After a year of plunging oil prices, all eyes were on Ibrahim Al-Assaf, Saudi Arabia’s finance minister for two decades, to deliver a budget that could restore confidence in the kingdom’s finances. Yet it was Adel Fakeih, economy minister for just eight months, who strode onto a shiny green television set to announce spending cuts and subsidy reductions . Another familiar face missing that day was oil minister Ali Al-Naimi, whose words continue to move global crude markets as they have since 1995. Changes to domestic energy prices were explained by Khalid Al-Falih, chairman of Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and health minister. Photographer: Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images The lineup at the end of December was one of the first signs of a shift in power to officials seen closely aligned with King Salman’s influential son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as Saudi rulers confront a harsh new […]