The shift in the global energy economy from a hydrocarbons-based industry to one that is increasingly supported by low-carbon and renewable energy technologies has significant and enduring implications for the oil and gas producing countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). While forecasters debate the speed and extent of the transition, there seems little doubt about the inevitability of the rise of renewables.

After more than 100 years of a world shaped by the geopolitics of hydrocarbons, the MENA region finds itself having to navigate the uncertainty of an energy transition and all that it implies for national, regional and global status quos. What does the transition mean for long-term oil demand? In the event of peak consumption, is a slow, managed decline possible? And what about other geopolitical or market factors that might come into play – the prospect of lower demand triggered by a global economic slowdown and a trade war, through to breakthroughs in new energy technologies – when this happens, what next?

The 2020 Chatham House Middle East and North Africa Energy conference will address these questions and the key trends shaping the region’s energy future in the 21st century.

The Chatham House Rule
To enable as open a debate as possible, this conference will be held under the Chatham House Rule.