The election might be happening in America, but its outcome will set the tone of global diplomacy, as well as have a domino effect on the world’s energy sector. With the US presidential election just days away, I couldn’t help but don the soothsayer’s cloak to predict what might happen if Donald Trump were to emerge victorious.
It might be worth sharing with you an interesting insight into the possible impact on the global energy market if Mr. Trump were to be elected as the next American president on November 8th. A victory for the Republican nominee would essentially mean the US administration adopting a belligerent foreign policy, especially against terrorism and its flagbearers.
With extremists controlling huge swathes of Iraq’s oil reserves and strategic production facilities, any military offensive by the US or its allies on their bastion would cause them to destroy those crucial oil assets and thus cause major disruptions to the global crude supply (Iraq is OPEC’s second largest oil producer). That would naturally result in oil prices spiking instantly.
The global oil industry has always been influenced by crucial international events, and there is good reason to believe that it will accommodate the whims of whichever of the two presidential contenders gets to dictate the course of the US shale oil and gas industry.
Speaking of changes closer to home, the regional sector, it seems, has fully embraced the trend of mergers and acquisitions. In a major transformation, the UAE giant ADNOC group has announced in a month the consolidation of five of its holding companies – two offshore and three marine services firms – into two separate entities. The group CEO describes the tectonic shift in corporate policy “as a drive towards efficiency.”
Regional and global energy stakeholders and professionals are also gearing up to engage in four days of serious business and networking at ADIPEC in November. The organisers of the world’s largest oil and gas industry exhibition and conference are estimating a footfall of 100,000 this year, and taking a look back at how the event has grown over the years, it hardly comes as a surprise.
This issue we have produced a sizeable show preview (from page 58) to give you an idea of the objectives of some of the key exhibitors at ADIPEC.
See you soon in Abu Dhabi.
