Sameh Fahmi

Sameh Fahmi (born 14 August 1949) is an Egyptian engineer and politician who served as oil minister of Egypt for 12 years from 1999 to 2011.

Early life and education Fahmi was born in Cairo on 14 August 1949.

Fahmi was appointed oil minister to the cabinet led by the Prime Minister Atef Ebeid on 5 October 1999, replacing Hamdi Al Banbi in the post. Fahmi was also named the chairman of the Egyptian Gas Holding Company. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Egyptian holding company for petrochemicals (ECHEM) in 2002. A 15-year natural gas deal was signed by him and Israeli national infrastructure minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer in July 2005. In December 2010, he was appointed president of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum. Although he retained his post in the cabinet led by Ahmed Shafik in the January 2011 reshuffle, he resigned from office due to the complaints of oil workers on 16 February 2011. His term ended on 21 February 2011, and he was replaced by Mahmoud Latif Amer as oil minister. In April 2011, it was announced by the public prosecutor that he would be tried in relation to the charges related to a natural gas deal with Israel. He was arrested and held in custody on 21 April 2011. Fahmi was sentenced to 15 years in prison in June 2012 due to his alleged role in selling and exporting natural gas to Israel in 2005 at lower prices than market rates. He along with other officials was also fined about $2.3 billion. Specifically, he was jailed for 23 months.