Yesterday Eamonn had this article from the WSJ and IEA’s chief economist Birol had this to say, and both fully expect Saudi oil policy to continue under new king Salman bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud.
But what fate awaits the oil minister Ali Al-Naimi, in his post since 1995? While the new king is not seen as likely to change Abdullah’s policies of keeping output high to protect the OPEC cartel’s market share, some analysts say the succession has focused attention on the future of the oil minister Ali Al-Naimi.
An article from Reuters has this question
It was reported that he (Ali Al-Naimi) expressed a desire to step down, but King Abdullah asked him to stay on for as long as he is around. So, the real question is, if there is a new oil minister soon, will it lead to a change in Saudi energy policy?
If indeed there is to be a change in personnel from the world’s largest oil exporter that in itself lead would lead to more market uncertainty at a time when many analysts are still calling for the price to fall further
A good bit of week-end reading here
Saudi Arabia’s Salman bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud set to continue oil policy but what else is in the pipeline?
