Abu Dhabi state oil giant ADNOC’s Group CEO Sultan Al Jaber will not travel to Houston for the CERAWeek energy conference and will participate virtually before travelling to Washington D.C. for meetings, an ADNOC spokesperson told Reuters, as the Iran war upends energy markets.
The gathering, which draws some of the oil and gas industry’s top executives and officials, opens on Monday, at a time when global oil prices are soaring due to Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz as well as attacks on infrastructure, leaving governments scrambling to fight inflation and avoid recessions.
CERAWeek, organised by S&P Global, will be without the physical presence of top Gulf executives this year. Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser has cancelled his planned appearance because of the war and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s CEO will address the gathering from Kuwait on Tuesday.
Al Jaber’s “participation reflects the importance he places on direct engagement with the global energy community at a critical moment for energy security”, the spokesperson said.
Separately, he will travel to Washington on a 48-hour trip to hold a series of senior-level bilateral meetings and attend an event hosted by the Middle East Institute, the spokesperson said.
Al Jaber is expected to address CERAWeek on Monday and his trip to Washington is expected in the middle of this week.
His meetings there “will focus on the Hormuz situation, global energy supply continuity, and the UAE-U.S. strategic partnership,” the spokesperson said.
(Reporting by Yousef Saba; Editing by Toby Chopra and Arun Koyyur)