Since the day in 1968 when Dr. Shokri Ghanem took a post at Libya’s Ministry of Petroleum, he has maintained a high profile in the Middle East energy scene. An economist, professor, and veteran of the oil industry and the public sector, he currently serves as chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC). Director of OPEC’s¹ research division from 1993 to 2001, Shokri Ghanem also led the organization’s secretariat for three years. He then returned to Libya, where he was prime minister before returning to the energy sector. In this interview, conducted in his office in Tripoli, he spoke with Ivo Bozon, a director in McKinsey’s Amsterdam office, and Giorgio Bresciani, a director in McKinsey’s Milan office, about the future of energy pricing, the operation of national oil companies, and their changing relationship with the international oil majors.