Saudi Arabia’s king has dismissed the oil minister who served more than 20 years

Almaty. May 11. Silkroadnews – According to the royal decree by King Salman, Ali al-Naimi will leave his post after serving as an oil minister of Saudi Arabia since 1995, RBC reports.

“A post of Ali al-Naimi will be taken by Khaled al-Falih, a former Health minister,” the publication states.
According to the royal decree Khaled al-Falih will also head the new agency to replace the former oil ministry and merge energy, industry and mineral resources departments.

Bloomberg notes, like his predecessor Khaled al-Falih is not a member of the Saudi ruling family and his appointment by King Salman meets the country’s common practice to have the oil industry headed by the minister who does not belong to the royal family. The Wall Street Journal adds, Ali al-Naimi used to be one of the most influential persons in the country.

The oil minister resignation took place as a part of large-scale changes within the Saudi government against the background of the country’s development program “Vision 2030” approved by the end of April. The program includes the National Transformation Plan. After the program approval son of the Saudi King Mohammed bin Salman said that by 2020 Saudi Arabia “will be able to live without oil”, RBC says.

Later, the new head of the ministry of energy Khaled al-Falih said Saudi Arabia intends to continue the current policy in the oil sector and also noted the country is being governed by its customers’ oil demand.