LONDON, Broadcasting News Corporation : Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman is earning praise on social media for his response to a journalist during a press conference at the OPEC+ meeting in Vienna this week. On Wednesday, a video went viral in which the Saudi Energy Minister is seen snapping at Reuters reporter Alex Lawler and refusing to answer his questions. Instead, he tells the journalist that he is unhappy with news stories published by the agency that suggested Saudi Arabia and Russia are working together to manipulate global oil prices. “You have got it wrong twice,” Prince Abdulaziz told the reporter in reference to a Reuters report. “You (Reuters) did not do a proper job.” He added that despite speaking with a Reuters journalist to clarify the facts, the agency did not retract or correct the story and instead published another report repeating the claims. “I acted in a very respectful way, emanating from respecting the agency, but you elected to choose a phantom Saudi source,” the minister continued. He then declined to answer any questions from Lawler.
As the video spread on social media sites, many people praised the minister for his response and stance. One person wrote: “Prince Abdulaziz isn’t having it! Not today, Reuters.” Another user simply said: “Roasted…”
Later during the conference, when CNBC reporter Hadley Gamble asked the minister about suggestions that the OPEC+ decision to cut oil production was an affront to the West, an irritated Prince Abdulaziz said: “Show me where is the act of belligerence. Period.” It was not the first abrupt encounter between the energy minister and Gamble. Last year, when the American journalist asked a question relating to an International Energy Agency report on achieving net-zero carbon emissions, the prince dismissed the report as a “La La Land” fantasy. His approach to the media on Wednesday was on display even as he arrived at the OPEC+ conference in Vienna. When a journalist asked him if there was a consensus to cut oil production, he ignored the question and replied: “It is a sunny day and will continue to be a sunny day.” In October last year, during a ceremony for the signing of an electrical interconnection project between Saudi and Egypt, the minister raised a few eyebrows when he went off on a tangent to highlight the fact that his nurse is Egyptian. It came as he said he has strong ties to the Egyptian people and added: “I believe we will be happy and proud if we support every Saudi and Egyptian citizen, and if every person who loves Egypt and Saudi has electricity in their smile,” referring to the lyrics of an Egyptian song. NEWS COLLECTED FROM ARAB NEWS.