Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman spent almost two decades as a relatively low-profile member of Saudi Arabia’s Opec delegation. But since becoming the first royal to serve as the kingdom’s oil minister in 2019, he has made a name for himself, though not one of his choosing: traders have recently taken to calling him the “prickly prince”.
From starting oil price wars with Russia in 2020 to contributing to strained US-Saudi relations last year, Prince Abdulaziz has been an assertive steward of the kingdom’s oil policy, but one beset by a thin-skinned tendency to react to slights.
To supporters, he is a symbol of a more confident Saudi Arabia under the de facto leadership of his half-brother, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. They believe Prince Abdulaziz has got many of the big market calls right, reinforcing Saudi influence over the oil market and its Opec+ alliance with Moscow, which has endured despite Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.