The 8 September appointment of Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman as Saudi Arabia’s energy minister created shockwaves across the industry. Prince Abdulaziz replaces Khalid al-Falih who has been the face of the Saudi energy sector since his appointment in May 2016 (MEES, 13 May 2016).

Over the past three and a half years Mr Falih brokered and then maintained the landmark December 2016 Opec+ production agreement which led to July’s charter (MEES, 5 July). It is now up to Prince Abdulaziz to nurture the shared production cuts through to March 2020 and very possibly beyond (MEES, 13 September). (CONTINUED - 523 WORDS)