5 Oil CEOs Drop Off Riyadh Energy Congress Agenda After Deadly Houthi Attacks
Updated
Updated · Reuters · Oct 12
5 Oil CEOs Drop Off Riyadh Energy Congress Agenda After Deadly Houthi Attacks
3 articles · Updated · Reuters · Oct 12
Summary
ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Shell, Chevron and BP chiefs were removed from the WPC Energy Congress schedule released Monday, even as the Riyadh event continued.
The changes followed a new Sunday evening strike on Riyadh airport that killed 1 and injured nearly a dozen, a day after a Houthi-claimed attack killed 13 and wounded more than 300.
BP said travel disruption prevented in-person attendance; Shell declined comment, while TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil and Chevron did not immediately respond.
Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told delegates the kingdom remained safe but acknowledged recent attacks were serious, as the conference site sits about 10 km from an airport hit four times in a week.
The disruption hits Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 push to host global events and attract investment; the congress had already been postponed from April after the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began.
Can Saudi Arabia guarantee uninterrupted global energy supplies when its own capital faces deadly attacks during a premier international petroleum summit?
How did a sustained aerial assault on Riyadh's airport manage to breach defenses and terrify the world's top oil executives?
Will continuous Houthi strikes derail Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 and force global energy leaders to permanently abandon investments in the kingdom?