The election of a Saudi to the presidency of the prestigious International Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) is seen as the best indication that Saudi Arabia, the world s biggest oil producer and exporter, has top-notch petroleum engineers. Abdul Jaleel A. Al-Khalifa, Saudi Aramco manager of Reservoir Description and Simulation Department, was elected this month president of SPE, a global organization of petroleum engineers with more than 65,000 members and 150 sections in 60 countries around the world. The Saudi Arabian section of SPE has up to 700 members. "I am deeply honored to head this organization; it is a credit not to me but for my country," he told the Jeddah-based Saudi Gazette. He is the first petroleum engineer from Asia and Africa to head the society, which has chosen its past presidents from countries in North America and Europe. --MORE 1256 Local Time 0956 GMT
