi Arabia in the first Arab Petroleum Congress held in April 1959.{{cite book|author=Nelida Fuccaro|editor1=Dag Harald Claes|editor2=Giuliano Garavini|title=Handbook of OPEC and the Global Energy Order. Past, Present and Future Challenges|year=2020|publisher=Routledge|location=London|page=18|chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429203190|doi=10.4324/9780429203190|chapter=Oilmen, Petroleum Arabism and OPEC|isbn=9780429203190

|s2cid=211416208|url=https://openresearchlibrary.org/ext/api/media/62aeed95-b191-4ed0-83d6-b0372b5c31fa/assets/external_content.pdf }} He was named one of two representatives of the Saudi government as directors of the Aramco in May 1959. The other one was Hafiz Wahba. They were the first Saudi officials at the company.{{cite news

|title=Two Sheiks Join Aramco Board; Named to Represent the Government of Saudi Arabia|work=The New York Times|date=22 May 1959

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/05/22/archives/two-sheiks-join-aramco-board-named-to-represent-the-government-of.html}}

Tariki was one of the earliest critics of Aramco, arguing that the US companies should consult more with Saudi officials in exploring, pumping and selling of oil.{{cite news|title=Saudi oil ministers past and present|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/saudi-naimi-predecessors-idAFLDE71J01H20110225|work=Reuters|date=25 February 2011}} He was a Nasserite, as well as an Arab nationalist.{{Cite book|author=Jeff D. Colgan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g3U-EAAAQBAJ|title=Partial Hegemony: Oil Politics and International Order|year=2021|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-754640-6|pages=59–60,72|location=New York}} He called for a constitutional monarchy in Saudi Arabia and the nationalization of Arab oil.{{cite book

|author=Shukri Mohammed Ghanem|title=OPEC: The Rise and Fall of an Exclusive Club|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ssNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA28

|year=1986|publisher=KPI|page=28|isbn=978-0-7103-0175-8|location=London; New York}} To achieve this goal, he and Venezuela's mines minister Juan Pablo Perez Alfonso strongly supported the foundation of the OPEC and eventually became ita founding members in September 1960.Youssef M. Ibrahim (16 September 1997). [https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60F10F63C5C0C758DDDA00894DF494D81 "Sheik Abdullah al Tariki, 80, First Saudi Arabian Oil Minister,"] The New York Times.{{cite book|author=M. S. Vassiliou|authorlink= Marius Vassiliou|title=Historical Dictionary of the Petroleum Industry|page=364|location=Lanham, MD|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vArc08DO9ykC&pg=PA364|year=2009|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6288-3}}

The ministry of petroleum and mineral resources was created in December 1960, and Tariki was appointed the first oil minister.{{cite book|editor=Yitzhak Oron|title=Middle East Record|volume=2|year=1961|publisher=Israel Program for Scientific Translations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vzZ71Eh5QvMC&pg=PA419|page=419|id=GGKEY:4Q1FXYK79X8|location=Jerusalem}} His confidants in the government included King Saud's advisor Abdulaziz Al Muammar and Prince Mutaib bin Abdulaziz.{{cite thesis|author=Summer Scott Huyette|title=Political Adaptation in Saudi Arabia: A Study of the Council of Ministers|location=Columbia University|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/303285259|degree=PhD|year=1984|page=141|id={{ProQuest|303285259}}}} Tariki joined Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz's camp, Free Princes Movement, in 1961,{{cite book|author=Vijay Prashad|title=The Darker Nations- A Biography of the Short-Lived Third World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vY-rhSbio8cC&pg=PA275|year=2007|page=275

|publisher=LeftWord Books|isbn=978-81-87496-66-3|location=New Delhi}} and they accused Crown Prince Faisal, later King Faisal, of corruption. Tariki became a powerful ally of the movement.{{cite book

|author=Kai Bird|author-link=Kai Bird|title=Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956-1978|location=New York

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h9FZaNi5ToYC&pg=PA125|page=125|year=2010|publisher=Scribner|isbn=978-1-4391-7160-8}} He claimed on evidence that Kamal Adham, who was the brother-in-law of Prince Faisal, got 2% of the profits of the Arabian Oil Company that had been cofounded by Saudi Arabia and Japan.{{cite book|author=M. S. Vassiliou|title=The A to Z of the Petroleum Industry

|publisher=Scarecrow Press|page=496|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BdNjTbcB__0C&pg=PA496|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8108-7066-6|location=Lanham, MD}}

Tariki was removed from office by Prince Faisal when the latter was functioning as the acting head of the state as a result of the clash between him and King Saud in March 1962.{{cite web|author1=Amy Myers Jaffe|author2=Jareer Elias|title=Saudi Aramco: National Flagship with Global Responsibilities|format=Policy Report|year=2007|publisher=Rice University|url=https://itspubs.ucdavis.edu/publication_detail.php?id=1693}}{{cite book|author=Steffen Hertog|title=Princes, Brokers, and Bureaucrats: Oil and the State in Saudi Arabia|year=2010|publisher=Cornell University Press|page=74|jstor=10.7591/j.ctt7zbkq.10|isbn=9780801447815}} More specifically, King Saud dismissed him and four other members of the cabinet following his announcement of the constitution which had been developed by Free Princes movement members with the help of Egyptian lawyers.{{cite journal|author=Rosie Bsheer|title=A Counter-Revolutionary State: Popular Movements and the Making of Saudi Arabia

|journal=Past & Present|date=February 2018|doi=10.1093/pastj/gtx057|issue=238|page=247}} The Sudairi Seven, led by Prince Fahd, were very influential in this campaign against Tariki and others. According to political scientist Jeff Colgan, "the underlying problem was his nationalist ideology, though other events triggered his dismissal. His nationalist vision for the oil sector had become embarrassing to the Saudis who sought to cement their relationship with the United States." The other cabinet ministers who were asked to resign from the office included Hasan Nasif, Abdallah Al Dabbagh, Ibrahim Al Suwayil and Nasir Al Manqur. Tariki was succeeded by Ahmed Zaki Yamani as oil minister, and Yamani sacked Tariki also from Aramco's board.

Following his dismissal, Tariki went to exile and settled in Beirut. In January 1963, he and Lebanese oil expert Nicholas Sarkis founded an oil consulting firm in Beirut. Tariki also launched a journal there, Arab Oil and Gas,{{cite thesis|author=Brandon Roy Wolfe-Hunnicutt|title=The End of the Concessionary Regime: Oil and American Power in Iraq, 1958-1972|degree=PhD|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zCDrHfPN9J4C&pg=PA153|year=2011|location=Stanford University|page=153

|id=STANFORD:TM772ZZ7352}} and contributed to Al Anwar, a Lebanese daily.{{cite journal|title=Chronology May 16, 1969-August 15, 1969|journal=Middle East Journal|year=1969|volume=23|issue=4|page=521|jstor=4324514}} One of his articles in Al Anwar was an open letter to the Shah of Iran dated 19 May 1969.

Muammar Gaddafi sought Tariki's advice on national oil policy in the aftermath of the 1969 Libyan revolution.

Tariki could visit Saudi Arabia only after the death of King Faisal in 1975. Later, Tariki settled in Cairo.{{cite news|title=Former Saudi oil minister dies|url=https://apnews.com/54b310bf784af58be8aaf116acf27d04|work=Associated Press

|date=10 September 1997|location=Cairo}}

When Tariki was attending the University of Texas, he married an American woman.{{cite book|author=Madawi Al Rasheed|author-link=Madawi al-Rasheed|title=A History of Saudi Arabia|year=2010|page=88|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ReoiwJiOqQAC&pg=PR10

|publisher=[Cambridge University Press]|isbn=978-0-521-76128-4|location=Cambridge}} They later divorced in Saudi Arabia. Tariki died of a heart attack on 7 September 1997 in Cairo at the age of 78.Obituary: "Abdullah ibn Hamoud Al Tariki," The Washington Post. 12 September 1997.{{cite news|title=Abdullah Al Tariki, 80, A Co-founder of Opec|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=21 September 1997|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1997/09/21/abdullah-al-tariki-80-a-co-founder-of-opec/|location=London}} His body was taken to Saudi Arabia for burial.

• Order of Francisco de Miranda, 1960, Venezuela.{{cite book|author=Pierre Terzian|title=OPEC, the Inside Story|location=London; Totowa, NJ|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tBG1AAAAIAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Zed Books|isbn=978-0-86232-220-5|page=31}}

{{Reflist}}

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{{Oil Ministers of Saudi Arabia|state=collapsed}}

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Category:20th-century Saudi Arabian engineers

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Category:1919 births

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Category:Cockrell School of Engineering alumni

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Category:OPEC people

Category:Petroleum and mineral resources ministers of Saudi Arabia

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