.jpg)
However, many of the bosses of their state-owned oil and gas companies are here in fine voice, most notably, Amin Nasser, CEO of Aramco, Nawaf Al-Sabah, CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, and Mele Kyari, CEO of Nigerian National Petroleum Company.
One notable absentee among their ranks was Sultan Al Jaber - the President of COP28, UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change and Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Managing Director and - Group CEO of ADNOC.
However, he did appear virtually to receive the CERAWeek Leadership Award recognizing his leadership at COP28 to deliver the UAE Consensus for a global agreement on a sustainable energy future.
"I am deeply honored to accept the CERAWeek Leadership Award for the UAE Consensus," Al Jaber said upon receiving the award. "In a world too often held back by conflict, the UAE Consensus brought nations together to take a giant step forward for climate progress.
"Multilateralism overcame geopolitics to produce an unprecedented agreement to produce a fair, orderly and responsible energy transition. In short, COP28 was a success because of its full inclusivity. Everyone had a seat at the table, everyone was invited to contribute, and everyone did contribute."
Meanwhile, Mike Wirth, CEO of Chevron, appeared at CERAWeek to express his "surprise" when ExxonMobil moved to arbitration over Guyana. Wirth also flagged his company's ongoing geothermal pilot program. Murray Auchincloss, CEO of BP, chose to big up his upstream business, while Ryan Lance, CEO of ConocoPhilips, said the wave of upstream oil and gas M&A "is not done yet".
That wave saw $234 billion worth of deals in 2023. Additionally, and quite interestingly, Lance seemed to suggest that US oil production will likely rise from its current level of 13 million barrels per day to 14 million bpd before it plateaus.
