Category: Saudi Arabia

DUBAI/KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia is restructuring the world’s biggest energy company, Saudi Aramco [SDABO.UL], in a move apparently aimed at letting it operate more at arm’s length from the powerful oil ministry. Analysts expected technocrats to get a freer hand in running the state-owned giant. Some said the restructuring might be the first step in a shake-up of the Saudi energy sector, and could possibly pave the way for a prince to take over the ministry itself, which is traditionally run by industry experts rather than members of the royal family. Citing unnamed sources, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV reported on Friday that Aramco would be separated from the oil ministry of the top OPEC member. Aramco officials could not be immediately reached for comment but Arabiya’s reports closely reflect official thinking. Mohammad Al Sabban, a former senior adviser to oil minister Ali al-Naimi, said the move […]

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The low prices for crude are costing Saudi Arabia some serious cash. The Saudi central bank reported last week that its net foreign assets fell 4.7% year-over-year in March to about $691 billion, their lowest level since July 2013. The Saudis nicked their savings account to the tune of $36 billion in the last two months as the country’s new king has had to increase both withdrawals and borrowing to meet the kingdom’s public-sector salaries and large development projects according to a report in the Financial Times. One analyst firm has said that crude oil output from OPEC countries in April rose by 125,000 barrels a day month-over-month to 30.9 million barrels a day, with most of the increase due to higher Saudi production. OPEC production averaged 1.2 million barrels a day more year-over-year compared with the two-month March-April period in 2014. And that level of production is not […]

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ENLARGE Amin H. Nasser, center, listens to Martin Craighead, right, president and CEO of Baker Hughes, during a CERAWEEK energy conference panel discussion in 2012. His appointment comes after Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz reshuffled his ministers earlier in the week. Photo: Reuters LONDON—Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company named a new chief executive following a shake-up of the country’s ministerial elite this week. Amin H. Nasser on Friday was promoted to acting president and CEO of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Saudi Aramco. He was previously Aramco’s senior vice president for upstream operations. The appointment follows a government reshuffle by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Wednesday that saw former Aramco CEO Khalid al-Falih appointed health minister and made chairman of the oil company. Mr. Nasser has spent more than 20 years at the national oil giant, working in various roles throughout the organization, though has stayed largely behind […]

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Restructuring of political landscape in Saudi Arabia reaches oil market with new plan for Saudi Aramco. Photo by sakhorn/Shutterstock RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, May 1 (UPI) — The government in Riyadh sanctioned a restructuring plan that would break oil company Saudi Aramco off from the nation’s oil ministry, sources said Friday. Citing undisclosed sources, Saudi-owned pan-Arab news channel al-Arabiya reported the country’s Supreme Economic Council approved a restructuring plan offered by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. The crown prince was appointed as defense minister earlier this week amid a government shake-up. Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Khaled al-Falih was named chairman of the company and health minister, the news channel reported. Saudi Aramco said in a Wednesday briefing of its annual spring meeting the board of directors "focused on deeper re-examination of the framework and investment profile in light of what happened in the crude markets over the past nine […]

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DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Economic Council has approved a restructuring of state oil company Saudi Aramco [SDABO.UL] that includes separating it from the oil ministry, Al Arabiya television channel reported on Friday, citing sources. There are no indications that the move will lead to changes in the fundamental way the world’s top crude exporter makes its oil decisions. "Saudi Supreme Economic Council agrees on Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s vision of restructuring oil-giant Aramco," Arabiya reported on its Twitter account. "Restructuring of Saudi Aramco includes separation from petroleum ministry," the channel said. The Supreme Economic Council is a new body formed by King Salman earlier this year to replace the Supreme Petroleum Council, which used to help set the kingdom’s oil policy. The new council is headed by the king’s son Prince Mohammed, a move seen by analysts as laying the ground for a generational shift […]

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Simeon Kerr in Dubai Enter your email address Select an access level You may also be interested in our corporate or newspaper only subscriptions.

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RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabian King Salman’s appointment of two new heirs will help stabilize world oil markets by strengthening political stability in the kingdom, its Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi was quoted as saying by state media on Thursday. Salman named his nephew Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, and his son Mohammed bin Salman, 30, as his heirs on Wednesday, apparently setting the line of succession in the world’s top oil exporter for decades. The moves were part of a much wider government reshuffle in which Naimi retained his job as minister. "The royal decrees come in the national interest and impel it towards further growth and prosperity and progress and stability, and this political stability in the kingdom will positively reflect on its economic growth, and on stability of world oil markets," Naimi was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA). At state oil company Saudi […]

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Photo From left, the new Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, with Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz and King Salman in January. Credit Saudi Press Agency, via Associated Press BEIRUT, Lebanon — In a series of predawn appointments on Wednesday, King Salman of Saudi Arabia eased the potentially treacherous issue of royal succession by placing a new generation of security-focused leaders first in the line of succession. The far-reaching changes carry the potential to reshape not only the kingdom and its place in the region, but its relations with its most important ally, the United States. “The government is now in the hands of the next generation, under the supervision of the king,” said Khalid al-Dakhil, a Saudi political analyst. With Saudi Arabia locked in bloody proxy wars with its longstanding regional rival, Iran, for influence in Yemen and Syria, the 79-year-old king promoted the two princes most responsible for […]

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What the Saudi royal reshuffle means for oil thumbnail Uncertainty hit oil markets on Wednesday, with analysts contemplating what a major reshuffle of Saudi Arabia’s ruling elite might meant for the commodity. On Wednesday, it was announced that Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz had appointed a new heir and rotated some of the top ministerial jobs, accelerating the personnel changes set in motion when he took the throne in January. As Saudi Arabia is the world’s top oil exporter and the dominant force in OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), any change to its power structure is of major interest to energy markets. This is particularly the case given OPEC’s maintenance of oil production at high levels—in order to retain market share—which is viewed as exacerbating the 40 percent price decline seen since last June. However, analysts said that Wednesday’s personnel changes, which include the promotion […]

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