Sonoro board chairwoman earns Lifetime Achievement Award at New Silk Road 2025 CEO of the Year Awards
CALGARY, Canada (Oct. 9, 2025)—Sonoro Energy board chairwoman Sara Akbar was recently toasted as an energy industry trailblazer during the New Silk Road 2025 CEO of the Year Awards on Oct. 1.
Ms. Akbar, the CEO and Chairperson of OiLSERV Kuwait, was presented with this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her pioneer spirit through a remarkable 40-plus-year career in the Middle East oil and gas industry.
“I was born in an oilfield. In my childhood, I was raised around oilfields, oil wells, oil fires, refineries. So if I say it’s in my blood, I genuinely mean it,” Ms. Akbar said upon receiving her award Oct. 1 at Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.
“I am truly honored. I never had it in my dreams that I would get an industry award . . . being recognized by your peers brings the utmost satisfaction.”
Ms. Akbar became Kuwait’s first female oil-and-gas field engineer in 1981, and was hailed as a “national hero” as the only woman on a team of oil-well firefighters during the Gulf War.
Ms. Akbar was the first woman to hold a leadership position in the region’s oil and gas industry, as co-founder of the tremendously successful Kuwait Energy Company in 2005.
She’s also been a relentless advocate for women’s rights in the Middle East.
“In 1981, they wouldn’t allow women to work in the fields. But I insisted, and I worked as a field engineer. In 1991, by default, I became a firefighter,” she said.
“I can say I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen the ups, the downs, the good times and the bad times. It’s been a beautiful journey.”
The annual New Silk Road CEO of the Year Awards recognize leaders reshaping energy markets along the Middle East-Asia corridor.”