SAUDI ARABIA

Energy policy to be seamless with Prince Abdulaziz appointment

September 08, 2019
In this file photo Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman arrives at the OPEC headquarters in Vienna, Austria.  Prince Abdulaziz was appointed as the energy minister. — AFP
In this file photo Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman arrives at the OPEC headquarters in Vienna, Austria. Prince Abdulaziz was appointed as the energy minister. — AFP

RIYADH/ABU DHABI — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman on Sunday announced the appointment of Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman as energy minister, putting him charge of the all-important ministry.

He replaces veteran official Khalid Al-Falih as the world's top crude exporter accelerates preparations for a much-anticipated stock listing of oil giant Aramco, expected to be the world's biggest.

"Khalid Al-Falih has been removed from his position," the official Saudi Press Agency said, citing a royal decree. "His royal highness Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman is appointed minister of energy."

The OPEC petroleum exporters' group and key non-OPEC members are scheduled to meet in Abu Dhabi on Thursday to review their strategy on limiting production to halt a slide in prices.

Saudi Arabia, which pumps around a third of OPEC's oil, has resorted to massive production cuts to lift prices. It was unclear whether there would be a change in policy under Prince Abdulaziz, who joined the oil ministry in the 1980s and has held a variety of senior roles.

"Prince Abdulaziz is a very seasoned veteran of Saudi and OPEC policy making," Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group, told Bloomberg News. "He won't have a learning curve. I don't expect any big rupture in current Saudi oil policy."

Aramco, meanwhile, is stepping up efforts to float around five percent of the company. The planned IPO forms the cornerstone of a reform program envisaged by Crown Prince Muhammed Bin Salman to wean the Saudi economy off its reliance on oil.

Aramco has not announced where the listing will be held, but London, New York and Hong Kong have all vied for a slice of the much-touted IPO.

Meanwhile, United Arab Emirates' energy minister Suheil Al-Mazrouei said, oil producers will do "whatever necessary" to rebalance a crude market depressed by trade tensions and an uncertain global outlooky.

Al-Mazrouei warned however that with the US-China trade row hanging over the world economy, additional output cuts may not be the best way to boost sagging prices.

Deeper production cuts are "not a decision that we take easily," the minister said ahead of the four-day World Energy Congress starting Monday in Abu Dhabi, where a key meeting of oil ministers will also be held on Thursday.

Mazrouei told a press conference that oil producers were affected by "other concerns" apart from supply and demand.

"Anything that the group sees that will balance the market, we are committed to discuss it and hopefully go and do whatever necessary," he said. "But I wouldn't suggest to jump to cuts every time that we have an issue on trade tensions."

The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), created by an alliance of OPEC oil cartel members and other crude exporters, is scheduled to meet on Thursday to assess the oil market. — AFP


September 08, 2019
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