On 17-18 March we hosted Shell, bp, Chevron, TotalEnergies, Neste, OMV, Saipem, TechnipEnergies and Maire at our Transforming Industrials, Materials and Energy (TIME) Conference. This note outlines the key company commentary through the two days. Middle East conflict in focus: Operational concerns, but earnings exposure is lower The Gulf conflict dominated discussions at TIME with companies keen to reiterate that high tax rates mean physical exposure is higher than earnings exposure. Shell and Total expect higher oil prices to more than offset the physical impact. ~10 % of Shell''s oil and LNG flows are constrained, c. 25 % of bp''s Middle East production is affected (half of UAE production flows through Fujairah) and Chevron''s Leviathan (Israel) has halted. A broadly consistent view was that if the Strait of Hormuz re-open it would take 6-8 weeks for operations to return. TechnipEnergies and Saipem confirmed no attacks on their sites, with revenue impacts likely to be a delay rather than a cancellation. Second derivative effects of the conflict: Trading and working capital builds Whilst quarterly trading impacts can be hard to guide, many companies highlighted at least some positioning towards an expectation of Gulf disruption. bp emphasised trading optionality as 90% of its LNG contracts may be redirected before final destination. OandG companies expect large 1Q26 working capital builds with unfavourable mark-to-market impacts and inventory caught in the SoH. Driving efficiencies in cost and resource growth Operational performance (both production and costs) was a focus. Chevron''s TCO (Kazakhstan) is running near max, bp''s refineries are operating at high utilization levels and Neste completed turnarounds at Singapore and Martinez. On cost savings bp is on track towards its target, Neste has exceeded its 2026 EBITDA value target and Shell is already at the lower end of its USD5-7bn 2028 target. Investors continue to focus on resource profiles and...