The new energy minister is an older half-brother to 34-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and replaces Khalid al-Falih, who'd been in the role since 2016, according to NBC News.
Khalid al-Falih was removed just days ago as board chairman of the state-owned oil giant Aramco, a company that he once ran as CEO, according to the Guardian.
The new energy minister, Abdulaziz, is described as an "experienced oil industry figure". He was named deputy oil minister in 1995, a position he held for nearly a decade. He then served as assistant oil minister until 2017, when he was named minister of state for energy affairs, and has been a longstanding member of the country’s delegation to OPEC.
Saudi Arabia has had five oil ministers since 1960 and none of them has been a royal.
The king also issued a royal decree removing the current deputy minister of energy, Abdulaziz al-Abdulkarim. He also named Osama bin Abdulaziz Al-Zamil as deputy minister for the new ministry of industry and mining, according to the Guardian.
MNA/PR