Energy Security in a Changing Geopolitical Landscape

Drawing on his experience leading Kuwait Petroleum Corporation through a period of heightened regional tensions and profound shifts in the global energy landscape, Shaikh Nawaf Al-Sabah will discuss the challenges shaping energy security today. The discussion will examine how producing nations are navigating geopolitical uncertainty, safeguarding critical supply routes such as the Strait of Hormuz, and maintaining market stability amid growing fragmentation in global trade and security arrangements. Reflecting on lessons from recent regional developments, Shaikh Nawaf will explore the balance between ensuring reliable energy supplies, advancing climate objectives, and meeting the needs of a growing world economy. The session will also consider the long-term role of hydrocarbons in the energy mix and the investments, innovation, and international cooperation required to ensure a secure and reliable energy future.

Hosted by Tarek Masoud, Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Governance and Faculty Chair of the Middle East Initiative.

Shaikh Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah is Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) since March 2022. Established as a state-owned corporation in January 1980, KPC optimizes the value of Kuwait’s hydrocarbons endowment by producing, refining, transporting, and marketing these resources globally through six operating subsidiaries.

Prior to this appointment, Shaikh Nawaf was President and Chief Executive Officer of Kuwait Petroleum International, the international downstream subsidiary of KPC operating under the Q8 brand, from February 2019 to March 2022. In this position, he refined the company’s strategy to concentrate on projects that are profitable and strategic to the Kuwaiti oil sector. Shaikh Nawaf was concurrently Chief Executive Officer of Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC), the international upstream subsidiary of KPC, for almost nine years from May 2013. During that period, KUFPEC doubled its production and expanded into new geographies and technologies increasing its annual revenues and its profits to new highs.

Shaikh Nawaf holds an A.B. degree magna cum laude from Princeton University’s School for Public and International Affairs and a Juris Doctor (Doctor of Laws) degree cum laude from Harvard Law School.