Saudi Arabia’s hosting of the 2027 Asian Cup has been pushed back almost a year following the recent deadly attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on the kingdom.

The Asian Football Confederation proposed moving the 24-team tournament from its planned Jan. 7 start to Dec. 23, subject to FIFA approval, the Financial Times reports.

The AFC cited “exceptional circumstances” that made postponement necessary to protect teams, officials and spectators.

The delay adds to a growing list of disrupted Saudi events, including the Future Investment Initiative conference and the kingdom’s Formula 1 race.

Abu Dhabi’s XRG is buying its first Australian gas asset as Gulf energy producers expand overseas to supply customers beyond the Strait of Hormuz.

The ADNOC subsidiary agreed to pay $1.45 billion for Shell’s 16.7% stake in the North West Shelf liquefied natural gas project, one of Australia’s biggest export facilities, Reuters reports.

The purchase is expected to close in 2027, giving XRG a foothold in Australia after its $18.7 billion bid for gas producer Santos collapsed last year.

Meanwhile, QatarEnergy is on course to become the biggest buyer of U.S. LNG by 2033 after signing two agreements in October that, alongside its stake in the Golden Pass project in Texas, will give it control of almost 24 million tons annually, the Financial Times reports.

The American gas will go directly to international customers, helping QatarEnergy maintain supplies as attacks on shipping through Hormuz have cut Qatar’s LNG exports to less than a third of normal levels this year.

The UAE will invest in more ways to keep energy supplies moving when war disrupts its export routes. 

Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei told ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi that the country must prepare for worst-case scenarios because it “cannot predict what’s going to happen.” 

He said investments in pipelines, ships and logistics had helped maintain supplies during the conflict and urged producers to build more storage near overseas customers. 

Al Mazrouei said the UAE plans to spend $41 billion to $54 billion on energy infrastructure by 2030 to meet rising demand from industry, AI and data centers.

Saudi Aramco is bringing in more money even as Houthi attacks hit its headquarters, pipelines and oil facilities.

The world’s biggest crude exporter posted a 9% rise in adjusted third-quarter profit to $31.2 billion as war pushed oil prices higher and boosted its refining business, Bloomberg reports.

Aramco kept oil flowing to customers by shifting more shipments through the Strait of Hormuz after attacks temporarily shut the pipeline carrying crude to the Red Sea.

The company held its quarterly base dividend at $21.9 billion, a crucial payment to shareholders led by the Saudi government as attacks put pressure on the kingdom’s economy.

Aramco received about 35% more for its oil than a year earlier, while profits from businesses including refining and trading more than tripled to a record above $10 billion.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman kicked off one of the world’s biggest energy conferences, telling oil executives, energy ministers and technology leaders in Abu Dhabi that the growth of artificial intelligence depends on the industry’s ability to supply enough power.

Speaking today at ADIPEC, Altman described the UAE as the world’s most “forward-looking” country on AI adoption. OpenAI signed four agreements with the national energy company ADNOC, the Mubadala sovereign wealth fund, and the tech company G42 to increase AI’s integration into government and corporate activities.

“As we make it more efficient, people just want to use it much more,” Altman said in an onstage interview with The National’s Editor-in-Chief Mina Al-Oraibi. “AI needs to be a tool built for people and needs to serve people, not the other way around.”

Altman spoke after the UAE’s Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, opened the conference by calling for expanded oil storage, greater refining capacity and better transportation planning to protect energy supplies from disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz.

“Supply only counts when it arrives,” said Al Jaber, who is also Managing Director and Group CEO of ADNOC, the UAE’s national oil and gas company. “Infrastructure must be built before it is needed and enabled by advanced logistics.”

Abu Dhabi’s biggest oil gathering is losing two top oil executives as security concerns disrupt the Gulf’s conference calendar.

ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods and Chevron’s Upstream President Clay Neff have scrapped plans to attend next week’s ADIPEC conference, Reuters reports, citing two sources familiar with the decisions.

Organizers say BP CEO Meg O’Neill and Equinor CEO Anders Opedal remain on the program, while more than 120 U.S. companies will exhibit, the second-largest contingent after China.

The withdrawals follow disruptions in Saudi Arabia, where Houthi attacks prompted executive pullouts from Riyadh’s WPC Energy Congress and the postponement of the Future Investment Initiative until 2027.

BlackRock chief Larry Fink and other senior executives of the world’s largest asset manager visited the firm’s Abu Dhabi office this week to discuss its growth plans across the Gulf.

Fink was joined by Chief Operating Officer Rob Goldstein and Middle East head Charles Hatami met colleagues to “lay out the exciting future for BlackRock across the GCC,” Ben Powell, the BlackRock Investment Institute’s chief investment strategist for the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, wrote on LinkedIn.

The BlackRock chiefs were in town to join 50th anniversary celebrations for the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the UAE’s largest sovereign wealth fund. ADIA held a gala dinner at the Qasr Al Watan palace on Wednesday and a partner summit at the Emirates Palace hotel on Thursday.

ADIPEC 2026 is gearing up to bring the world’s top energy decision-makers to Abu Dhabi next week, despite growing fears the U.S. could renew strikes on Iran immediately after the mid-term elections on Nov. 3.

Organizers say the annual event at Abu Dhabi’s massive ADNEC convention center is expected to draw more than 2,250 exhibitors and 234,000 attendees.

Energy executives including ExxonMobil’s Darren Woods, BP’s Meg O’Neill, Shell’s Wael Sawan and INPEX’s Takayuki Ueda are among the industry leaders expected to take the stage in Abu Dhabi from Nov. 2-5.

Also attending are UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei, Bahrain’s Oil Minister Mohamed bin Mubarak bin Daina and Egypt’s Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi, alongside energy ministers from Germany, Turkey, Austria and Cyprus.