Shafi Taleb Al-Ajmi​

President & CEO

Shafi Taleb Al-Ajmi is the Chief Executive Officer of KPC Holdings (Aruba) and President of Kuwait Petroleum International, a post he has held since 7 November 2022. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President- Manufacturing.​
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Mr. Al-Ajmi is a veteran oil executive with a Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Kuwait University and 25 years of experience in the energy sector. He previously served as Deputy Chief Executive Officer for Administration and Finance at KPC subsidiary Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), and has led several acquisition transactions and strategic feasibility studies in the petrochemical industry. He also headed the development of PIC’s petrochemical strategy 2030 and 2040. ​
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Mr. Al-Ajmi is currently Deputy Chairman of the Board for SK PIC Global Co., in addition to being on the boards of Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) in Bahrain; EQUATE petrochemical company in Kuwait; and Canada Kuwait Petrochemical Company (CKPC) from 2017 to 2021.

Waleed Al Ben Ali

Executive Vice President - Planning and Finance

Waleed Al Ben Ali is the Executive Vice President-Planning & Finance and Acting EVP-Marketing. With a degree in Accounting from the United Arab Emirates University, he has a varied and rich experience of nearly three decades in Kuwait’s downstream and upstream business sectors. He started his career at KNPC in 1990, and after that, he joined KUFPEC in 2003. At KUFPEC, he started with the Finance Department and was later elevated to the Manager, Commercial in 2012, where he was responsible for the Tax, Treasury, Marketing, and Insurance.

His current responsibilities include supporting the President & CEO of KPI in establishing, communicating, monitoring, and implementing a clear strategy through ambitious long-term plans up to 2040, besides the Five-Year Plan and Annual Budget for the current operations mainly in Europe and expanding in Vietnam, Oman, and other new markets. He also ensures sound financial management of KPI through services of Corporate Finance & Treasury, providing IT/PR support, overseeing the Corporate HR functions, supervising the implementation and execution of Quality Management, preparing courses of action for all the activities of a business through Corporate Planning as well as handling specific tasks & responsibilities of the Commercial Department.

Mr. Al Ben Ali is currently the Chairman of the Board of KP Europe and is on the boards of our JV retail station company in Sweden, OKQ8, and our JV refinery in Oman, OQ8.

Fadel Al-Faraj

Executive Vice President - Marketing

Fadel Al-Faraj is the Executive Vice President of Marketing at Kuwait Petroleum International. His current responsibilities are to support the President & CEO and oversee Q8’s marketing operations worldwide. Appointed in August 2023, Mr. Al-Faraj brings a wealth of knowledge in retail management, aviation fuel, lubricants, refining, supply and logistics, and JV management.

He began his thirty-year career in 1992 at Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s international marketing department, and then moved to Q8 where he worked in different locations and led several business units to significant growth and historical operational profits. He has served as Managing Director of KP Italia, which includes Milazzo refinery; Managing Director of KP Northwest Europe; Managing Director of Global Business; and General Manager of Q8Aviation. Mr. Al-Faraj is currently the Board Chairperson for our JV retail company in Vietnam, Idemitsu Q8, and Deputy Chairperson for our JV retail company in Sweden, OKQ8.

Fadel holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Imperial College in London, UK and a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Arizona in Tucson, USA. He is married with two children.

Imad A. Al-Hadlaq

Executive Vice President - Manufacturing

Mr. Imad A. Al-Hadlaq is the Executive Vice President (EVP) of Manufacturing at Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI). He was appointed on the 16th August 2023.

Mr. Al-Hadlaq graduated with a BS in Chemical Engineering from University of Arizona (U of A) at Tucson in 1997, USA. He has Twenty-Six years of experience within the oil sector, all spent in KPI. Mr. Al-Hadlaq spent more than 12 years living abroad between Europe and Asia, hence gaining wealth of knowledge and experience ranging from technical, commercial, operational, and financial.

Mr. Al-Hadlaq started off his career in 1997 as a Corporate Dealer within Finance/Treasury (KPITS) in KPI’s London office, he then moved to the International Diesel Services (IDS) in the UK, The Netherlands and Belgium where he was appointed as Planning and Operations Manager. Mr. Al-Hadlaq made it through the ranks becoming the Group Manager (GM) of KPI Business Development Department (BD) after having been repatriated to Kuwait, spending more than thirteen years in his capacity as BD GM. He then went on to assume the position of JV Marketing Manager for the Asia region after which he became for the second time the Deputy General Director – DGD for Nghi Son Refinery & Petrochemical Limited Liability Company - NSRP LLC.

Mr. Al-Hadlaq’s role as EVP Manufacturing is to support the President & CEO of KPI in the development and deployment of relevant strategic plans that will enable KPI to achieve its corporate mission.

Mr. Al-Hadlaq is currently a Director in Raffineria di Milazzo S.C.p.A (“RAM”) and is KPE’s representative and Chairman of Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical Ltd. MC, (“NSRP”) and KPE’s representative at Duqm Refinery & Petrochemical Industries Company LLC Board (“DRPIC/OQ8”).