As Energy LEAP marks 20 years, members came together in Houston last week for this year’s annual meeting, hosted by Shell.

Around 40 participants from 11 member companies took part, bringing together trading and operations leaders, marine and data specialists, and the technology vendors whose tools support much of the life of a deal. Over two days, in-person sessions covered AI, transformation, industry adoption and legal opportunities, alongside a review of our strategy and its focus on the handoffs between companies, from trade entry to settlement.

“As our industry navigates unprecedented change, no single company has all the answers. The openness, collaboration, and practical insights shared during the October 2026 Members Meeting highlighted the unique role Energy LEAP can play in helping members learn faster, move with greater confidence, and shape the future together.”
Christie Shepard, Vice President, Process Data & Systems, Trading & Supply, Shell

With AI now a priority for nearly every organization in the room, the first day centered on one question: how far can AI take us? A panel of vendor members, who see AI deployed across many companies, opened the session before breakout groups for front, middle and back office explored it in more detail. Much of the conversation turned to the data, processes and people around the technology, and to where common standards still add value now that AI tools can read data in almost any format.

“Technology is incredible, but our people are our real assets. Optimizing between these is the secret to success.”
Erin Denbigh, GM Trading Enablement, Supply & Trading, Chevron

A separate session on managing transformation drew on leaders running transformation programs in their own companies. Many find that most of their time goes on people rather than systems, explaining what’s changing and managing expectations. Leaders also pointed to the importance of dedicated resource and business involvement in making change last. Both sessions led to proposals for new forums, one dedicated to AI and another where leaders can learn from each other’s experience of managing change.

“Having trading firms and technology partners in the same room let us move past general talk to real discussion on where the industry needs common ground. The biggest outcome for me was the support for launching an AI forum, which would give members a place to work out together where AI can add the most value in trading and how Energy LEAP can help.”
Alex Chebaro, Global Head of Trading Best Practices, ExxonMobil

Another session focused on how our standards are adopted across the industry, since a standard delivers the most value when it’s widely used. Our legal clauses, most recently on sanctions, EU methane regulation and LNG imports, are often in use soon after publication, as regulatory deadlines give companies a clear reason to act. Building the same momentum for our other publications was a central part of the discussion, with attention on involving the right people within each company early and following up once a standard is released.

Later in the afternoon, participants in our forums and working groups based in Houston joined the meeting to share their experience of taking part. We were also joined by Mario Mendez, Vice President, Shell Energy Americas, who shared his perspective on how shared standards can reduce cost and operational risk across the industry, in a dedicated session with the wider group. The conversation continued into the evening at a reception.

The second day focused on how Energy LEAP delivers value for standard members. Vendor members discussed how they can best contribute to forums and working groups, with interest in developing thought leadership together on shared industry problems and in sharing work while it’s still in progress. Midstream was also discussed as a potential new area of focus, in particular the exchange of data between traders, terminals and storage operators.

“Very productive meetings and workshops where we were able to exchange on major topics like AI and Midstream and define the strategy for the coming years between Energy LEAP members.”
Benjamin Nedjar, GM Business Excellence, Trading & Shipping, TotalEnergies

Across both days, there was interest in meeting in person more often, through forums and local groups as well as the annual meeting, and in new ways of working together online between meetings. The meeting closed by revisiting our current forums and initiatives in light of those discussions, to assess where our focus should be in the year ahead.

Thank you to Shell for hosting, and to everyone who travelled to Houston and contributed to the discussions.

Discussions from the two days will now be taken forward across our forums, working groups and wider program over the coming year. Organizations interested in shaping that work are welcome to get in touch.