On hearing Yamani’s firing, oil traders in New York were

The King of Saudi Arabia has removed Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani as Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister. Yamani had held the job for twenty-four years. Although it’s been rumored for a few years that Yamani was out of favor with the King, his firing shocked the oil market. Yamani’s replacement, Hicham Niza, is Saudi Arabia’s Planning Minister. Oil traders in New York on the mercantile exchange said they had no idea that Yamani was about to be fired, but they took it as a sign that world oil prices would start to rise. Yamani had been leading OPEC in a price war over the past ten months. Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in the cartel, had raised its production and created an oil glut. That lowered the price of oil by 50%. Analysts say Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd supposedly had enough of the price war and of Yamani. King Fahd has said that he would like to see the price of oil rise to about $18 a barrel.