Oil minister replaced in Saudi shake-up

Riyadh - Cabinet reshuffle focuses on areas where the government has promised change

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, replaced his long-serving oil minister on Saturday as part of a major government overhaul which comes as the kingdom grapples with a slump in energy revenues.

King Salman also named new ministers to run the water, transport, commerce, social affairs, health and pilgrimage portfolios and restructured some ministries in a shake-up focused on areas where the government has promised change.

The most eye-catching change was the creation of a new Energy, Industry and Natural Resources Ministry under Khaled Al Falih. He was moved from the post of health minister to replace Ali Al Naimi, who has run the energy policy of the world's biggest crude oil exporter since 1995. He was one of the most powerful figures within the Opec oil cartel.

Al Naimi was born in 1935, two years before the first commercial quantities of oil were discovered in the kingdom's east.

He obtained a master's degree in geology from Stanford University and then joined the Aramco oil company, according to an official biography.

Al Naimi was a supervisor at an oilfield before rising through a series of management roles to become president of Saudi Aramco in 1983 and oil minister 12 years later.

He had kept his post despite two major cabinet shake-ups last year under King Salman, who acceded to the throne in January 2015 after the decade-long reign of King Abdullah ended.

In the new changes, the Water and Electricity Ministry was broken up, with the water portfolio added to a new Environment, Water and Agriculture Ministry, and electricity added to the new energy ministry.

Major changes were also made to the kingdom's economic leadership, with Majed Al Qassabi named head of the new Commerce and Investment Ministry, and Ahmed Al Kholifey made governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, the central bank.

Tawfiq Al Rabeeah, formerly commerce minister, was appointed health minister, Suleiman Al Hamdan was appointed transport

Sulaiman Abalkhair was appointed director of the Mohammed Bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh.