Singapore's Energy Week conference to test reopening strategy
[SINGAPORE] Singapore will hold its first business conference of scale this week since the coronavirus pandemic put ice to such activities in the city-state, amid ongoing efforts to restart its economy.
The Singapore International Energy Week starts Monday with 250 participants and on-site staff, and hundreds more are slated to join virtually. Singapore has become a hub for oil and natural gas traders and - in a normal year - hosts dozens of conferences, roundtable discussions and happy hours for company officials to mingle and broker deals.
While places such as China and Taiwan have restarted business events from automotive shows to tech conferences with hundreds of participants, the Singapore event will be the city-state's first step to reopening a key sector. Those who are attending the conference at the Marina Bay Sands are required to take a Covid-19 test, with results within 30 minutes, and must download a contact-tracing app.
Singapore's government has rolled out strict measures to stop the spread of the virus, such as implementing a partial lock-down for two months, mandatory use of masks and limiting outdoor gatherings to just five people. The economy has gradually reopened since mid-June, and new local daily cases have dwindled in recent weeks to low single digits or zero.
HIGH PROFILE
The conference is viewed by authorities as a pilot to see if their measures can help create a safe environment to allow other large events, after other high-profile one such as the Formula One race and Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference were scrapped or went online this year.
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU
Asean Business
Business insights centering on South-east Asia's fast-growing economies.
The most prominent speaker at Singapore International Energy Week will be Saudi Arabia's oil minister Abdulaziz bin Salman, though the prince will be joining virtually. Some executives, such as Jochen Eickholt, a Siemens board member based in Germany, will be travelling to Singapore to attend the event.
This energy event comes ahead of December's fintech festival, that will also adopt the online and physical model. The conference, which attracted about 60,000 participants last year, will have speakers including Citigroup's chief executive officer (CEO)-designate Jane Fraser, Standard Chartered's CEO Bill Winters and Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella.
BLOOMBERG
KEYWORDS IN THIS ARTICLE
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
Energy & Commodities
BHP’s biggest rivals sit on the sidelines of Anglo M&A drama
ExxonMobil to take 18 to 24 months to hit full stride with Pioneer purchase
Oil settles down on US jobs data, steepest weekly loss in three months
Glencore Group nears deal for Shell’s Singapore oil refinery
Opec+ may need to tackle oil capacity conundrum next month
Gold flat ahead of US payrolls data, set for second weekly drop