Saudi Arabia's new energy minister is expected to be fully behind the expedited IPO of the kingdom's oil company, replacing a highly regarded minister whose downfall may be that he was too slow to embrace the Saudi Aramco offering and other reforms.

Oil markets were surprised over the weekend when King Salman replaced Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih with his the monarch's son Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, older half brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and minister of state for energy affairs since 2017.

"The long tradition of the oil minister as a technocrat non-royal has been broken, and the best theory is that departing minister Khalid Al Falih was too resistant to the pace of change pursued by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman," wrote Paul Sankey, energy analyst with Mizuho.

Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said Tuesday the company is ready to list on the Saudi stock exchange "very soon" though he declined to say how much of Aramco would be listed on the Tadawul exchange or when the company would list internationally.

Prince Abdulaziz, a respected energy official in his own right and former deputy energy minister, is just one of a half dozen Saudi energy ministers, going back to the early 1960s. The new minister was at the World Energy Congress in Abu Dhabi on Monday, and he will be participating in a meeting there Thursday between OPEC and Russia on oil production.

Abdulaziz made it clear Monday he will support the production cuts agreed to by the "OPEC plus" group. The cuts have largely been shouldered by Saudi Arabia, and while they did drive prices higher, some speculate, perhaps not high enough to help the IPO valuation.

The public offering of Aramco has been seen as a cornerstone of the crown prince's Vision 2030 plan to transform the Saudi economy and make it less dependent on fossil fuels. Sources say that Al-Falih was not always on the same page as the crown prince on some policy and did not fully embrace the public offering, which has recently been accelerated.

Saudi's crown prince is said to be looking for a $2 trillion valuation for Saudi Aramco, but some bankers have found the value to be closer to $1.5 trillion, according to industry sources. The gap in those valuations would narrow if oil prices were to rise.

The appointment isn't expected to have much impact on oil policy in the near term, but some analysts say the move consolidates control over the energy sector in the hands of the crown prince, who is known as MBS.