It was not long ago that Saudi policy priorities focused on economic diversification, diplomatic diversification, and even detente with Iran. Vision 2030 spotlighted, among other things, tourism, foreign investment, and transforming the Kingdom into a global logistics hub. The US military action in Iran beginning in February of 2026 disrupted those ambitions, threatening Saudi security and its very status as a reliable oil exporter. In this session we will discuss how Riyadh's views on regional security and global partnership are evolving, and what it means for oil market stability.
This will be a virtual session via Zoom Webinar from 12:00 until 1:30 PM ET. Additional details will be provided to registered attendees prior to the session.
SPEAKERS
Bernard Haykel
Bernard Haykel is a scholar of the Arabian Peninsula focusing on the politics, economics, and history of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Yemen. He is a professor of near eastern studies at Princeton University, where he teaches on energy, history, and politics. Dr. Haykel was previously director of the Institute for the Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East at Princeton and led the university’s project on oil, energy, and the Middle East.
He is the author of Revival and Reform in Islam and the editor of Saudi Arabia in Transition, both published by Cambridge University Press. His next book, The Realm: MBS and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia, will be published by Penguin Press. Dr. Haykel is an authority on Islamist political movements and Islamic law and is the author of numerous articles on these and related topics. He received the Prize Fellowship at Magdalen College, University of Oxford and the Carnegie Corporation and Guggenheim Fellowships and Old Dominion Professorship at Princeton.
Dr. Haykel appears frequently in print and broadcast media, including The Wall Street Journal, PBS, NPR, The New York Times, Project Syndicate, Al Arabia, Al Jazeera, The Caravan, The Indian Express, BBC, and other outlets. He regularly advises business leaders in the United States, Europe, and the Gulf. Dr. Haykel earned his doctorate in oriental studies from the University of Oxford.
Nawaf Obaid
Nawaf Obaid is a political scientist specializing in intelligence, security studies, the history of war, defence doctrines, and nuclear posturing. He is the Founder & Managing Director of Project AURORAH GeoSignal MASINT System.
From 2004 to 2007, he served as Special Advisor for Strategic Communications to Prince Turki Al Faisal during Prince Turki’s tenure as Saudi Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland, and later to the United States. From 2007 to 2011, he worked as a Special Advisor within the Presidency of Citizens Affairs at the Saudi Royal Court, where he was seconded as Special Advisor to the Saudi Minister of Media from 2010 to 2011. He later served as Counselor to Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf, Saudi Ambassador to the United Kingdom, from 2011 to 2016.
Dr. Obaid was the Inaugural Visiting Fellow for Intelligence and Defence Projects at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs from 2017 to 2018, having previously served there as a Visiting Fellow from 2012 to 2017. He has also been a Research Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), an Adjunct Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and a Senior Fellow at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies.
Additional speaker to be announced soon.
MODERATOR
Katherine Spector
Katherine Spector is Secretary of the Energy Forum Advisory Board and is an independent consultant on energy markets and energy policy with ProSpector Energy Advisors. She is a longtime energy market analyst, having spent the past 15+ years producing thought-leading research at major banks including JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank where was responsible for the banks' energy price forecasts and market. Her work supported bank traders and originators in all major regions, and clients ranged from oil and gas companies, to institutional investors, to representatives of US and international government. Ms. Spector is also on the board of the New York Energy Forum and serves as an advisory committee member for environmental non-profit Scenic Hudson. She was previously a fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, an adjunct faculty member at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs and held term membership at the Council on Foreign Relations.
PROGRAM
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM ET: Presentation and Discussion
COST
This session is complimentary for all attendees. Registration is required for event link details.