From Extraction to Transition | COP31 Oil & Gas Leadership Summit

The oil and gas sector is undergoing a monumental structural, long-term shift towards lower-carbon energy to meet net-zero targets, whilst at the same time managing the immediate need for reliable fuel and providing energy security. The industry is heavily focussed on decreasing operational emissions, scaling up carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), and investing in hydrogen and renewable power.

Oil and gas companies are following a range of strategies, at different speeds, with different levels of urgency, and consequently different outcomes. Those that include a clear pivot away from fossil fuels to renewables, or to reducing emissions, are currently seeing heavy capital investment in technology.

There has been significant debate about the current speed of transition within the sector as a whole and whether voluntary pledges on emissions are sufficient, or if something more legally binding is required.

This conference will examine which strategies are managing the energy transition most effectively, the key drivers behind successful transition and where that change will take the industry over the course of the coming years. With a speaker line-up of key oil and gas thought leaders, the agenda reflects the key question being asked: how to lead an industry through fundamental change, decarbonising at pace, satisfying regulators, communities and governments, and still delivering shareholder value.

The Conference will cover 5 core themes...

1: COP31 and the Oil and Gas Moment of Reckoning
As the world gathers for COP31, the oil and gas sector faces a defining moment. Commitments made in previous COP editions are now being measured against delivery, and the gaps between ambition, actions and results, have never been more scrutinised. Has ambition genuinely outpaced delivery, and if so, what are the consequences? The conference opens by asking what COP31 materially changes for NOCs and oil and gas majors, in terms of regulatory trajectory, capital allocation, and asset valuation. It will also evaluate what the political signals mean for the commercial decisions oil and gas executives will be making over the next five years.

2: Strategy: Moving Beyond the Commitment
Announcing a net zero target is straightforward, but building an organisation that can execute against it is an altogether different challenge. The strategic sessions at this conference will go beyond stated commitments to examine what a credible transition strategy actually looks like in practice. How does it survive contact with capital committees, shareholder demands, and the realities of operating assets. Then, how is it rolled out successfully, to deliver the expected returns? Drawing on the experience of senior IOC and NOC leaders, these sessions will examine where transition strategies have genuinely delivered, where they have quietly stalled, and what it takes to make change happen across complex, geographically dispersed organisations.

3: Finance: Where Capital Meets Commitment
Transition ambition is ultimately tested by investment flows, and the financial picture for the oil and gas sector is one of escalating tension. Activist investors are pressing for faster decarbonisation, whilst others demand continued returns from core hydrocarbon assets. Meanwhile, evolving regulation and policy frameworks are steadily reshaping the cost of capital and the risk profile of long-term assets. The CFO panel at this conference will examine the capital realities that determine whether transition commitments translate into meaningful action. It will also ask where transition capital is actually flowing within oil and gas portfolios, how that compares to continued upstream investment, and whether the financial architecture currently in place is genuinely fit for the scale of change required.

4: Technology: Separating the Proven from the Perpetually Promising
The energy transition is being delivered by technology, but not all technologies are delivering against expectations. This conference will examine three of the most consequential: carbon capture and storage, where infrastructure bottlenecks continue to constrain scale; hydrogen, where economics are improving but commercial viability remains uneven across applications; and digital transformation and AI, which are reshaping operational decisions and forcing hard questions about data governance and organisational capability. Senior oil and gas leaders will have the opportunity to challenge assumptions and debate where the sector should be concentrating its technology investment.

5: Geopolitics: The New Terrain for Energy Strategy
The energy transition is not unfolding in a vacuum, it’s playing out against a backdrop of intensifying geopolitical rivalry, fracturing multilateral consensus, and the growing politicisation of energy supply. For NOCs and majors alike, navigating competing demands from governments, capital markets, and international institutions has become as strategically demanding as any operational challenge. This conference will confront those challenges directly, examining how clean technology competition, shifting alliances, and energy security imperatives are redrawing the strategic map. It will review options for three plausible scenarios for the oil and gas sector to 2040, and what they might mean for asset values, capital strategy, and the long-term role of oil and gas in the global energy system.