ENERGY EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR 2022 

Energy Intelligence is pleased to announce that His Excellency Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs and President and CEO of QatarEnergy​, has been named as Energy Intelligence’s Energy Executive of the Year for 2022.

The award recognizes Mr. Al-Kaabi’s pivotal role in developing Qatar’s world-leading natural gas capabilities over the last decade, and his timely and ambitious decisions to ensure the country remains dominant in global LNG for decades to come. Al-Kaabi was elected by the leaders of the world’s top energy companies and is the 26th winner of this distinguished honor. The award will be presented to Al-Kaabi at the annual Energy Intelligence Forum held Oct. 4-6, 2022. 

Al-Kaabi is widely recognized for his foresight in embarking on a major expansion of Qatari LNG, capitalizing on its low-cost, low-carbon advantages. Today, Qatar is positioned as an indispensable gas supplier for countries seeking diversification of supplies and energy security.

“Al-Kaabi’s bold bet on the future of gas has positioned Qatar to be the world’s LNG supplier of choice,” said Raja Sidawi, Chairman and Chief Executive of Energy Intelligence.

“His decision to go large on energy investments at home and abroad ensures that Qatar stays a step ahead of its competition and allows it to continue to play an outsized role in global energy, geopolitics and culture.”

Al-Kaabi is respected by his peers and competitors as a formidable negotiator whose focus on results over rhetoric has helped position QatarEnergy for growth in a transforming energy industry.

Appointed as President and CEO in 2014, Al-Kaabi set out to transform QatarEnergy (then Qatar Petroleum) into a leading national oil company. He cut noncore parts of the business; streamlined a sprawling network of subsidiaries into a consolidated company; developed ambitious plans to grow upstream, downstream and renewables investments; and led a series of international investments.

But the centerpiece of Al-Kaabi’s strategy involved a massive development of the North Field, the world’s largest non-associated gas field, which will expand Qatar’s LNG production capacity by nearly 65%. This has attracted keen interest from the world’s largest energy companies, many of which have greatly benefited from their equity stakes in the current 77 million tons/yr of capacity.

Appointed as Minister of State for Energy Affairs in 2018, Al-Kaabi’s determined leadership style helped Qatar’s energy sector through the embargo imposed by other Mideast Gulf states and guided the country’s exit from OPEC, ending a 58-year relationship with the organization. Al-Kaabi has acted as an eloquent advocate for natural gas in the low-carbon energy transition, while proactively developing carbon capture and storage capacity to maximize the appeal of Qatar’s production. He rebranded the state oil and gas company as QatarEnergy in 2021.

 

H.E. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi
Qatar Minister of State for Energy; President & CEO
QatarEnergy