UAE opens oil and gas summit as industry weathers wars and awaits US election

The United Arab Emirates has opened its annual oil and gas summit as it plans to increase the country’s energy output amid volatile global prices and uncertain global politics ahead of the US presidential election.

The massive Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (Adipec) comes after the UAE just last year hosted the United Nations Cop28 climate talks.

Those talks ended with a call by nearly 200 countries to move away from planet-warming fossil fuels – the first time the conference made that crucial pledge.

But the UAE as a whole still plans to increase its production capacity of oil to five million barrels a day in the coming years as it pursues more cleaner energies at home.

Meanwhile, UAE officials have made a point of dodging any questions about the US election while maintaining their close ties to Russia despite Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

“Allow me to say that we in the United Arab Emirates will always choose partnership over polarisation, dialogue over division and peace over provocation,” said Sultan al-Jaber, who heads the state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (Adnoc), and who also led the Cop28 talks in Dubai.

Crude oil prices have been depressed this year. Benchmark Brent crude traded around 74 dollars a barrel on Monday as prices have dropped after concerns over the ongoing Middle East wars growing into a regional conflict faded in recent days.

Slowing economic growth in China and ample supply in the market are additionally dragging down prices.

In his speech opening the Adipec summit, Sultan al-Jaber pointed to artificial intelligence as a future technology that could be deployed by the energy industry – and one with a voracious appetite for electricity.

“No single source of energy is going to be enough to meet this demand,” he said, calling for a variety of energy sources to meet that challenge, including fossil fuels.

“Oil will continue to be used for fuel and as a building block for many essential products,” Sultan al-Jaber added.

Scientists have called for drastically slashing the world’s emissions by nearly half in the coming years to limit global warming to 1.5C compared with pre-industrial times.

The 2015 Paris Agreement mentions that limit without specifically calling for a stop on using fossil fuels – something that Opec Secretary-General Haitham al-Ghais seized on in remarks.

“The Paris Agreement, ladies and gentlemen, is about the reduction of emissions,” he said. “It’s not about phasing out or phasing down or keeping the oil under the ground.”

Suhail al-Mazrouei, the Emirates’ minister of energy and infrastructure, separately stressed that “investments in the oil and gas need to be taken care of” to support demand in the market.

“We are committed to invest in making more resources in the future to ensure the world will have adequate oil and gas resources,” he said.

Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s minister of petroleum and natural gas, separately made a point to criticise what he described as his “ideologically motivated colleagues” who sought an end to fossil fuel production.

“As we accelerate other green energy transition, we will still need affordable traditional energy at least for two decades, if not longer,” he said.

Politics was also close at hand at the summit on Monday. Whispers among the crowd attending the opening pondered who would be better for their businesses – US Vice President Kamala Harris or former president Donald Trump.

Sultan al-Mazrouei dodged the first question by a presenter over whether his country preferred Mr Trump or Ms Harris.

“Of course, we will be discussing energy politics here and I (would) rather not … talk about the election in the United States,” Sultan al-Mazrouei said. “As a political contest, we wish both candidates the best.”

Later, Adnoc executive Musabbeh al-Kaabi said he worried that “escalating tensions and trade wars may have an impact on the energy transition going forward”.

However, he declined to comment directly on the election.

The UAE maintains close ties to Russia despite Western sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

An announcer told the crowd where to find Russian translation for the event, while one of the main partners of the summit was Lukoil, Russia’s largest non-state oil firm.

Meanwhile, the Middle East wars remain a top concern.

“I think the conflict in the Middle East is probably the top risk,” BP chief executive Murray Auchincloss said.

“We’re worried about the safety and security of our people and the security of energy flows.”