Saudi Arabia Sacks Petroleum Minister and Engages Royal Family Member



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Saudi Arabia has just hired another oil minister, even if only three years later. Since 1960, the kingdom has had five oil ministers. None of them were members of the royal family, until now.

On Sunday, the former energy minister, Khalid Al-Falih, was replaced by Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, a member of the kingdom's royal family. To be more specific, the newly appointed energy minister is the son of King Salman and a seasoned oil expert. According to the Financial Times, members of the royal family are usually not appointed to this postbut it seems that desperate times call for desperate measures.

The former Energy Minister was first appointed in May 2016 after the departure of Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi, who has long held the position of Oil Minister in Saudi Arabia for a long time. little more than two decades. During his tenure, there was talk of a possible reduction in oil production, which would have caused a surge in oil prices for an extremely short period of time. In 2018, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said that in his view "the demand has been sufficiently mitigated" to justify a potential reduction in production. At the time, Al-Falih has announced that Saudi Aramco, the country's national oil and natural gas company, will cut output by 500,000 barrels a day in December of that year. Oil prices rose more than 1% after the announcement, while The price of Brent, an international benchmark, reached $ 70.83 per barrel. But the rise was short-lived as falling oil prices hit the Saudi economy hard.

As energy minister, Al-Falih has failed to bring oil prices back up. $ 80 a barrel as hoped Saudi Arabia. The kingdom has more hope now that the newly appointed minister is known for his agreements and negotiations with OPEC. In fact, he has been part of the kingdom's delegation to OPEC for many years.

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