Iman Hill takes over as executive director of the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) at a pivotal time for the upstream industry.

She steps in after a tumultuous year in which oil and gas companies have been squeezed by steep drops in prices due to the Covid-19 pandemic, while investors are also piling on pressure to come into line with the 2015 Paris agreement to limit global warming.

Strategic rifts have also emerged between IOGP’s member companies as Europe's top companies — including Shell and BP — forge paths towards becoming more integrated, lower-carbon businesses, while the biggest operators in the US, as well as many national oil companies, appear to remain overwhelmingly committed to oil and gas.

For Hill, the new job is “a way of giving back to an industry that I have really enjoyed working in, and still enjoy working in”.

It caps a three-decade-long career in leadership roles at companies including Shell, BG Group, Sasol, Dana Gas and Energean.

Front and centre of her mind, Hill says, is that IOGP exists in service of its membership.

That means “nimbly” recognising the shifting strategies and needs of its members and tailoring IOGP’s technical work and advocacy to make it as effective as possible.

One of her first tasks is to oversee a strategic review of the 46-year-old association.

Hill acknowledges the industry is facing “an unprecedented public acceptance issue” but is firm in her belief the world can only transition to a lower carbon future with the leadership, technical know-how and financial firepower of the oil and gas sector.

She also believes that oil and gas will play a key tole in bringing 1 billion or more people out of fuel poverty even as climate change dominates more than ever the political agenda in western Europe.

As a result, effective advocacy for the sector is more important than ever, she argues.

“I see an important role for IOGP in being much more vocal and clear on behalf of our industry,” she says.

The findings of the review are set to be shared with IOGP's management committee probably in February.

One question being asked of members is if IOGP should continue to advocate solely for the upstream sector or widen its scope to midstream, downstream and emerging sectors such as carbon capture and storage and hydrogen.

“I think you can advocate for the entire industry,” Hill insists.

The shifting landscape does not present an “either/or” situation, she says.

“We have to work with each other, not against each other.”

Meeting global energy demand while tackling climate change will require joint efforts from all stakeholders — governments, policy makers, regulators, oil and gas operators, NGOs and civil society.

Instilling values

Hill is a mother of five and, since the death of her partner in 2009, has brought up their children single-handed while also maintaining her career.

The family's loss created “massive discontinuity in all of our lives”, she says.

“We could have let it break us down as a family and drive us apart, but we chose instead to use it to strengthen who we are to each other.”

Hill adds: “I worked very hard to instil the values of respect, truthfulness, kindness and authenticity as a basis for my lovely five to live their lives by."

The importance of those values came from her parents, an Egyptian mother and Palestinian father, both doctors whose careers were spent in Saudi Arabia, where Hill — the eldest of six children of — was born.

“My parents actually were very, very open minded, very progressive,” she says.

Her parents sent the siblings to a school in Edinburgh, Scotland, that specialised in boarding for very young children.

“They did what they thought was important, to really give us the education and the ability to stand on our own two feet while also really instilling values in us,” she says.

“I still live like that myself."

She studied biochemistry at Aberdeen University and decided to enter the oil and gas industry after coming into contact with it in the Scottish energy capital.

Hill describes being sent to Scotland with her siblings as her "first leadership challenge" and admits all the children were “petrified” until they mastered the language and got accustomed to a completely different culture. “Never mind the cold,” she adds.

“I had to look after them and had to be the person they could turn to,” she says.

“It was a bit terrifying and traumatic, challenging at the beginning.

“But in the end, we spent our entire schooling in boarding school, which I think has its benefits and its weak points.

“You do stand on your own two feet. You become very capable and organised. The downside is that you don't have such a deep relationship with your parents until you get older.”

Hill says of her own children “do me proud every single day”.

They also challenge her about the oil and gas industry and what it is doing in the area of climate in particular.

“We have some very lively Sunday lunches!”

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New boss Hill aims for 'vocal and clear' advocacy at IOGP