Annual Brookings Doha Energy Forum opens

26/03/2015 10:33 AST

DOHA: The Brookings Doha Center (BDC) and Brookings Energy Security Initiative (ESI) launched the two-day “Brookings Doha Energy Forum 2015” yesterday. This year’s Forum takes on the theme “Energy Stability or a False Sense of Security: How Changes in Geopolitics, Political Economy, and Markets Alter the Energy Landscape.”

This private, closed-door conference is the fourth in an annual series that examines the relationship between the Middle East, established energy markets in Europe and the United States, and emerging Asian powers. This year’s Forum will shed light on three principal themes: the changing geopolitics of energy, the implications of political and economic changes in the Middle East and Asia for energy production and consumption, and the shifts in global energy markets and their consequences for pricing. The Forum provides access to and engagement on these topics through a series of speeches, plenary sessions, and breakout group discussions.

H E Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi (pictured), Minister’s Assistant for Foreign Affairs delivered the key note address. A High-Level Session followed, including presentations by Abdelkader Amara, Minister of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment, Kingdom of Morocco; Amos Hochstein, Special Envoy, Bureau of Energy Resources, US Department of State; Toshihiko Fujii, Deputy Commissioner for International Affairs, Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, Japan; and Stephen Lovegrove, Permanent Secretary, Department for Energy and Climate Change, United Kingdom.

The Forum convenes prominent industry experts and policymakers from around the world for an in-depth discussion of the changing global energy landscape. Attendees include a range of officials, experts, leaders of national oil companies, and representatives of the corporate sector.

“Constant political uncertainty and the changes in the geopolitical landscape pose a number of challenges for energy producers in the world, and particularly in the Middle East,” said Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center. “This year’s Forum seeks to analyse and address changes in global energy markets by bringing together government officials, business leaders, and industry experts from around the world for valuable, in-depth discussion in a framework that encourages ground truth understandings.”

Subsequent to the Forum, the Brookings Institution will release the “Brookings Energy Forum 2015 Policy Paper,” summarizing the Forum’s context and principle findings. The Peninsula

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