(Cairo = Yonhap News) Correspondent Kim Sang-hoon = With Yemen's pro-Iran rebels Houthis inflicting a fatal blow on Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh Airport, a large number of CEOs of global energy companies were absent from a large-scale international oil conference held in Saudi Arabia.
The suspension of operations at Riyadh International Airport has been extended indefinitely as large-scale casualties occurred due to the airport attack.
According to Reuters on the 12th (local time), CEOs of ExxonMobil, Total Energy, Shell, Chevron, and BP were largely excluded from the list of speakers in the schedule released by the organizers of the World Petroleum Congress (WPC Energy Congress), which opened in Riyadh the day before.
CEOs of major global energy companies are key figures who usually attend the WPC and give speeches on the topics of the oil and gas market, energy security, and energy transition.
Saudi authorities, who pushed ahead with the event, repeatedly emphasized safety.
“This country is safe and we are truly committed to your safety,” Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman said in his opening remarks, but added, “The fact that we are gathered here does not mean that all danger has disappeared.”
He acknowledged the seriousness of the recent situation and emphasized that Saudi Arabia's response "must be equally severe."
This incident also dealt a significant blow to Saudi Arabia's national project 'Vision 2030', which seeks to reduce dependence on oil, modernize society, and become an investment and tourism hub.
Attracting large-scale international events is a core task of this program, but schedules are repeatedly disrupted by regional disputes.
This year's WPC meeting was originally scheduled for April, but was postponed once due to the outbreak of war between the United States and Israel and neighboring regions in late February. This is the first time that the WPC has been held in Saudi Arabia since the first meeting was held in 1933.
Regarding the non-attendance of the meeting, a BP spokesperson said, "We made every effort to attend, but unfortunately due to travel disruptions we were unable to attend in person."
Shell declined to comment, and Total Energy, ExxonMobil and Chevron did not immediately respond to media inquiries.
The Riyadh Conference Center, where this meeting is being held, is located just 10km away from Riyadh King Khalid International Airport, which has been attacked four times in the past week.
According to Saudi authorities, one person was killed and about 10 injured in a new strike targeting the airport on the evening of the 11th. This is an additional casualty that occurred just one day after an attack by Houthi rebels on the 10th killed 13 people and injured more than 300, causing the worst casualties in Saudi Arabia in more than a decade.
As serial attacks targeting airports continue, disruption to flight operations is expected to be prolonged.
Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) announced it was extending the suspension of operations at King Khalid International Airport following a deadly attack by Houthi rebels.
“GACA has decided to extend the suspension of airport operations to complete the necessary procedures to verify the safety and operational readiness of the facility,” GACA explained. However, no specific date was given as to when airport operations would resume.
