ADIPEC 2026 will welcome its strongest-ever participation from Asia, reflecting the region’s dominance as the leading engine of global energy demand growth in the coming decades

Taking part in this year’s event will be 353 companies and six country pavilions from the region – China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea. Asia will also be strongly represented across the conference programme, where issues impacting Asia will feature prominently, with senior leaders from across the region among ADIPEC’s more than 1,800 confirmed speakers.

Confirmed participating companies include Sinopec, CNPC, CNOOC, Petronas, PTTEP, INPEX, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Hengyun, Baofeng Steel Group Co. Ltd, Beijing JJC Technology Co. Ltd., Mitsui & Corp, Daechun, DRC, GS Energy Corporation, HADO, Panduit, TMEIC, CATL, Envision Energy, FLARE INTERNUSA, PT Petra Konsulindo Utama, KYK Group, Thai Benkan Co. Ltd., Bajaj Power Equipments Ltd., Babcock Power APAC Pvt Ltd, and Axis Solutions Ltd.

Primary engine of global energy demand growth

Asia is expected to be the primary engine of global energy demand growth over the coming decades. China is forecast to account for close to half of worldwide electricity demand growth through 2030, while India is expected to remain the single largest contributor to global energy demand growth through 2035. Southeast Asia is projected to contribute around a quarter of global energy demand growth through 2035 as industrialisation, urbanisation and digitalisation accelerate across the region.

Meeting that demand will require significant investment in energy supply and infrastructure, particularly as electricity consumption and data-centre capacity continue to grow.

ADIPEC 2026 will connect the region’s policymakers, producers, buyers and industry leaders with the global supply, capital, technology and partnerships needed for the continent’s growing energy needs.

Abdulmunim Saif Al Kindy, chairman, ADIPEC 2026, said: “Asia is at the centre of global energy demand growth. As economies expand and energy needs rise, meeting that demand will require greater collaboration between producers, buyers, investors and technology leaders, alongside continued investment in supply and capacity. That is why ADIPEC is attracting record participation from across Asia, providing a platform where strategies are advanced, partnerships are formed and opportunities are turned into action.”

“Abu Dhabi is particularly well positioned to support this growth. Its proximity to some of the world’s fastest-growing energy markets, long-standing partnerships across Asia, and track record of providing reliable, flexible and competitive energy supply put it at the heart of supporting the region’s next phase of economic growth.”

Confirmed speakers at ADIPEC include:
• Wang Yuetao, chairman, ZhenHua Oil
• Takayuki Ueda, representative director, president & CEO, INPEX
• Rajarshi Gupta, MD & CEO ONGC, Videsh Ltd
• Prof. Haruhiko Ando, CEO, Japan Cooperation Centre for Petroleum and Sustainable Energy
• Charlotte Wolff-Bye, VP & Group chief sustainability officer, Petronas
• Prashant Ruia, Group CEO, Essar Group
• Koji Yamamoto, CTO and senior Councillor, JOGMEC
• Nobuo Tanaka, CEO, Tanaka Global
• Massimo Danieli, CEO, Business Unit Grid Automation, Hitachi Energy

Addressing the issues impacting Asia

Within the Strategic Conference, the Natural Gas & LNG programme will bring producers, buyers and infrastructure developers together to examine how supply can be expanded and diversified for import-dependent Asian markets, from contracting and market access through to the shipping and regasification capacity needed to maintain flexibility.

The Grids, Infrastructure & Industrial Execution programme will address the generation, transmission, storage and infrastructure capacity required to support Asia’s industrial, urban and digital growth, while the Finance & Investment programme will look at how capital can be mobilised for the region’s expanding infrastructure pipeline, including the risk allocation to commercial structures that move projects from plan to delivery.

The Maritime & Logistics programme will focus on the ports, fleets and shipping routes connecting global energy producers with Asian buyers, and the partnerships needed to maintain supply chain reliability as volumes grow.

Meanwhile, the AI, Digital & Technology Innovation programme will examine how artificial intelligence, automation and advanced analytics are being embedded into energy systems to sharpen performance and decision-making, alongside the increasing power requirements created by Asia’s rapidly expanding data-centre and digital economy.

New Leadership Dialogues include a session on ‘Asia’s power squeeze: integrating renewables and gas in high-growth power systems’ and a Boardroom Roundtable on ‘The new technology frontier: Asia’s role in shaping global innovation’.

Christopher Hudson, president, dmg events, the organisers of ADIPEC, said, “Asia’s influence on the global energy system now extends far beyond demand. The region is increasingly shaping technology, manufacturing, infrastructure and the commercial relationships behind the industry’s next phase of growth.

“ADIPEC has always evolved with the industry, responding each year to where the biggest shifts are happening and where the greatest opportunities lie. Our role is to create the platform where those changes can be translated into decisions, partnerships and progress.”

Qatar now expects production from its massive North Field East LNG expansion to start up in 2027, according to HE Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi , Qatar’s Energy Minister, CEO and president of QatarEnergy

Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum, Powered by Bloomberg: UNGA Special Edition 2026 in New York, the Minister said the first production train at North Field East – the initial phase of Qatar’s LNG expansion – is expected to come online in the first half of 2027 as shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz slow projects across the country’s economy. It had previously been expected to start production this year.

Tightening LNG supplies

The world's largest single non-associated gas field, the North Field, spanning over 6,000 sq. km, represents 20% of the world's total gas reserves. Qatar’s North Field expansion projects aim to raise LNG production capacity to 142mn tons per annum (MTPA) before the end of this decade. The North Field South project – the second phase of the expansion – is slated to come online in 2028, Al-Kaabi said – but these timings will depend on what happens in the Hormuz Strait and the ability to get facilities coming in.

The timeline reinforces the expectations that the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the Iran war threatens to tighten global LNG supplies for years, Bloomberg comments. Disruptions have already cut LNG supplies from Qatar — the world’s second largest LNG exporter and a key supplier to both the Asian and European markets — sending spot prices surging to the highest level since 2022 in Asia and Europe.

Qatar’s Ras Laffan plant, which produced nearly a fifth of the world’s LNG before the war began in February, can resume operations at undamaged parts of the facility “within a couple of weeks” when Hormuz reopens, the Minister said. The attack on Ras Laffan early on in the conflict resulted in damage to two LNG trains and Shell’s GTL plant, prompting Qatar to declare force majeure to its affected buyers.

“Repairs on the GTL train will be concluded in the first quarter of 2027. However, it will take three years for repairs on the two LNG trains,” the Minister said. 

Qatar is currently exporting a very small amount of LNG through the Strait, Al-Kaabi said, adding that Doha has decided not to build bypass pipelines.

“LNG, our main export commodity, cannot be transported by pipelines. We will have to transport it by pipelines as gas and then liquify it at the receiving terminal, wherever that may be. This means we are building reductant facilities to the ones we are already building in Qatar as part of the North Field expansion project. This makes no economic sense.”

Diversifying options

Qatar is pivoting to become a larger trader of LNG in the meantime, and is handling more LNG outside of the Persian Gulf with the start of its Golden Pass export facility in the US. Shipments have started from the first train.

“We expect next year to have both the second and third trains in full operations. We are also building the largest ethane cracker in the world at the Golden Triangle Polymers Project.” The project will be starting up in the next few weeks, he said.

 “We will be, in the very near future, the largest LNG trader in the world by far,” said Al-Kaabi. “And we’re building our position to become the largest trader.”

Industrial companies are increasing cybersecurity investment as connected operations, AI adoption and IT/OT convergence expand operational risk, with more than one-third seeing cybersecurity risk as a top obstacle to growth, according to a new study from Rockwell Automation 

Industrial companies are connecting more systems, scaling AI faster, and pushing operations to move in real time. Those investments create speed, efficiency and flexibility, but also expand operational risk. As organisations continue to connect information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) systems, scale AI initiatives, and expand the use of operational data across the enterprise, they create new dependencies that can increase exposure to cyber-related risk, underscoring the need to strengthen resilience.

The report, Operational Resilience in the Age of Connectivity, based on input from 1,500 manufacturing and industrial operations decision makers across a range of industries in 17 countries, reveals a disconnect between confidence in comprehensive cybersecurity protection and operational risk. Although industrial organisations are investing in cybersecurity in the face of the growing risks, those investments do not automatically translate into operational resilience.

Key findings

Key findings from the report include:
• Organisations remain confident despite rising incident exposure: While 46% of organisations experienced a cyber incident in the past year, 90% say they are confident in their ability to prevent, contain or recover from one.
• Cybersecurity delivers strong perceived ROI: 62% of organisations have already invested in cybersecurity platforms, and cybersecurity ranks as the second-highest ROI-generating technology investment reported by respondents.
• Organisations are looking to AI as part of their cybersecurity response: 45% plan to apply AI and machine learning to cybersecurity initiatives over the next 12 months.
• IT/OT convergence creates both risk and opportunity: IT and OT integration points rank as the second-most vulnerable to cyber incidents. At the same time, 37% say securing IT/OT architecture will drive positive business outcomes over the next five years.

The findings point to a clear shift: organisations are embedding cybersecurity into broader digital transformation strategies alongside AI, automation, cloud technologies and connected operations. But as environments become more interconnected, resilience depends on how well organisations can translate investment into coordinated action.

Resilience requires continual improvement

Resilient operations depend on continuously adapting OT cybersecurity programmes as operational needs and risks evolve, the report says. It requires a proactive, end-to-end approach aligned to globally recognised frameworks and standards such as NIST, NIS2 and IEC 62443. This gives organisations a structured roadmap to improve security maturity while meeting regulatory requirements.

The organisations that gain the most value from cybersecurity will be those that take a proactive, programmatic approach. By building visibility, risk-based decision making, secure architectures, continuous monitoring and recovery readiness into their operations from the start, they can reduce operational risk, sustain production during disruption and enable the business to move forward with confidence.

The good news is that organisations are rising to the challenge. They no longer treat cybersecurity as a separate IT initiative but are instead increasingly viewing it as part of operational performance.

“Industrial organisations understand that cybersecurity directly affects uptime, continuity, productivity and growth, but technology investments alone do not create operational resilience or confidence in an organisation's security posture,” said Rick Kaun, global director, cybersecurity services at Rockwell Automation. “True resilience is built when cybersecurity becomes an integral part of business strategy. Organisations that proactively manage risk and prepare for disruption are better positioned to protect operations, sustain production and gain a competitive advantage.”

Frequently Asked Questions:

What is operational resilience?

Operational resilience is an organisation's ability to sustain safe, secure, and reliable industrial operations by proactively managing risk, limiting disruption and providing rapid recovery from incidents.

Why is IT/OT convergence increasing cybersecurity risk?

IT/OT convergence increases cybersecurity risk because it expands the attack surface, introduces new points of connectivity and allows threats that originate in IT environments to potentially impact industrial operations. As operational data, systems, users and third-party connections become more interconnected, a single cyber incident can have broader consequences across production, safety, quality and business continuity.

How are industrial organisations using AI for cybersecurity?

According to the research, 45% of industrial organizations plan to apply AI and machine learning to cybersecurity over the next 12 months to help improve detection, monitoring and risk management capabilities.

The full report, is available HERE and explores how industrial organisations are strengthening cybersecurity, managing IT/OT convergence and building more resilient operations in an increasingly connected environment.