Amy Miller, Chief Executive Officer, Energy Council

The World Energy Capital Assembly 2023 is fast approaching! Can you believe this is the 14th year? What’s new for 2023?

I can't believe it has been 14 years and I can believe even less that this will be my 10th WECA! The feedback from last year was that whilst there was a lot of good conversation around core issues like decarbonisation, there weren’t enough tangible or real-time examples of success. So this year I am including a whole afternoon focused on the practical solutions to decarbonisation challenges with case studies from emissions management solution providers like Aeromon, as well as O&G companies like bp, to help us understand how to move towards a low carbon energy system whilst still meeting expected global demand.

How have recent economic, geopolitical and social changes impacted your approach to the WECA agenda this year?

The ongoing war in the Ukraine, increased economic activity in China and recent policy changes in the US have all impacted the energy markets over the last 12 months. This year, we will include a market outlook panel with speakers from ADNOC, Trafigura, Equinor and Repsol sharing their thoughts on what we can expect from the global supply/demand outlook moving into 2024 and beyond. We will also have a significant focus on gas, and in particular how Europe plans to replace Russian gas in years to come.

In addition, I don’t think we can go a day without hearing about the impact of various activist groups. With that in mind, at this year’s event we will be holding our first Advocacy Focus group to discuss on how the industry can better engage with both politicians and the general public.

Access to finance and investment for traditional energy companies is becoming more and more difficult, how does the Energy Council help facilitate these conversations at assemblies?

It’s true that there has been a huge outflow of capital from the sector in the last decade. However, we are seeing family offices, alternative credit funds, and traders in particular, beginning to fill the financing gap left by traditional PE and banks, as well as sources of capital from the Middle East and APAC regions. At this year’s assembly, we will welcome over 150 investors and financiers who are still bullish about oil & gas and who are looking for investment opportunities in the sector. Some will be speaking on the program and others will be arranging 1-2-1 meetings with E&P players throughout the 2 days.

Finally, what are you most excited about for WECA 2023?

With so much happening in the industry at the moment, we really struggled to fit all our sessions in to 2 days, so we have lots of fringe events taking place throughout the event. From roundtables on advocacy, talent and governance, to breakfast briefings on the role Africa will play on the world energy stage, as well as new sessions on carbon markets and a session dedicated to the role of hydrocarbons in the energy mix alongside representatives from renewable and nuclear energies, I am excited to hear and see the buzz over the 2 days in London! On a personal note, I don’t know if I can top standing next to Bernard Looney on stage last year but I am excited to meet our entertainer Rob Beckett at the Awards of Excellence too!