Reuters: US Oil Companies Cancel Participation in UAE's ADIPEC Over Security Concerns
Reuters reported on Thursday that American oil companies ExxonMobil and Chevron have canceled plans for their executives to participate in the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC), scheduled for next week, due to security concerns.
The agency cited two informed sources as saying that ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods was scheduled to attend the conference hosted by Abu Dhabi, while Chevron was to be represented by its head of exploration and production, Clay Neff.
Reuters said the two companies declined to comment on the cancellation, while the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) referred the request for comment to the event's organizer, dmg events.
The agency quoted the organizing company as saying that American participation in the exhibition remains strong, with more than 120 exhibiting companies, making the United States the second-largest participating country after China. It added that this year's edition will see record participation from representatives of more than 170 countries.
However, the list of confirmed American speakers provided by the organizing company did not include the names of officials from ExxonMobil or Chevron.
Fears of Regional Escalation
According to Reuters, these developments come at a time when oil markets have been dominated in recent days by fears of potential new U.S. attacks on Iran and Tehran's response.
U.S. President Donald Trump had said he would not launch an attack on Iran before the U.S. midterm elections scheduled for November 3, but on Friday, he indicated the possibility of another military operation against it.
The agency stated that Iran has not launched attacks targeting the UAE since May, while the published conference program still includes the names of prominent executives, including BP CEO Meg O'Neill and Equinor CEO Anders Opedal.
Reuters added that the ADIPEC exhibition is among a series of events affected by regional turmoil, noting the removal of several senior energy executives' names from the agenda of the World Petroleum Congress hosted by Riyadh earlier in October.
The agency also reported that the U.S. State Department ordered some of its diplomats to leave Saudi Arabia last week, which has been facing near-daily attacks from the Iran-aligned Houthi group since the beginning of the month. Meanwhile, U.S. officials told Reuters that Washington intends to withdraw family members of staff from several of its other missions in the region.
Source: Reuters
