ADIPEC survey finds 85% of energy leaders see sector as more attractive

Eighty-five percent of energy-sector insiders surveyed for the ADIPEC Global Energy Report 2026 said the industry was more attractive for investment than it had been five years earlier. Findings carried by Emirates News Agency on 22 October were based on responses from more than 1,800 senior business and energy leaders. Sixty-four percent said the global energy system had proved more resilient than expected through recent disruption, and 77% were optimistic about the decade ahead.

The report attributed resilience to the system’s ability to adjust to shocks, continued supply and the diversification of energy sources and routes, rather than to an absence of pressure. Respondents ranked investment in diversified sources, renewables and protection of critical infrastructure ahead of domestic self-reliance among energy-security priorities.

Seventy-two percent expected the Middle East to become more important in global energy, and the report identified the region as offering the greatest opportunity over the coming decade. It also described artificial intelligence as a force shaping both electricity demand and industry operations: more than four in five respondents expected AI-driven power demand to exceed current forecasts, including 32% who expected it to be much higher.

Seventy-one percent saw AI more as an opportunity than a risk, while 43% expected technology and AI companies to gain the most influence over global energy during the next decade. The report was published ahead of ADIPEC 2026, scheduled for Abu Dhabi from 2 to 5 November. Its findings represent surveyed industry views; they do not measure realised investment or future electricity demand.

The report’s security findings distinguish flexibility from self-sufficiency. Respondents most often credited the system’s ability to adjust to shocks, continued supply flows and diversification of sources and routes for its resilience. When asked about security priorities, they ranked investment in diversified energy sources, renewables and protection of critical infrastructure ahead of domestic self-reliance. These are stated preferences from the survey, not a ranking of actual capital spending or a forecast of project delivery.

The report’s findings are also framed as an agenda for the upcoming Abu Dhabi gathering, scheduled for 2–5 November. ADIPEC said more than 1,800 speakers and 2,250 exhibiting companies were expected, with 239,000 attendees anticipated. Those are event forecasts, separate from the research sample. The survey itself draws on more than 1,800 senior business and energy leaders across 10 markets; the announcement does not provide a breakdown of respondent counts by country in the summary. The distinction matters because a large regional or global sample does not automatically establish the views of every energy subsector or Gulf market.