Petrovietnam President & CEO Le Manh Cuong Engages Global Energy Majors in London on Energy Security and System Resilience

The Energy Intelligence Forum is organized by Energy Intelligence, the prominent publisher of the specialized industry journal Petroleum Intelligence Weekly. Originating from the Oil & Money Conference launched in 1980 in collaboration with the International Herald Tribune, 2026 marks the 47th consecutive year of this premier global gathering.

Bloomberg once appraised the forum as one of the largest and most influential annual gatherings in the global petroleum sector. The event also hosts the conferment of the "Energy Executive of the Year" award, widely regarded as the most prestigious individual honor in the international energy industry.

This year's forum convened over 40 keynote speakers and more than 500 senior delegates, including Chairmen and Chief Executive Officers of leading global energy majors and institutions such as Aramco, Baker Hughes, BP, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, INPEX, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), McDermott, JOGMEC, Eni, Equinor, PETRONAS, ExxonMobil, Occidental, Shell, TotalEnergies, Vitol, alongside representatives from McKinsey & Company and numerous international financial institutions.

Energy Security Takes Center Stage

The forum convened against the backdrop of the Strait of Hormuz transit crisis entering its eighth consecutive month, placing energy system resilience at the forefront of plenary and panel deliberations. ConocoPhillips Executive Chairman Ryan Lance noted that the global energy system has "bent but not broken," as the catastrophic scenario of oil surging to USD 150–200 per barrel was averted. However, Chevron Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth cautioned that operational buffers have worn thin, leaving the system significantly more vulnerable than prior to the crisis and prices increasingly susceptible to subsequent geopolitical shocks. According to Aramco President and CEO Amin H. Nasser, an inventory replenishment deficit estimated at least 2 billion barrels will absorb incremental supply over the next 18 to 24 months, prompting Aramco to evaluate fourth and fifth export routing options to ensure export redundancy.

According to multiple executive speakers, the prevailing doctrine surrounding energy security has fundamentally shifted. TotalEnergies Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné remarked that the current crisis reflects the cumulative consequences of persistent upstream under-investment over recent years, driving a structural industry pivot from a "just-in-time" operating model to a "just-in-case" strategic reserve posture. Shell Chief Executive Officer Wael Sawan underscored that in today's operating landscape, strategic flexibility outweighs pure cost efficiency. Offering an Asian perspective, PETRONAS President and Group CEO Tengku Muhammad Taufik emphasized that energy policy cannot be governed by short-term cycles, whereas capital allocation in energy requires a multi-decade horizon of 20 to 30 years.

The forum also documented a distinct recalibration in oil and gas corporate strategies: refocusing capital onto core petroleum operations while exercising stringent capital discipline, whereas renewable energy is no longer treated as a primary investment priority and is being deployed only selectively. BP Chief Executive Officer Meg O'Neill stated that BP's immediate priorities focus on debt reduction, divesting non-core assets, and deploying capital into low-carbon domains only when profitability thresholds are guaranteed. At PETRONAS, according to Tengku Muhammad Taufik, the Board of Directors has shifted from anxieties over "stranded assets" toward actively sanctioning upstream Final Investment Decisions (FIDs).

Simultaneously, skyrocketing electricity consumption driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and hyperscale data centers is generating powerful tailwinds for natural gas and gas-to-power. Baker Hughes Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Simonelli observed that data centers now serve as the primary catalyst for gas turbine demand, while manufacturing lead times for mission-critical power generation equipment have stretched up to four years. Across global LNG markets, Asian off-takers are returning decisively to long-term contracts, accepting reasonable premiums in exchange for uncompromised delivery security.

PETROVIETNAM Shares Crisis-Management Insights at the EAGLe Executive Dialogue

On the afternoon of October 6, 2026, PETROVIETNAM President & CEO Le Manh Cuong was invited to participate in the closed-door EAGLe Dialogue (Energy Asia Global Leadership Executive Forum), co-hosted by PETRONAS and Energy Intelligence as an integral track of the Energy Intelligence Forum 2026. Convened as an executive roundtable, the session assembled 13 C-suite leaders from multinational energy corporations, multilateral financial institutions, and global investment funds.

Convened under the theme "Resilient Energy Systems: Delivering Under Pressure," participants identified three primary systemic vulnerabilities exposed by the current crisis: reliance on a narrow base of supply sources and maritime choke points; the deficit of strategic inventory cushions; and the physical vulnerability of critical energy infrastructure alongside heightened financial and cybersecurity exposures. Deliberations examined actionable countermeasures, including multilateral cost-sharing mechanisms for strategic reserves, bilateral commercial storage arrangements, refined product reserves, and redundant refining capacity. The dialogue crystallized key guiding principles: avoiding operational fragmentation, converting crisis pressures into decisive execution, and ensuring all structural solutions remain commercially viable and calibrated to the sovereign and corporate realities of each participant.

Delivering remarks at the dialogue, PETROVIETNAM President & CEO Le Manh Cuong shared the practical crisis-management experience of the Group. During the peak of the supply crunch, PETROVIETNAM swiftly established a dedicated crisis response task force, proactively securing alternative crude feedstock to enable domestic refineries to maintain uninterrupted operations and operate beyond their rated design capacities.

President & CEO Le Manh Cuong stated that PETROVIETNAM is proactively enhancing systemic resilience by establishing national strategic petroleum reserves; expanding the imported crude intake basket for domestic refineries; localizing high-end engineering services via international joint ventures; and aggressively diversifying its national energy portfolio across imported LNG, domestic offshore natural gas, nuclear power, and offshore wind—advancing toward the model of an integrated energy major. The PETROVIETNAM leader likewise underscored the paramount value of direct business-to-business (B2B) partnerships.

Broadening Global Linkages and Fostering International Cooperation

According to President & CEO Le Manh Cuong, Vietnam's ambition to sustain double-digit economic growth requires an energy system that is sufficiently large in scale, secure, commercially competitive, and resilient against global market shocks. Consequently, PETROVIETNAM seeks to broaden comprehensive partnerships with international energy majors and multilateral financial institutions, leveraging the complementary strengths of each party to jointly execute large-scale, high-efficiency, and sustainable energy projects.

On the sidelines of the Energy Intelligence Forum 2026, President & CEO Le Manh Cuong held a bilateral working session with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Shaikh Nawaf S. Al-Sabah at KPC's London headquarters. Both executives commended the positive operational and commercial achievements of Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical LLC (NSRP)—a marquee joint venture between the two corporations—and aligned on strategic roadmaps to deepen bilateral collaboration in the upcoming period.

The core issues deliberated at the forum directly align with PETROVIETNAM's strategic development trajectory in the new development era. Attending the Energy Intelligence Forum 2026 and the EAGLe Executive Dialogue provided PETROVIETNAM with first-hand access to the latest strategic assessments, capital allocation paradigms, and risk governance practices articulated by the world's premier energy leaders. This invaluable intelligence equips PETROVIETNAM to systematically fortify its organizational resilience, actively safeguarding national energy security and driving sustainable long-term development.