of course then in NUMBER_TOKEN another external crisis occurred which led to the steepest year-to-year decline in recent history but the pandemic might lead to structural long-term changes such as less driving with more people working from home that would result in a permanent drop in demand so now whether oil production will fully recover and start growing again is in legitimate question and some answers have started to emerge shell one of the world's largest oil producers has said that it believes NUMBER_TOKEN was its high water mark for production peak oil might have already occurred that is undoubtedly bad for saudi arabia but potentially less devastating than one might think at least in the near term located on some of the most accessible oil fuels in the world saudi wells boast some of the world's cheapest production costs meaning they will not be the first to close down once demand declines however it's still the case that going forward is going to be harder to base an economy on oil than before looking at the graph of crude oil prices since NUMBER_TOKEN the era before NUMBER_TOKEN is noticeably different than that after it's not the prices themselves that matter here it's the fluctuations oil prices have never before been this volatile these semi-regular four-fold spikes or drops that occur in mere months are a new phenomenon running an economy on such a volatile commodity is incredibly difficult and this price volatility is only expected to increase in the future as industry disruption ramps up simply put running an economy on oil in the NUMBER_TOKENst century is not a good idea some in saudi arabia know this of king abdulaziz's NUMBER_TOKEN sons NUMBER_TOKEN survived to adulthood and six ascended to the throne upon the death of his half-brother in NUMBER_TOKEN king salman bin abdulaziz became the latest to rule the kingdom already aged NUMBER_TOKEN and with brothers only marginally younger the decision was made that salman would be the last of his generation to rule and so muhammad bin naif a grandson of king abdulaziz was appointed crown prince next in line for the throne meanwhile muhammad bin salman would serve as deputy crown prince two years later however shortly before midnight on june NUMBER_TOKENth muhammad bin naif was summoned to the safa palace in mecca for a meeting with the king that meeting did not materialize however as he was led into another room held captive and told by royal court officials that he must give up his claim to the throne after hours locked in that room muhammad bin naif agreed to resign the deputy crown prince and son of the king mohammed bin salman was now next in line for the throne over the years prior the NUMBER_TOKEN year old had quietly worked to amass power in the background and increasingly became the face of the saudi royal family reports indicate that he was indeed responsible for orchestrating the former crown prince ousting which is not a stretch to believe in fact he has gained so much influence over his father's decision making that he is now considered nearly universally the de facto ruler of saudi arabia mohammed bin salman recognized his country's oil problem before his ascent however in late NUMBER_TOKEN the mckinsey global institute published a detailed NUMBER_TOKEN-page report analyzing the future prospects of saudi arabia's economy in the wake of NUMBER_TOKEN's oil price crash this
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