Houthi attacks force top energy CEOs to skip Riyadh WPC Energy Congress

Several of the world's top energy executives were removed from the schedule of the WPC Energy Congress in Riyadh after strikes on the Saudi capital, Reuters reported on 12 October. A column by Ron Unz, published on LewRockwell.com on 20 October, quotes the Reuters report and adds that the chief executives of Exxon, Shell, Chevron and BP were among those who cancelled.

The column is an opinion piece, and the claims below about oil facilities, airports and cancellations are Unz's own account rather than independently confirmed reporting.

What we know

• Reuters reported on 12 October, as quoted in the LewRockwell.com column, that several of the world's top energy executives were removed from the WPC Energy Congress schedule in Riyadh following Ansarallah's strikes on the Saudi capital.
• Unz wrote that some 300 of the world's leading CEOs and senior executives had been scheduled to attend the five day congress in Riyadh.
• According to Unz, many of those business leaders cancelled, including the chief executives of Exxon, Shell, Chevron and BP, while others were taking part only via video calls.
• Unz wrote that most flights to the country were cancelled and that he saw a looming threat of additional Houthi missile strikes, and he linked the cancellations to both.
• Unz also wrote that Houthi missiles and drones had severely damaged many of the most important Saudi oil facilities, reducing crude exports to almost nothing, and that attacks on the kingdom's major airports had shut down most flights.

What we don't know yet

• The Reuters excerpt quoted in the column breaks off before naming the executives, so the column does not show which chief executives Reuters says were removed from the schedule.
• Unz gives no figure for how many of the roughly 300 scheduled attendees cancelled. He says only "many".
• The column offers no figures or official statements to back its claims on damage to oil facilities and the fall in crude exports.
• The column does not say whether the congress organisers have commented on the changes or on how the programme will run.

Background

Qatar Standard reported on 11 October that the Houthis warned airlines, travellers and airport workers to avoid Saudi airports and airspace after an attack on Riyadh's international airport that, according to the reporting available then, killed 12 people and wounded more than 300. Operations at the airport were temporarily suspended. Qatar Standard also reported on 16 October that the GCC and the European Union postponed their summit, planned for October 24 in Riyadh, because of Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, with no new date set.