• CERAWeek
  • March 18 - 22, 2024

David Lawler

BP America

Chairman & president, bp America & CEO of bpx energy

Since July 1, 2020, Dave Lawler has served as chairman and president of bp America. He also serves as chief executive officer of bpx energy, bp’s onshore energy team in the US, a business he has led since 2014. Dave joined bpx in 2014 from SandRidge Energy, a US-based oil and gas independent, where he served as executive vice president and chief operating officer. For four years prior to SandRidge, Dave was chief executive officer and president of PostRock Energy Corporation and its predecessor entities. A 30-year veteran of the energy industry, he began his career as a production engineer with Conoco and as a drilling engineer with Burlington Resources. He also worked with Shell for 10 years in its US Gulf Coast Business Unit. A Denver native, Dave graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a Bachelor of Science in petroleum engineering before earning an MBA from Tulane University.

Sessions With David Lawler

Tuesday, 7 March

  • 04:05pm - 04:45pm (CST) / 07/mar/2023 10:05 pm - 07/mar/2023 10:45 pm

    Strategic Choices for Investing in the Upcycle

    Upstream Oil & Gas
    The transition to a low—then zero—carbon energy system is clearly under way. As ambitions intensify with each passing year, the narrative becomes more certain. However, unexpected upheavals in the past three years and the consistent failure to meet some key transition goals demonstrate how the world’s energy dynamic can turn out much differently than expected. How are oil and gas players dealing with that uncertainty? For what future is the upstream currently investing? Have we underinvested? Will we? Is exploration even necessary, or do we already have all the oil and gas we need? What determines winners and losers if reality turns out to be different? Which portfolios deal best with these risks? How can complex enterprises make themselves flexible in chaos? What is the right risk approach and why? To which options should companies allocate capital—and how much? How do equity markets factor into what is possible?