Oil & Money Conference Rebrands on Rising Climate-Change Concerns
September 03 2019 - 10:06AM
Dow Jones News
By Dieter Holger
Oil & Money, one of the world's most influential energy
conferences, is in the process of rebranding amid mounting concerns
over climate change.
Energy Intelligence, a market consultancy that has hosted the
conference since 1979, said Tuesday that starting in 2020 the
conference would be called the Energy Intelligence Forum as it
moves to "address the challenges of climate change and the energy
transition."
For 40 years, the Oil & Money conference has brought
together some of the most prominent figures in oil and gas. This
year's conference, to be held in London in early October, will host
speakers from Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA), BP PLC (BP.LN) and
Total SA (FP.FR) as well as OPEC officials and ministers from Iraq,
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Tickets for the event start at
$4,195.
The event hasn't avoided controversy. Last year,
environmentalists protested at the event and this year the
conference abruptly lost its co-sponsor: The New York Times Co.
(NYT) told Dow Jones Newswires late Monday it had ended its
sponsorship of Oil & Money after a decadeslong relationship
with the event. The Times attributed its decision to climate-change
issues and its expanding coverage of the topic.
"We want there to be no question of our independence or even the
potential appearance of a conflict of interest," said Eileen
Murphy, senior vice president of corporate communications at the
Times.
Ms. Murphy said the Times still respects the work of Energy
Intelligence, but that "the subject matter of the conference gives
us cause for concern as we continue to invest even more in the
coverage of these consequential environmental issues."
Alex Schindelar, president of Energy Intelligence, said the
rebranding has been in the works since last year's conference and
wasn't a result of the Times's dropping its sponsorship.
"Their decision to end the relationship comes as a
disappointment but we completely respect that," Mr. Schindelar
said.
Write to Dieter Holger at dieter.holger@dowjones.com;
@dieterholger
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 03, 2019 09:51 ET (13:51 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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