Falih appointment confirms younger generation takeover as Naimi retires at last

Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) chairman and health minister Khalid Al-Falih consolidated the rise of younger generation officials – many of them in the orbit of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) – when he was appointed to replace octogenarian petroleum and mineral resources minister Ali Al-Naimi on 7 May. In a reshuffle that carried MBS’s fingerprints, coming only days after his Vision 2030 document was released, the electricity ministry was discontinued – its minister Abdullah Bin Abdulrahman Al-Hussein having been sacked in April.