Dr Carole Nakhle, CEO of Crystol Energy joined TRENDS Global’s international panel discussion on OPEC and the Future of the Global Energy System, alongside leading experts in energy and international economics.
Dr. Nakhle argued that the UAE’s withdrawal from OPEC was not a sudden move, but the result of long term strategic calculations. She noted that the decision opens a new chapter in the UAE’s energy and economic model, while other producers will closely watch its outcomes.
She also stressed that global energy markets are not returning to the conditions that existed before recent geopolitical crises. Instead, markets have entered a new normal shaped by structural shifts in demand, changing consumption patterns, and the accelerating energy transition.
According to Dr. Nakhle, OPEC’s future will depend on member discipline. However, the strongest advantage will increasingly belong to producers that can deliver low cost and low carbon energy in a world moving toward lower emissions.
She added that the energy transition does not mean abandoning oil and gas entirely. It means reshaping the energy mix through balanced investment in renewables, oil and gas, nuclear energy, and energy infrastructure.
The webinar also examined the wider restructuring of oil and gas markets, including volatile global demand, competition from US shale, pressure to reduce fossil fuel use, new energy systems in emerging markets, and the impact of geopolitical tensions on supply security and trade routes.
Dr. Nakhle was joined by Dr. Adnan Shihab Eldin, former Acting Secretary General and former Director of Research at OPEC; Robin Mills, CEO of Qamar Energy; Professor Paul Stevens, Emeritus Professor at the University of Dundee and Fellow at Chatham House; and Sultan Al Hosani, Researcher at TRENDS. The discussion was moderated by Mouza Al Marzouqi, Senior Researcher at TRENDS.
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