(Bloomberg) -- Climate protesters disrupted an MIT event with Saudi Arabian Oil Co. Chief Financial Officer Ziad Al-Murshed in a Boston suburb on Thursday, causing the executive to leave.
About 15 people rushed onto the stage while Al-Murshed was speaking, waving posters with “murderer” written on them and chanting phrases such as “no more drilling rigs.” Al-Murshed, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumnus, exited the room and didn’t return.
The protesters then turned to the audience — a group of finance executives — and chanted, “we need clean air, not another billionaire,” before leaving the venue, a hotel in Newton, Massachusetts.
Prior to the incident, Al-Murshed had talked about the oil major’s investment plans, pointing to more than $50 billion in planned capital expenditures in 2024. He emphasized the need for higher energy production.
“The world is going to need all those forms of energy,” Al-Murshed said, referring to shale gas, oil, renewables and other sources. “The worry, if there is a worry, is will we have enough energy going forward?”
The organizers of the event, the MIT Sloan CFO Summit, said in a statement that “in abundance of caution, the decision was made to end the talk.” The incident is under investigation by the police, the statement said.
A spokesperson for Saudi Aramco declined to comment.
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