Sheikh Khalifa Bin Hamad Al-Thani was born in Rayyan in 1932. On 22 February 1972, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Hamad Bin Abdullah Al-Thani became the Emir of Qatar. Upon becoming the Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Khalifa started the process of the reorganization of the government. The first task of Sheikh Khalifa was to appoint a Foreign Minister and an adviser to advise the Emir in the day-to-day affairs of the country.
On 19 April 1972, he amended the Constitution and enlarged the Cabinet by appointing more ministers. Diplomatic relations were also established with a number of foreign countries at ambassadorial level. On 18 July 1989, the Council of Ministers was reshuffled for the first time, replacing most of the previous ministers and consisting of 15 ministers. The Cabinet was again reshuffled under the Premiership of Sheikh Khalifa on 1st September 1992, enlarging it to 17 members.
In line with the expansion of the state’s administrative functions, the Advisory Council was reconstituted on the 4th of December 1990, appointing 19 new members and retaining 11 of its old members. In addition to this, the state Audit Bureau was established to monitor the budgetary performance of government’s agencies and fiscal management. With the expansion of government operations and services, the state’s Civil Service Bureau was also reorganized.
The state revenue from oil sector increased as the result of the increasing number of production partnership agreements with foreign oil companies. Two production-partnership agreements were signed with the Standard Oil Company of Ohio in January 1985 and Amoco in February 1986. In January 1989, another production partnership agreement was signed between Qatar and the French State owned oil company Elf Aquitaine.
In the middle of 1991, production of gas in the Qatar North Field, the world’s largest single field of non-associated gas commenced. It has proven reserves of non associated gas of around 250 trillion cubic feet and probable reserves of 500 trillion cubic feet. In June 1995, the administration of Qatar was transferred to the then Heir Apparent His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa bin Hamad Al-Thani.