Mohamed Hamel
Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF)
Mohamed Hamel, the fourth Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), an intergovernmental organization based in Doha, Qatar, assumed office on January 1, 2022. Before taking on the role of head of the GECF Secretariat, Mr. Hamel served for seven years as Senior Advisor to the Minister of Energy of Algeria. Since 2016, he represented Algeria’s interests in GECF as a member of the Forum’s Executive Board. Mr. Hamel was also a member of the OPEC Board of Governors from 2015 and served as Chairman of its Audit Committee. In 2016, he led the OPEC High-Level Committee on the Algiers Agreement and co-chaired the OPEC and non-OPEC High-Level Meeting. From 2002 to 2014, Mr. Hamel worked at the OPEC Secretariat in Vienna, first as Head of the Energy Studies Department and later as Senior Advisor to the Secretary General. Prior to that, he spent 21 years at Sonatrach, Algeria’s national oil and gas company, holding various positions in the industry. He began his career as a reservoir engineer in the Production Department and later became Director of Research and Synthesis in the Exploration Department. He also served as Vice President for Strategy and Planning and was a member of the company’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors.