Born in 1929 in Baghdad to Jafar Mohamad al-Chalabi and Fatima née al -Uzri, Chalabi studied law at Baghdad University and graduated in 1951 before gaining a PhD in economics from the University of Paris. In 1968 he was appointed director of oil affairs in the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, and in 1973 became Iraq's permanent undersecretary of oil. In 1975 he was one of the hostages taken by Carlos the jackal at the OPEC-Conference in Vienna ( see OPEC siege). He was assistant secretary general to the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries  in Kuwait from 1976 to 1978. From 1978 to 1988 he was deputy secretary general of OPEC, serving as acting secretary general from 1983 to 1988.