With more and more 'clashing civilizations' rhetoric being bandied about (not all of it without justification), it's interesting to note this conference, scheduled for next weekend:
Royal Dutch Shell plc announced that international Shell experts will share their expertise on scenario planning and meeting energy challenges, with the Arab leaders of tomorrow, at the Young Arab Leaders Forum 2005 which runs from December 2-4 in Dubai...
The forum brings together 500 of the region’s young leaders from business, politics, academia, media, arts and culture with brief to further improve the state of the Arab world. Participants this year are from Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, as well as from Europe and the United States...
“The Young Arab Leaders forum is an important opportunity for the leaders of tomorrow to meet and forge the future of the region...” said Hussain Al Mahmoudi, Head of External Affairs and HSSE, Shell.
Given the complexity of what's going on in the region right now (Iraq being only a part), it would be a shame if the scenarios they discuss are entirely focused on oil and gas. As a tool, scenarios are deeply embedded into the planning cultures of many oil and gas companies (Shell being the most well known.) Properly applied however, they're at least as powerful for strategic planners in other industries (including government) to holistically think through the interlocking issues (e.g., social, political, military, demographic, religious, constitutional, etc.) that the entire region is facing over the next few years. Oil and gas will be just a part of that picture - albeit a fairly big part.
i just hope they can get along. i think this is a great thing.
Posted by: oilfield equipment | 12 April 2009 at 09:51 PM