Saudi king names his son, an industry expert, as energy minister

Prince Abdulaziz, who most recently served as state minister for energy affairs, is widely seen as a capable and experienced technocrat

Saudi Arabia’s king named his son Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman as energy minister, installing a royal family member at the helm of the kingdom’s oil policy for the first time.

Prince Abdulaziz, a long time top Energy Ministry official, is half-brother to the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but the two aren’t believed to be close and are quite far apart in age. The prince replaces Khalid al-Falih, whose future had been uncertain over the past week after he was stripped of his responsibility for overseeing industrial development and removed as head of Saudi Aramco.

Al-Falih had been the face of OPEC