Saudi Aramco boss said to pull out of major energy conference due to Iran war

Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser has canceled his planned appearance at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, Texas, to remain in Saudi Arabia because of the Iran war, an industry source tells Reuters.

Nasser, who has been CEO of the world’s top oil exporter for more than a decade, is usually one of the headline speakers at the conference, one of the energy industry’s biggest events.

CERAWeek, organized by S&P Global, which begins tomorrow, draws top executives, government officials, and policymakers from around the world to discuss the global energy market outlook.

Nasser’s withdrawal highlights the scale of the challenge he faces in dealing with the Iran crisis.

He will also not provide a recorded video message for the CERAWeek conference, the source says, adding that the event’s organizers have been notified.

The war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, has upended global markets and spurred Iranian strikes across the Gulf that have effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz and targeted Gulf energy infrastructure, including Aramco’s.

Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah, CEO of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, will also not attend the Houston gathering, but he will join a Tuesday session at the conference virtually from Kuwait, a separate source says.

To bypass the strait, Aramco is piping millions of barrels per day of crude from its east coast to its west coast. It has cut oil output by about 2 million bpd from two fields, Reuters has reported.

Abu Dhabi wealth fund Mubadala is also unlikely to have any representatives at the event, a source familiar with the matter says.

It is not immediately clear if Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of the UAE’s oil company ADNOC, will attend in person. He is listed as a speaker on the event website. ADNOC does not immediately respond to a request for comment.