Our Board and Leadership Team

H.E. Abdullah Al Harthi

OQT Board Chairman

Hilal Al Kharusi

Chief Executive – Commercial & Downstream at OQ

Hilal Al Kharusi is another director with extensive experience in the energy sector. In his current role as Chief Executive – Commercial & Downstream at OQ, Hilal is responsible for developing and driving OQ commercial & downstream business strategy both locally and internationally and has three decades of international business experience in the energy sector. Hilal was originally appointed as a director of OQT between 2013-2015 and served as Chairman of the Board during 2015.

He started his career with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and Shell International, managing a number of energy projects across the Middle East, CIS, Africa, and Russia. Prior to joining OQ, Hilal was the Executive Vice-President for Emerging Businesses at Oman Oil Company whereby he developed large-scale energy projects locally, managed the group’s international M&A activities, and was responsible for managing a diverse energy portfolio.

Hilal also serves as Chairman of the Board in three core OQ businesses, the Muscat Stock Exchange listed Oman Oil Marketing Company (OOMCO), the Germany headquartered OQ Chemicals and OQ’s latest refining venture, OQ8. He is also a member of the board of Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA). Hilal holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Geosciences/Economic Geography and an MBA from the UK.

Sabrina Al Bakri

Director - OQT

Sabrina Al Bakri has been a director at OQT since February 2023 and is Chief Executive – Finance at OQ. She has over 17 years’ experience in the field of finance, providing corporate finance solutions and performance reporting, including diverse and complex funding requirements. Her career in the field started at PDO and Shell, after which she joined Aabar Investments in Abu Dhabi where she spent 10 years structuring finance solutions including corporate bonds, multicurrency syndications and exchangeable bonds. She joined OQ Group in 2018 delivering on originating, evaluating and structuring a variety of finance arrangements including corporate bonds, multicurrency syndications, term loans and project financing to deliver business value.

Sabrina holds a BA degree in Finance, Accounting & Management from the University of Nottingham and is an ACCA Certified Chartered Accountant.

Graham Ford

Independant Director

Graham Ford is an independent director and has more than 35 years’ experience in the energy industry. He has worked with OQT since 2015 in various capacities, including as a director, strategy advisor and a member of the Board Audit & Risk Management Committee. In 2020, he extended his responsibilities, being appointed as an independent director and Chairman of the Board Audit Committee for OQ.

Prior to joining the OQT Board, Graham was Interim CEO at EDF Trading following his long and distinguished career at BP across London, Madrid and Brussels. His time at BP encompassed holding several key positions including as Global Director ERP Systems (Refining & Marketing) and multiple regional & segment level controller roles such as European Regional CFO for the group Chemicals segment, providing the opportunity to influence overall strategy of regions and segments as a member of the Group Finance Executive Team. Graham’s tenure at BP culminated with his appointment as CFO – Integrated Supply & Trading in 2007, responsible for one of the largest global oil trading businesses in the industry and leading the transformation of the finance function for Oil, Gas & Power Trading.

Graham is a Fellow of Chartered Association of Certified Accountants in the UK.

Ayad Al Balushi

Independant Director

Wail Al Jamali

Chief Executive Officer

Wail Al Jamali is Chief Executive Officer of OQT, appointed in 2018, with full responsibility over all OQT activities globally.

Holding a Master’s Degree (MEng) in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London, Wail has amassed 20+ years’ experience in the energy sector, beginning his career as a field engineer at Schlumberger in Abu Dhabi.

Joining Sohar Refinery in 2004 during its construction phase, which also included on-the-job training at the Korean refiner GS Caltex, provided Wail with the opportunity to play an active role in Sohar Refinery’s commissioning activities and unique opportunity to work both in upstream and downstream before moving to trading.

Wail’s tenure at OQT began in 2007, taking on various operational roles before moving on to trading Middle Distillates and subsequently developing trading desks covering all Refined Products that established OQT as a respectable regional trader. This was followed by an appointment as Chief Operating Officer, responsible for OQT’s global trading and front office activities. During his time at OQT, Wail has played an instrumental role in creating one of the first successful global trading organisations backed by a National Oil Company (NOC).

In 2010 and 2019, Wail was an active member of integration teams that oversaw mergers to create Oman’s national refining and petrochemical champion (Orpic in 2010) and Oman’s first integrated energy company (OQ in 2019).

Wail is also a director of Hass Petroleum, an East Africa-based retail and fuel distribution business and OQT investee company, which operates across nine East African countries.

Sam Naylor

Chief Financial Officer

Sam Naylor is Chief Financial Officer of OQT, appointed in 2015 and responsible for the global leadership of the middle and back-office functions supporting the marketing and trading activities.

A UK big-4 trained chartered accountant with nearly 20 years’ experience in energy trading and financial institutions, he has worked with trading companies in an assurance capacity, as a consultant and within the industry in finance leadership roles.

Sam’s career began with Deloitte’s Banking & Securities assurance group in London, followed by a Global Finance Leadership role at Gazprom Marketing & Trading. Sam initially joined OQT as the Group Financial Controller in 2014 and under his current Global CFO role is responsible for the accounting & tax, treasury, trade & structured finance, risk management and IT functions for the OQT group of companies.

In addition to being Company and Board Secretary for OQT, Sam is a director at the digital trade finance platform, Komgo, and sits on the Board of Directors and Board Audit Committee of Hass Petroleum. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

Said Al Maawali

Executive Director – Middle East

Said Al Maawali is Executive Director – Middle East at OQT, working closely with various Omani stakeholders on new and existing business opportunities. His responsibilities also include supervision of the fertilisers and emissions desks along with assisting in the development of new commercial lines within the company.

Having graduated as a Construction Engineer from Iowa State University and with an MBA from the University of Hull in the UK, his career spans over 20 years and encompasses engineering, marketing, and trading (including initiating and executing Oman’s first CDM project under the Kyoto protocol framework).

Said’s work life began at Oman LNG, followed by a move in 2005 to Oman Oil Company as Assistant Trading Manager where he supported the development of a trading arm for crude and refined products as well as negotiation of the products off-take agreement with Oman Refineries and Petrochemical Company. During his tenure at Oman Oil Company, Said was a member of the team responsible for the JV agreement process with Vitol Holding to initiate a trading company that eventually became Oman Trading International (OTI – now OQT), which he then joined in 2009.

Said is also the Chairman of Oman India Fertiliser Company (Omifco).

Dylan Goh

Executive Director – Asia

Dylan Goh is Executive Director – Asia at OQT, based in Singapore. He leads the company’s petrochemicals trading business as well as being responsible for the overall domestic business of OQT in China.

Dylan joined OQT in 2009 as Head of Aromatics, tasked with establishing the company’s first overseas office in Singapore. Holding a B.A. with Honours from the National University of Singapore, he started his working life at Enterprise Singapore, a statutory board of the Ministry of Trade & Industry. Over the course of his career in the oil & petrochemicals sector since 1999, he has held several key commercial and trading positions in industry-leading companies such as Shell, BASF and Chevron, both in Singapore and overseas.

Louis Linthorst

Executive Director – Europe

Louis Linthorst is Executive Director – Europe at OQT, based in Rotterdam. His management responsibilities include heading up the middle distillates & fuel oil books as well as oversight of OQT’s western hemisphere trading activities with specific focus on Crude, Refined Products & LNG.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from Erasmus University in Rotterdam & has over 20 years of experience working in the oil and gas industry in various functions. Before Joining OQT in 2014 he held trading and managerial positions in Shell and Mabanaft, as well as working in the commercial and financial functions in Oiltanking.