The NFL has the Super Bowl. Economists and policymakers have Davos. The energy industry has CERAWeek.
Last year’s CERAWeek event was an unparalleled meeting of the minds: More than 1,620 C-Suite executives, 84 ministers and top officials, 365 media representatives, and 10,000+ participants from more than 2,350 companies across 89 countries flocked to Space City for the annual event. Next week, when the conference doors open for CERAWeek’s 44th annual gathering in Houston, a similarly innovative and influential crowd will descend upon Houston.
The timing couldn’t be more critical.
Context is everything: Why CERAWeek 2026 is different
This year's theme is "Convergence and Competition,” apt for a global industry being pulled in multiple directions—toward collaboration and integration to solve time-sensitive energy problems, all while navigating deep political conflict and fragmentation.
The context
With Brent crude above $90 a barrel following the disruption of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most critical oil chokepoint through which roughly 20% of global oil supply flows, energy security is at the forefront of every policy discussion. The IEA authorized one of the largest coordinated emergency releases in its history: 400 million barrels from strategic reserves across its 32 member countries.
Meanwhile, the AI revolution is introducing an energy demand shock. According to the IEA, global data center electricity consumption is on pace to nearly double to 945 terawatt-hours by 2030; that’s more than Japan's entire current annual electricity use. In the U.S. alone, Goldman Sachs estimates approximately $720 billion will be needed in grid upgrades through 2030 just to keep pace. America's aging grid, built for a different era, was simply not designed to absorb this kind of simultaneous, clustered demand growth. Innovation must ensue,
What’s on deck
CERAWeek 2026 is organized around 16 themes. Here are the topics we’ll be watching most closely.
AI and power demand: The grid’s limitations
The context
The race to build AI infrastructure is consuming electricity at a pace that is straining regional grids, driving up household electricity bills, and forcing a fundamental rethink of how power is generated, transmitted, and priced. PJM Interconnection, the largest U.S. grid operator, projects it will be six gigawatts short of reliability requirements by 2027. The energy and technology sectors are now co-dependent in a way they have never been before. Neither is fully prepared for it.
The conversation
At CERAWeek, expect this to be one of the most heavily attended tracks on the agenda. The central question leaders will be wrestling with: who pays for the grid upgrades that AI demands? Utilities, ratepayers, and tech hyperscalers are already in a three-way standoff over cost allocation, and that tension is heading into the room. Sessions will also tackle the nuclear revival as a baseload solution for data centers. AI’s environmental impact will also likely be at the forefront of conversation.
Oil and gas: Security as a non-negotiable
The context
The Hormuz crisis is a stark reminder of why oil and gas security remains non-negotiable. Even as the transition accelerates, the world still runs on hydrocarbons, and disruptions to major transit routes have an immediate, cascading impact on inflation, growth, and supply chains globally. The IEA estimates global oil supply has plunged by 8 million barrels per day in March thus far, with Gulf countries cutting production as tanker traffic grinds to a near halt.
The conversation
CEOs from Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil, Chevron, bp, and Shell will be in the building, and markets will be listening to every word. Conversation will likely center on how long the disruption lasts, whether OPEC+ spare capacity can be meaningfully deployed while the Strait remains effectively closed, and what the crisis reveals about the limits of emergency reserve mechanisms.
Natural gas and LNG: America’s moment (and what’s next)
The context
The United States has become the world's largest LNG exporter, and the reordering of global gas markets is one of the defining geopolitical stories of our era. As Europe phases out Russian pipeline gas by 2027, U.S. LNG has become indispensable to European energy security. Over 80 bcm of new U.S. LNG liquefaction capacity was sanctioned in 2025 alone (a record) and the expansion continues into 2026 and beyond.
The conversation
Dialogue will likely revolve around the benefits of long-term contract structures versus spot market flexibility, the methane reporting regulations for European buyers and U.S. producers, and whether the current geopolitical landscape either accelerates or complicates the next wave of LNG projects.
Critical minerals: Geopolitical tensions
The context
The IEA warns that China controls roughly 70% of the refining capacity for the minerals that underpin the energy transition: lithium, cobalt, graphite, rare earths. Demand for these materials must triple by 2030 to meet net-zero goals. The scramble to diversify supply chains is reshaping diplomatic relationships, trade policy, and investment strategies across every corner of the energy industry.
The conversation
Sessions at CERAWeek will likely address how mining companies, automakers, battery manufacturers, and governments are trying to build alternative supply chains under aggressive timelines and how realistic those timelines actually are. Speakers will also likely touch on the role of Africa and Latin America as emerging battlegrounds for mineral diplomacy.
Energy transition: Execution over ambition
The context
Global clean energy investment surpassed $2.2 trillion in 2025: two-thirds of all energy spending — driven not by climate pledges alone, but by energy security, economic competition, and industrial policy. As the World Economic Forum observes, the transition has shifted from ambition to execution: less focus on headline net-zero declarations, more on whether grids, factories, and ports actually get built on time.
The conversation
Discourse around the energy transition will likely be more pragmatic in recent years. With the U.S. having stepped back from key international climate commitments and COP30 approaching, we expect there will be a broad spectrum of opinions in the room.
The Energy Marketer’s Guide to The Latest IEA Report
Geopolitics, trade, and supply chains
Context
Tariffs, trade wars, and economic nationalism are fracturing supply chains that took decades to build. From solar panels to LNG contracts to EV batteries, the intersection of energy and geopolitics is more complex (and more consequential) than at any point since the 1970s oil shocks. CERAWeek is one of the few places where policymakers and industry leaders from across the value chain address these tensions in the same room.
The conversation
With U.S. tariff policy in active flux and the EU-U.S. trade relationship under strain, the geopolitics sessions at CERAWeek will have an unusually direct relevance to business decisions. Senior government officials, including the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce and the Premier of Alberta, are confirmed speakers. The conversations between energy executives and policymakers will be closely watched for signals on permitting reform, export licensing, and investment frameworks.
B2B growth in a time of convergence and competition
It's a complex time to be in the energy industry. As the landscape continuously evolves in real-time alongside global conflict, technological advancements, and constantly shifting regulation and governmental priorities, it can feel challenging to maintain a consistent, forward-looking growth strategy.
Our Growth Engine was designed to adapt and evolve just as quickly as dynamic energy markets. By integrating branding, marketing, sales, and service into one connected system, we break down silos and build foundations that are nimble and resilient enough to keep your growth strategy aligned as the landscape shifts.
The companies that emerge from this era of convergence and competition with stronger reputations and deeper market relationships will be the ones that treated marketing as a growth function, not an afterthought. We help energy firms accomplish that.
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