General People's Committee
On 5 March 2006, Mahmudi was appointed to head the Libyan government, as Secretary of the General People's Committee; although it is believed by the United States and many other nations that Muammar Gaddafi was the "de facto" chief of state. In addition to being prime minister, he chaired the High Council for Oil &amp; Gas which was created in September 2006 to improve decision making in the petroleum sector, as well chairing the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) which was created in 2007 to restructure state enterprises.