May 8, 2016: 1:51 PM ET
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.
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