Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi () (born 2 August 1935) is a Saudi Arabian politician who was the Saudi Arabian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources from 1995 to 2016. Early life and education Naimi was born in Ar-Rakah in the Eastern Province. Born to Ibrahim, a pearl diver of the Al-Naimi tribe, and Fatima, a Bedouin of the Ajman, his parents became divorced during the pregnancy. As a consequence, Naimi was born into and lived the first eight years of his nomadic life with his mother's and stepfather's tribe. From the age of four, he tended the family's flock of lambs. His mother divorced his stepfather when Al-Naimi was eight, and Al-Naimi left the Ajmani tribe to live with his father in Al-Hasa. Ali Al-Naimi's older brother Abdullah was hired by Aramco in 1944, and attended the Jebel School run by the company. Abdullah took Ali along to the school, where they learned English, Arabic and basic arithmetic in the mornings, then worked as office boys in the afternoon. Finally, on 6 December 1947, Ali was hired as a junior clerk, but still attended school in the mornings. Under the training programs of Aramco, he studied at International College, Beirut, and the American University of Beirut, before going to Lehigh University in the United States. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in geology in 1962. He then earned a Master of Science degree in hydrology and economic geology at Stanford University. Ali attended advanced management courses at Columbia in 1974 and Harvard in 1979. Career After graduation, Naimi joined Aramco's exploration and production department as a geologist in 1964. He presented his first research paper, "The Groundwater of Northeastern Saudi Arabia", in 1965. In 1967, he spent a year in the public relations department, before being assigned as the senior supervising operator for the Abqaiq Field in 1968. There he used an innovative gas injection method to revive the Ain Dar, No. 17, well. On 1 April 1969, Ali was made superintendent, assistant manager in 1972, and then manager in 1973. He was promoted to manager of Northern Area producing in 1974, which had responsibility for 11 of Aramco's 15 oil fields. On 1 May 1975, the Aramco board promoted Ali to be the vice president for producing and water injection. He was one of the leaders that initiated seawater injection as a replacement for well water. He was