Christina Verchere

Christina Verchere is a British-American energy executive with more than three decades of international leadership experience across three continents. As of May 2018, she is Chief Executive Officer and President of the Executive Board of OMV Petrom, the largest integrated energy producer in South-Eastern Europe. Under her leadership, OMV Petrom launched Strategy 2030, a transformational roadmap designed to reposition the company towards a low carbon future and started the Neptun Deep offshore development in Romania, the largest gas project in the EU. During her tenure, OMV Petrom’s market capitalization has reached its highest historical value, reflecting growth and sustained investor confidence. Before joining OMV Petrom, Christina spent over 20 years with BP, where she held senior leadership roles in the UK, the US, Canada and Indonesia. She served as BP’s Regional President for Canada, based in Calgary and subsequently as Regional President for the Asia Pacific, headquartered in Jakarta.

Session Overview

Tuesday, 3 November

17:10

Upstream Conference Room A 17:10 - 17:50

Upstream gas strategy: aligning reserve development with market growth

As electricity demand expands across advanced and emerging economies and power systems integrate more intermittent renewable capacity, gas-fired generation is reinforcing its role as the flexible, reliable foundation of power supply. Supply disruptions affecting major LNG exporters in 2025 and 2026 have exposed how dependent gas portfolio returns are on infrastructure reliability and export continuity. This is prompting operators to reconsider how gas reserves are prioritised within portfolios historically focused on oil and liquids. Field developments are now planned around proximity to power markets, LNG export infrastructure and regional demand growth. For many producers, gas assets now serve not only as export commodities but also as anchors of domestic power security and industrial development. Producers that align gas reserve development with power market growth and infrastructure access will capture both export revenues and domestic energy security value. The strongest gas portfolios will be those that align resource development with long-term demand growth and infrastructure readiness.

Attendee Insights:
Examine how upstream operators are repositioning gas reserves away from a traditional oil-and-liquids focus and assess how proximity to power markets and LNG infrastructure is reshaping gas development strategy.