He took the post of the now ex-Minister of health.
Saudi Arabia’s king Salman bin Abdul-Aziz al Saud has fired Minister of oil Ali al-Naimi, who held the position for over 20 years.
The king also formally abolished the Ministry of oil and establishing instead a Ministry of energy. Will head a new office Khaled al-falih, who before held the post of Minister of health.
Al-falih also now heads the largest in Saudi Arabia oil company, Saudi Aramco. He worked in various positions for about 30 years. The same company before his appointment as Minister in 1995 was headed by al-Naimi.
The change of Ministers and the reorganisation of ministries held in Saudi Arabia in the framework of long-term development of the country, designed to reduce its dependence on energy prices. Last year oil exports amounted to 70% of the income of the Saudi budget.
In the framework of this programme also abolished the Ministry of water and Ministry of industry. Change first comes the Ministry of the environment, water resources and agriculture, and the second – the Ministry of trade and investment.
Al-Naimi headed the Ministry of oil in 1995. In the last few years he tried to defend the share of their country on the world oil market, which began to decline because of the United States.
Some experts believed that because of the policies of al-Naimi global oil prices in 2014 started to plummet. This has led to a significant reduction of income of Saudi Arabia, one of the main items of which was the sale of oil.
