SAUDI ARABIA   –  Ali al-Naimi was the most powerful man in the oil business for two decades until this weekend. As the oil minister of Saudi Arabia, in control of the largest proven crude reserves in the world, al-Naimi was the de-facto leader of OPEC.

At one point he held three key positions at the same time: Minister of petroleum, chairman of Saudi Aramco and chairman of Saudi’s Supreme Petroleum Council. In a word, he called the shots, and he let other OPEC ministers know just that. The past year and a half had been particularly important, as oil prices crashed and oil-dependent countries looked to Saudi Arabia to lead the effort to support prices.  Al-Naimi pivoted the other way. No longer would Saudi Arabia cut its oil production to lift prices, he told CNNMoney outside a meeting of oil producers in December 2014. His strategy instead was to protect Saudi Arabia’s market share, even if the falling prices bruised its economy as well. .(CNN.COM)…[+]