Inside the "Super Bowl of energy”
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Hello, everyone. I'm Kimberly Adams. Welcome back to Make Me Smart, where none of us is as smart as all of us. Last week, executives from energy companies from all over the world met in Houston for CIRA Week, an annual conference that's nicknamed the Super Bowl of Energy. Now, it's a particularly interesting time for the industry to come together because this war with Iran is really impacting their businesses and looming over the entire global economy. My colleague Elizabeth Troval spent the week there, and she's here to tell us about what folks were saying. Give us a little inside insight onto what the top minds in the energy industry are thinking about. Liz, welcome back. Yeah, super happy to chat.
So what exactly is Sarah Wiegand and who shows up?
So Sierra Week is an annual global energy conference, like major global energy conference put on by S&P Global. It takes place in downtown Houston.
What is CERAWeek and why is it called the Super Bowl of Energy?
And, you know, it's top executives in the world of oil, gas, utilities, car companies. Like we're talking the, you know, CEOs of the Fords and Chevrons of the world are coming to Houston for this conference. And, you know, also politicians, folks like Energy Secretary Chris Wright and former Secretary of State John Kerry. And just real quick, also the tickets to attend like the main conference, I just want to say, are $11,000. Press, of course, does not have to pay $11,000. But yeah, that's how much people are paying to just get in to attend this conference.
Wow. So that's a lot of money. Obviously, it is clearly the important place to be. What was the energy like there?
The vibes were interesting. Like, you know, it was a bit tense.
How is the war with Iran affecting global energy markets?
Restrained, hesitant. And there's just there's just something weird. I was talking to my former colleague at the Houston Chronicle, Amanda Drain. She and I were talking about how it's just like kind of weird to be looking at like the front page of like the journal and the New York Times and seeing like this war imagery and then to be at this like buttoned up conference where people are wearing suits that are like more expensive than my car, you know, and like a lot of a lot of things go unsaid at these things. But at the same time, geopolitics and instability were still like very much the center of the conference conversation. Like what's happening in the Middle East is at the top of everybody's minds.
Like how long will this go on and how much will it reshape the global energy industry?
Going into this year, the oil prices were pretty low and have rapidly been pushed up due to the war with Iran. How are energy companies responding to the shift, especially given how quickly it's happened?
Yeah. So I feel like the CEO of ConocoPhillips, Ryan Lance, kind of had explained it well of like headwinds have become tailwinds. Right. Right. So there was oversupply in the industry. There was more oil than people needed. coming into this year prices were low you know wasn't looking so hot for oil and gas companies and then everything's kind of turned on its head and so that over like thankfully we had we had a bit of an oversupply because that's helping cushion the the kind of price shock right we're feeling right now um and you know the industry yes is uh more revenue coming in because of those higher higher prices of course
Oh, I want to get to that revenue bit in a little bit. But you were at last year's Sierra Week conference. And I wonder if you hear differences in the way they're talking about strategy and messaging around oil and what's going on in the industry in particular.
Yes, definitely. There's been a shift. I mean, I think last year the conversation was really about how the industry is adjusting to the new Trump administration and the new policies. There was a lot of conversation about tariffs and trade and also kind of moving away from the energy transition economy, if you will. So I feel like that was more... at the center and whereas now I mean geopolitics are you know what everyone is thinking and talking about we're going to take a quick break but we'll be right back
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