Cooperation Required to Overcome “New Era of Instability” in the Oil Market

Tuesday 26 January 2016

Kuwait - MENA Herald: Senior Ministers from Kuwait and Iraq, as well as executives from some of the region’s leading energy companies, met in Kuwait today to discuss the challenges facing the global energy sector. The conference brought together an international audience, attracting over 300 delegates from 20 different countries, including Japan, Indonesia and the United States.

2016 has seen a period of significant volatility in the oil market, with prices falling to 13-year lows earlier in January, before surging to post the biggest two-day jump in more than seven years last week.

For supplier nations such as those in the GCC, the volatility poses significant challenges to financial planning, while oil and energy companies need to consider significant changes in their business models and strategies for development.

One of the key areas of discussion at the event was the role of OPEC and the necessity for oil-producing nations to work together to reduce volatility. In particular, speakers focused on how the market will be able to manage the return of Iranian oil to the market, after the removal of sanctions, as well as the continuing disruptive impact of shale, gas and renewables.

The conference was held at the Sheraton Hotel in Kuwait City. Petroleum Economist, the global energy magazine, and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) co-hosted the second annual Energy Strategy, with National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) as gold sponsors and EQUATE as silver sponsors.

Eminent speakers at the event included:

H.E. Mr Anas al- Saleh, minister of finance and acting minister of oil, Kuwait
H.E. Adel Abdul-Mahdi, minister of oil, Republic of Iraq
Nizar Al-Adsani, deputy chairman and chief executive officer, KPC
Ali Rashid Al Jarwan, chief executive officer, Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company
Mohammed Husain, president and chief executive officer, EQUATE Petrochemical Company
Pradeep Handa, general manager, foreign corporate, Oil and Trade Finance Group, NBK
Sharbini Suhaili, vice president, upstream international, PETRONAS

Search form