(Bloomberg) -- Victoria Coates, the former deputy national security adviser now serving at the Department of Energy, will be based in Saudi Arabia to give the Trump administration an added presence in the region as an oil price war between the Saudi and Russian governments unfolds.
Coates was named a senior adviser to Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette in February and her assignment to Saudi Arabia has been in the works for some time, according to a Department of Energy official who asked not to be identified discussing personnel matters. Her start date isn't yet known because of upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the official said.
The decision to send Coates to Saudi Arabia was first reported by Reuters. The price of Brent crude plunged earlier this month after Russia vetoed deeper OPEC+ cuts and Saudi Arabia undertook a historic output surge in response, just as the coronavirus outbreak wiped out global demand.
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Coates oversaw Middle East and North Africa issues on President Donald Trump's National Security Council and was later named deputy national security adviser before moving over to the Department of Energy.
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