Oil is an unusual commodity in that individual decisions can have an outsized effect on the market. OPEC+’s choice to increase production, for instance, might send prices falling, affecting both oil producers and consumers worldwide. What do the leading oil market players consider before making a fateful move?

Oil Leaders offers an unprecedented glimpse into the strategic thinking of top figures in the energy world from the 1980s through the recent past. Ibrahim AlMuhanna—a close adviser to four different Saudi oil ministers during that period—examines the role of individual and collective decision making in shaping market movements. He analyzes how powerful individuals made critical choices, tracking how they responded to the flow of information on pivotal market and political events and predicted reactions from allies and adversaries. AlMuhanna highlights how the media has played an increasingly important role as a conduit of information among multiple players in the oil market. Energy leaders have learned to manage the signals they send to the market and to other relevant players in order to avoid sending oil prices into a spiral.

AlMuhanna draws on personal familiarity with many of these individual decision makers as well as his participation in decades of closed-door sessions where crucial choices were made. Featuring revelatory behind-the-scenes perspective on pivotal oil market events and dynamics, this book is a must-read for practitioners and policy makers engaged with the global energy world.

The geopolitics of energy is like a global chess match—each move reverberates around the world. No one can tell the inside story of Saudi Arabia, the world’s number one oil exporter, and the power plays and intrigue within OPEC like Ibrahim AlMuhanna. -- John Defterios, former emerging markets editor, anchor, and correspondent, CNN
This book offers unique insight into the thinking of key decision makers and sheds light on events that continue to shape the oil market to this day. It is indispensable for anyone interested in a deeper understanding of the intricate world of energy policy decision making. -- Bassam Fattouh, director of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
A fascinating account of the people who shaped the oil market over the past forty years. An adviser to every Saudi oil minister over that time, AlMuhanna was literally ‘in the room’ to observe many of these leaders, how they made decisions, and the impact of their choices. A must-read for students of energy, geopolitics, and decision making. -- Mark Finley, Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy
In this book, Ibrahim AlMuhanna reveals for the first time the inner workings of the most important oil supplier in the world, Saudi Arabia. The stories are fascinating, the relationships are complex, and the revelations are stunning. A must-read for anyone in the energy and financial community! -- Gary Ross, chief executive officer of Black Gold Investors LLC and founder of PIRA Energy Group
Ibrahim AlMuhanna has had a front-row seat at the center of international oil diplomacy for more than three decades, and he brings his observations and perspectives from those many years of change together in Oil Leaders. -- Daniel Yergin, author of The New Map, The Prize, and The Quest
A lexicon of four decades of verbal intervention in the price of crude by the world’s biggest oil-producing nation. . . . Gives away just enough to allow readers a peek behind a curtain that has remained drawn for years. -- Javier Blas * Bloomberg *
[AlMuhanna's] revelations of governance and diplomacy are gold dust...such books are all too rare. -- Jim Krane * Financial Times *
Offers a rare view inside the Saudi government, providing insight into the forces behind Saudi policy. * H-Environment *
AlMuhanna provides recollections of meetings and stories of how negotiations developed, that readers would otherwise not have access to, as they would neither be recorded nor available in archives. * International Affairs *
Oil Leaders reveals the agency of individuals. Too often the perception is that impersonal market forces determine everything, but political leaders do matter and the decisions they make do have an impact. * Survival *
Recommended for students and researchers in political science, international relations, and Global Affairs, and economists and business personnel in oil production and marketing. * Arab Studies Quarterly *
An unexpectedly candid glimpse into the usually murky world of Saudi oil policy by an unusually knowledgeable guide. * Foreign Affairs *

Ibrahim AlMuhanna is an adviser to the energy minister of Saudi Arabia and also served as adviser to the three previous energy ministers since 1989. He is vice chairman of the Saudi Association for Energy Economics and sits on the International Advisory Board of the ONS Foundation. AlMuhanna is also a former vice chairman of the World Energy Council and a former board member of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.