UAE minister scoops oil diplomacy award

Suhail Al Mazrouei was recognised for his role in steering the Middle East away from fuel subsidies

Suhail Al Mazrouei the energy minister of the UAE, has been awarded a prestigious oil diplomacy award. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Suhail Al Mazrouei, the UAE’s minister of Energy and Industry, was awarded the ‘International Oil Diplomacy Person of the Year 2018’ Award at a major oil and gas conference in London on Thursday.

At the Energy Institute’s International Petroleum Week (IP Week), the minister was nominated for the award by Gulf Intelligence, a communications and research firm and Middle Eastern knowledge partner of the Energy Institute.

Mr Al Mazrouei played a key role in steering the Middle East away from fuel subsidies and tackling unsustainable consumption patterns to ensure that the UAE and others were aligned with the international community’s efforts to overcome climate change in support of the Paris Agreement, the Energy Institute stated in its Letter of Award.

Louise Kingham, CEO, Energy Institute, said: “As President of the OPEC Conference, [Mr Al Mazrouei has] shown exemplary vision and leadership through 2018 with your stewardship of the continued implementation of the ‘historical’ agreement to seek oil market stability among some 25 OPEC and non-OPEC countries to the benefit of producing and consuming nations alike.”

Sean Evers, managing partner, Gulf Intelligence, added: “The efforts by the UAE Minister of Energy in his role as OPEC President contributed significantly to oil prices recovering through the year to average above $70 a barrel in 2018, after hovering around $55 in 2017.”

Evers added that Mr Al Mazrouei’s diplomatic skills were “critical” in a year where the relationship between OPEC countries was fractured and was in danger of falling apart. In December last year, Qatar announced that it would leave the international oil organisation, after 57 years of membership.

Delegates – including senior leaders, policymakers and academics – from over 50 countries attended IP Week, to discuss the future of energy and gas industry. As well as Mr Al Mazrouei, speakers at the event included Amin Nasser, president and chief executive officer of Saudi oil company ARAMCO, Liam Fox, the UK’s Secretary of State for International Trade and Bob Dudley, group CEO at BP.