Dr. Abdul Aziz bin Muhareb Al-Shaibani is the deputy minister for water affairs at the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture.
He has also been a member of the board of directors of the Saudi Geological Survey since his appointment by the Saudi Cabinet in January this year.
Al-Shaibani began his career in 1987 as a geophysicist at Saudi Aramco. He then moved to the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) where he worked as a teaching assistant in the earth sciences department between 1988 and 1991.
After that, he lived in the US until 1998, pursuing postgraduate studies in Texas, and then returned to KFUPM as an assistant professor in the earth sciences department, a position he held until 2014.
For the past five years he has been an associate professor in the department and its chairman since 2005.
Al-Shaibani holds a bachelor’s degree in geophysics from KFUPM and gained a master’s degree in the same subject and a Ph.D. in geology from Texas A&M University.
Recently, Al-Shaibani attended a workshop in Riyadh at which several experts and specialists in the water sector from the ministry and the World Bank Group were present.
Delegates discussed successful international projects related to water, the role of the Saudi National Center for Water Research and Studies, and the objectives of the next phase of the country’s water strategy.