M-RCBG Senior Fellow-Led Study Group: Christof Ruehl
Wednesday, February 3, 11:00am-12:00pm
Zoom meeting. Register using a Harvard.edu email address or via your confirmed Zoom account. If you have trouble registering, contact: susan_gill@hks.harvard.edu
M-RCBG Senior Fellow Christof Ruehl will be joined by Dev Sanyal, Executive Vice President Gas and Low Carbon Energy at BP, for a discussion on the options and choices of IOCs in the face of the energy transition.
BP was the first of the supermajors to announce more than a general intention of shifting toward cleaner fuels, namely a target of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050, as well as a commitment to cut oil and gas production by 40% by 2030 while scaling up renewables by $5bn per annum over the same period. Can this be done? Should it?
About Dev Sanyal
Dev Sanyal is responsible for BP's global gas and low carbon energy businesses.
Dev joined BP in 1989 and has held a variety of international roles in London, Athens, Istanbul, Vienna and Dubai. He was appointed chief executive, BP Eastern Mediterranean in 1999 and in 2003 he became chief executive, Air BP. In 2006 he was appointed head of the group chief executive's office prior to being named group treasurer in 2007. During this period, he was also chairman of BP Investment Management Ltd and accountable for the group's aluminium interests. On joining the BP executive team in 2011, Dev was executive vice president, strategy and regions prior to his appointment in 2016 as chief executive, alternative energy and executive vice president, Europe and Asia regions, prior to his current role.
Dev is an independent non-executive director on the board of Man Group plc; a member of the board of overseers of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University; the energy advisory board of the Government of India; and the board of the Council for European Reform.
Christof Rühl is an internationally renowned economist, specializing in macroeconomics and energy economics. He has a succinct track record in business, economic policy advice and academia, and is published and quoted widely in his fields. His most recent commercial expertise is in energy, specifically oil and gas, and in asset allocation, focused on global macro and geopolitical trends. He combines more than 20 years of experience in senior positions in world class companies. From 2014-18 Christof served as Global Head of Research at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, creating and managing ADIA’s first global research team to provide economic, energy and geopolitical analysis to the Fund. Earlier, he was Group Chief Economist and Vice President of BP plc (2005-14), credited with a significant contribution to the global debate on energy, climate change, and the various links between energy and economic development. Christof joined BP from the world of global economic policy, having served at the World Bank (1998–2005) - including as the Bank’s Chief Economist in Russia and in Brazil - and at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD, 1996-98). He started his career as an academic economist, first as a Research Associate at the Universities of Bremen and Hohenheim in Germany; and from 1991-96, as an Assistant Professor at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). Christof is a sought after lecturer and public speaker. He currently serves as independent board director and as a global advisor of companies in energy, banking and private equity. He is a German national. While an M-RCBG Senior Fellow, Christof's research will center on energy policy. His faculty sponsor is William Hogan, Raymond Plank Research Professor of Global Energy Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Email: christof_ruehl@hks.harvard.edu