(Bloomberg) – Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser has withdrawn from a major energy conference in Houston, which gets underway Monday, as the situation in the Middle East remains volatile.
Nasser, who had been due to appear on stage at CERAWeek by S&P Global on Tuesday, will no longer participate in the event, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The CEO’s priority is dealing with matters in the Middle East, the person said, asking not to be identified because Nasser’s decision hasn’t been made public.
The head of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., in the neighboring United Arab Emirates, has also decided not to attend the event in person. Sultan Al Jaber will instead deliver his address remotely, Adnoc said. He will, however, travel to Washington, DC, this week for meetings with government officials regarding the Strait of Hormuz and global energy supply, the company said.
Both oil producers have been affected by the war, with the near-halt of traffic through Hormuz forcing them to reduce production and use alternative export routes. They’ve also seen their energy assets targeted in Iranian attacks.
Aramco’s Nasser warned earlier this month that the impact on global oil markets will be “catastrophic” the longer the disruption from the war drags on. Saudi Arabia has rerouted oil through a pipeline to a port on the Red Sea. But on Thursday, loadings there were briefly halted following an attack, underscoring the persistent instability in the region.
More than three weeks into the conflict, oil and gas prices have surged, though both dropped sharply on Monday after US President Donald Trump postponed strikes against Iranian energy infrastructure for five days, saying the two sides had held “productive conversations” — an assertion Iran denied.
