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Mana Al Otaiba

Emirati writer, businessman and politician

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ6746517
Source-derived summary

Mana Saeed Al Otaiba Al Marar (Arabic: مانع سعيد العتيبة المرر; born 15 May 1946) in Abu Dhabi, Trucial States, son of Saeed Al Otaiba, is the former Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of the United Arab Emirates under the presidency of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Al Otaiba then became his Personal Adviser until the president's death, after which he became the Private Advisor to Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as a member of the Royal Moroccan Academy under King Hassan II.

Biography

Mana Al Otaiba served as President of OPEC six times, for its 26th, 52nd, 53rd, 54th, 62nd and 63rd conferences, held during 1971–1983.

Al Otaiba is the former chair of Noor Capital, a firm dealing in asset management, private equity, investment banking, investment placement and direct equity. He is also a major shareholder in Abu Dhabi Group, a company with holdings in real estate, banking, Islamic banking, telecommunication, ISP, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, hotels and tourism, as well as being a major shareholder in Etisalat. Al Otaiba is the owner of the Royal Mirage Hotels in Morocco (formerly part of Sheraton Hotels and Resorts), The Royal Mirage Marrakech Deluxe, the Royal Mirage Fes, and the Royal Mirage Agadir.

Al Otaiba has published more than 135 poetry books, written in colloquial Arabic, formal Arabic, and English. His writing was renowned even before the unification of the Emirates in 1972. Al Otaiba has written novels (including Karima, which became the basis for a television series) and several non-fiction books including Essays on Petroleum, The Petroleum Concession Agreements, and OPEC and the Petroleum Industry. He has been awarded several honorary doctorates, including a Doctorate of Law from Keio University in Japan, a Doctorate of Law from the University of Manila in the Philippines, and a Doctorate of Economics from the University of São Paulo in Brazil.

Books

Al-Otaiba, Mana Saeed (1971).

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Mana Al Otaiba” as emirati writer, businessman and politician. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1946, 1971, 1983, 1972—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1949-05-10. The account is most persuasive where Mana, Otaiba and Emirati can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as emirati writer, businessman and politician. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6746517. VIAF identifies the subject as 24589335. The Library of Congress control number is n82146504. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1946, 1971, 1983 and 1972.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Mana Al Otaiba”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Mana Al Otaiba primary sources, Mana Al Otaiba archive and Mana research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Mana Al Otaiba”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Mana Al Otaiba” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.