Mohamed HAMEL is currently head of the Energy Studies Department at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Headquarters in Vienna, a position he has held since May 2002. Before joining OPEC, he was with Sonatrach, the Algerian National Oil and Gas Company, where he spent most of his career. He started in 1983 as engineer within the production division, focusing on reservoir modeling. He moved in 1988 to the exploration division, as director in charge of geology, geophysics and well evaluation. In 1993, he joined the Corporate Centre, as director economics and planning. In 1998, he became vice president in charge of strategy, planning and economics. He was also member of the Board. Mr. Hamel graduated from the “Ecole Polytechnique” of Paris, France, in 1979 and from the “Ecole des Mines de Paris” in 1981.