Global energy leaders discuss strategies on post-Covid recovery and long-term resilience

Over 30 of the world’s leading oil, gas, and petrochemical chief executives gathered virtually to discuss strategies for building long-term resilience and the importance of the oil and gas industry in enabling economic development in the post-Covid recovery.

The CEOs exchanged views and shared insights on market dynamics, the outlook for energy demand and the role of the industry in the energy transition. They expressed cautious optimism on global economic recovery and discussed the need to focus on costs and leverage technology to enhance efficiencies and strengthen environmental performance.

The exclusive, invitation-only event, held under the Chatham House Rule, was hosted by His Excellency Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Group CEO. The high-level attendance underscores Abu Dhabi’s position at the center of the conversation shaping the future of the oil and gas industry.

H.E. Dr. Al Jaber said: “This important gathering provided a timely platform for the oil and gas industry’s leaders to share insights and perspectives on the future of our industry and how we can reinforce our resilience by focusing on the things we can control, primarily our costs. The oil and gas industry has demonstrated remarkable resilience over the past few months and we know the longterm fundamentals of the industry remain intact as the world will still need hydrocarbons for many decades to come. 

“We should therefore remain cautiously optimistic and reinforce our resilience, and the best way to reinforce our resilience is to focus on the things we can control which is our costs. At the same time, there are great opportunities even in these times for creative partnership so let us seize them together.

“There is also a great market opportunity for the oil and gas industry to be part of the solution to climate change. The world requires hydrocarbons to be as low carbon as possible and ADNOC is focusing on ensuring that we deliver the most carbon-efficient barrels in the industry by doubling down on technologies like CCUS while exploring new energies like hydrogen. The Abu Dhabi CEO Roundtable will continue to play a vital role in advancing these topics and mapping out solutions that can unlock greater opportunities for the industry.”

Sharing his perspective on the market outlook and economic recovery, Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and CEO of TOTAL, said: “We face a lot of uncertainty. We all hope that the demand will recover as quickly as possible but at the same time, nobody knows exactly how long it will take to get out of the pandemic and when we will have this vaccine and how long it will take to reopen the global economy. The real challenge will be to reopen all the borders. So how do we navigate this type of environment… I think it is back to the fundamentals. Checking the way we spend our money, checking carefully the cost of our operations.”

Commenting on the need to remain optimistic in the face of uncertainty resulting from the pandemic, Bernard Looney, CEO, bp, said: “I agree, we should have optimism and we should have that sense of reality. At the end of the day, we have things we can control and we have things we don’t control. We don’t control the price of our product but we do control our cost structure, our investment levels and the efficiency of that. So, I think it serves a great reminder that the fundamentals that we all learned as we were growing up in this industry will serve us good for the long run.”

Highlighting the important role carbon capture and storage will play in driving down emissions, Vicki Hollub, president and CEO of Occidental, said: “The IEA has put together a model that shows that we are going to need dramatically a lot more sequestration and capture of CO2 in the years to come. Right now the world is sequestering about 40 million metric tonnes and when you look at the scenarios that the IEA has for global warming and capping it at 2 degrees, we have to do a lot more than 40 million. We have to do at least 5.6 billion tons as a minimum or up to 10.4 billion depending on which of the models you look at. So we are excited about where we are headed and we believe that we can make an impact as others are doing but with a different path." 

The virtual roundtable was be moderated by the leading energy economist and Pulitzer-Prize winning author Dr. Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of IHS Markit.

In addition to H.E. Dr. Al Jaber, the roundtable was attended by Amin Nasser, President and CEO of Saudi Aramco; Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO, Total; Darren Woods, Chairman and CEO, ExxonMobil; Bernard Looney, CEO, bp; Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited; Takayuki Ueda, President and CEO, INPEX; Dai Houliang, Chairman, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC); Nassef Sawiris, CEO, OCI NV; Philippe Boisseau, CEO, CEPSA; Vicki Hollub, President and CEO, Occidental; Alfred Stern, CEO, Borealis; Vagit Alekperov, President and CEO, LUKOIL; Liu Yijiang, Chairman, ZhenHua Oil; Rainer Seele, Chairman and CEO, OMV; Mario Mehren, Chairman and CEO, Wintershall DEA; Lorenzo Simonelli, Chairman and CEO, Baker Hughes; Wang Dongjin, Chairman of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC); Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, Chairman, IndianOil; Luis Sierra, President and CEO, NOVA Chemicals; Tsutomu Sugimori, Chairman and Group CEO, ENEOS Holdings; Proscovia Nabbanja, CEO, Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC); Musabbeh Al Kaabi, CEO, Petroleum and Petrochemicals, Mubadala Investment Company; Dr. Dawood Nassif, Chairman and CEO, Bahrain Petroluem Company (BAPCO); Christian Kullmann, Chairman and CEO, Evonik Industries AG; Dr. Martin Brudermüller, CEO, BASF; Lord John Browne, Chairman, L1 Energy; Hur Sae-Hong, President and CEO, GS Caltex; Jun Kim, President and CEO, SK Innovation; and Hunter L. Hunt, CEO, Hunt Consolidated Energy.

The Abu Dhabi CEO Virtual Roundtable took place on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) 2020 – one of the world’s largest and most influential events for the global oil and gas industry – which is being held virtually.

 

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