Experts

QATAR PETROLEUM

Before joining Qatar Petroleum and its Board of Directors as Media and Research Strategist in September 2005, Naji Abi-Aad, an Austrian citizen born in Lebanon, was acting since 1999 as managing director of Econergy, a Beirut-based research centre aiming to carry out studies and reports on the economic and energy development in the East Mediterannean and the Gulf. He was also working since 1988 as Senior Advisor for the Middle East within the French-based Observatoire Mediterraneen de l’Energie (OME).
Dr Abi-Aad, who studied at the American University of Beirut before been awarded a Ph.D. degree in Energy Economics from Grenoble University in France, was based in Vienna between 1983 and 1999, before moving back to Beirut. During his 22 years of experience, he had been involved in extensive consultations, conferences and studies, particularly on oil and gas in the Middle East, their resources and supply prospects.
Dr Abi-Aad has authored over 80 reports and studies on Middle East energy issues, as well as a book on security of petroleum supply from the region.

PRESIDENT DIRECTOR, GAS STRATEGIES, LONDON

James Ball is an internationally respected commentator, analyst and advisor on natural gas policy and strategy. He is founder and President Director of Gas Strategies Consulting Ltd.

Gas Strategies advises companies, government departments, project developers and others stakeholders world-wide on commercial and strategic gas and LNG issues. James is heavily involved in confidential brainstorming with major oil and gas companies on their policy alternatives and market environment and has helped develop the gas strategy at many companies. James and his Gas Strategies colleagues have been key advisors in the formative stages of several major breakthrough LNG and gas projects including Teesside GasPort, China’s first LNG terminal, the Russia-Turkey Blue Stream pipeline, Qatar’s RasGas LNG, Trinidad & Tobago’s LNG industry, and Indonesia’s original LNG extensions contracts.

He has specialised in LNG markets, mature market liberalisation and new market development. Part of this work is advising on gas for power, an activity James has been involved in since 1986, including the UK dash for gas in the early 1990s. He has delivered many conference papers all over the world and chairs The European Autumn Gas Conference. He has also chaired key panels at the World Gas Conference, Gastech and ONS.

MANAGEMENT OF GIANT INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT

Dr. Blanchard earned his PhD in Construction engineering and Management from MIT following his retirement as a General Manager of the Arabian American Oil Co. (now Saudi ARAMCO). During his career in the oil and gas industry he was Manager of the Southern Area Expansion Project of ARAMCO, the largest single expansion of oil production in history (over 3.5 MMBBL/Day) This project included Gas Oil Separation Plants (GOSPS), water injection plants, power lines, flow lines and pipelines. Following the successful completion of this project he became manager of the Project Construction Services Department and successfully introduced project cost and scheduling controls throughout the company.

When ARAMCO initiated its $10 billion Master Gas Program to liquefy the billions of cubic feet of gas it had previously flared he was made manager of the department established to design and build the 615 mile NGL pipeline across the breadth of Saudi Arabia and its associated fractionation plant on the west coast of Arabia at Yanbu. It represented a significant part of the Master Gas System, the largest project ever attempted by a private enterprise. On its completion he was given executive responsibility for the design and construction of ARAMCO’s new operating base to be built at Tanajib, Saudi Arabia. This program required the building of a complete town for over 3000 workmen, medical, utility and other infrastructure facilities including a marine terminal, and an airfield to handle Boeing 737 jets in addition to onshore and offshore oil and gas facilities associated with the company’s offshore oil fields. On his retirement he was responsible for the implementation of over $9 billion in budgeted projects.

He has consulted on project management and project execution with firms in the United States, Europe and the Middle East and is the author of the text ”Engineering Project Management”. His many articles on project management have appeared in publications of the Project Management Institute and the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering.

SENIOR ADVISOR, MARKETS AND COUNTRY STRATEGIES

David Gates is a Senior Advisor to the Markets and Country Strategies group at PFC Energy, where his focus is economics, finance, energy and environmental policies and prospects, market prospects and business opportunities, worldwide, but especially in Asia and the Middle East.

Until 2000, he was a Senior Advisor in the Corporate Affairs Department of Exxon Company, International, the regional organization responsible for the Corporation’s oil and gas interests outside North America. During his 32 years with Exxon he served in a wide range of economics, planning and financial operations assignments most of which involved the Corporation’s interests in the Asia Pacific region. This included nine years resident in Tokyo, six years with Esso Sekiyu, K.K. and three years as a Managing Director of General Sekiyu, K.K.

Over the past ten years with PFC Energy David has been involved in major grass roots economic and energy analyses of many of the emerging markets in Asia and the Middle East including China, Indonesia, India, Kazakhstan and the GCC. Other ongoing projects involve the application of scenario planning to major energy policy questions with special emphasis on the US, Latin America and Asia.

David holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University and a B.A, summa cum laude, from Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. His most recent non-PFC publication is the chapter on “Economics and Energy” in the book Fighting Chance: Global Trends and Shocks in the National Security Environment by the Center for Technology and National Security Policy, published by the National Defense University Press and Potomac Books, Inc., 2009.

CONSILIENCE ENERGY ADVISORY GROUP

Liz Bossley has a 30 year career in international energy markets, spanning trading, risk management, marketing and extensive experience of contract negotiations.

Liz established the Consilience Energy Advisory Group Ltd in 1999.   Consilience includes in its client list major and independent oil companies, utilities, shipping and pipeline transportation entities, regulatory authorities, taxation authorities, trade associations and futures exchanges.

In addition to providing business advisory services, she has acted as an expert witness in a range of trading disputes.  She is the principal author of “The Hole in the Barrel”, “Trading Natural Gas in the UK”, “Bossley's Guide to Energy Conversions”, “BFO: The Future Market”, “Project Finance Using the Forward Oil Curve”, “Climate Change and Emissions Trading: What Every Business Needs to Know”, “Emissions Trading and the City of London” and “Delivering Copenhagen”. Liz is a member of the City of London’s Carbon Market Expert Group, was a founding Director Carbon Markets Association and is on the advisory board of the Australian Climate Alliance. She is an advisor to the UK HM Revenue and Customs and to the Norwegian Norm Price Board.

INTERNATIONAL ENERGY POLICY CONSULTANT

Prof. Manfred Hafner has almost 25 years of international experience in the energy sector. He presently coordinates energy policy activities at the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM); is President for Europe, MENA, Russia and CIS at International Energy Consultants (IEC); and teaches energy economics, markets and geo-policy at the Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) in Bologna, the Paris School of International Relations (Science Po), the Ecole des Mines de Paris (Mines Paris-Tech), the IFP-School of the Institut Français du Pétrole Energies Nouvelles, HEC-Paris, the Florence School of Regulation and the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.

Dr. Hafner has consulted extensively on energy issues for industry, governments and international organizations and was until early 2008 for many years the Scientific Director of the Observatoire Méditerranéen de l’Energie (OME) – a think tank and association of some 35 major energy operators in the Euro-Mediterranean area.

Dr. Hafner’s key qualifications include i- project management (he coordinated several large and interdisciplinary projects including for the EC), ii-energy supply and demand analysis, iii- scenario building (including technological, economic, financial, geopolitical and policy analysis) as well as iv- European, Middle-East North Africa, Russia and CIS energy issues.

He holds master degrees in energy engineering, economics and policy from the Technische Universität München (Germany), the Insitut Français du Pétrole (France), the Université Paris2/Panthéon Assas (France) and the University of Pennsylvania (USA). He also holds a PhD from the Ecole des Mines de Paris. He speaks English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian.

SENIOR CRUDE OIL TRADER, GUNVOR INTERNATIONAL

Antonio Marin graduated as MD. Ingeniero de Caminos from the E.T.S.de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid) and PDD by  IESE (Universidad de Navarra). He joined the Coastal States Trading Houston in 1985 and ever since he's always been trading crude oil, crude oil products and oil futures in several companies and in different countries. In 2005, he became a co-founder of Castor Petroleum; a trading company specialized in the North and South American crude oil markets. Finally, in 2007 he moved to Gunvor S.A. where he is presently trading as a senior crude oil trader. Antonio also lectured at EPFL (Laussane), Club de la Energia (Madrid),Petroperu (Lima) and Petroecuador (Quito).

ECONOMIC RESEARCH AND STATISTICS DIVISION, WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION (WTO)

Coleman Nee is an economic affairs officer in the Economic Research and Statistics Division of the World Trade Organization (WTO), where he has worked since 2004. His research interests include the forecasting of international trade flows and electricity market loads and prices. He has been one of the co-author of the World Trade Report 2010 on trade in natural resources.

Prior to coming to the WTO, he has worked at the International Energy Agency (IEA) for five years, where he contributed to numerous IEA publications including the Monthly Oil Market Report. He has also worked for two years on electricity sector restructuring for the Provincial Ministry of Finance of Ontario, Canada. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics from McGill University.

PETROLEUM LAWYER

Ghislain Pastré is an independent consultant advising host governments and international organizations on legal as well as governance issues of the extractive industries in developing countries. His practice includes the design, drafting and advice on implementation of laws, regulations and contracts for oil and gas operations and the provision of training to ministry and state company employees on the legal aspects of such operations. Recently, he has been extensively involved in helping countries implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), particularly in Francophone Africa, and lectures on the subject in numerous seminars. He has also conducted various country assessments for the World Bank and the IMF on specific legal or governance issues in the petroleum sector.

Prior to his consulting practice, Ghislain worked for over 20 years as an in-house attorney with the US oil company, Amoco, in various departments and locations, for the most part supporting the exploration and production activities of the company. As such, he was involved in the negotiation and drafting of petroleum concessions, production sharing contracts, joint operating agreements and other agreements for the conduct of petroleum activities in numerous countries across the world.

He holds a doctorate degree (magna cum laude) from the University of Paris and a LLM degree from Columbia Law School. 

CO-AUTHOR, IMD WORLD COMPETITIVENESS YEARBOOK, DEPUTY DIRECTOR

Suzanne Rosselet-McCauley is co-author of the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) - the most comprehensive and reputed study in the field of the competitiveness of nations - published by IMD, located in Lausanne, Switzerland.

This annual report compares the competitiveness of 59 countries based on over 300 criteria. As Deputy Director of IMD’s World Competitiveness Center (WCC), Suzanne Rosselet-McCauley is responsible for the interpretation and analysis of the report’s findings, and oversight of the methodology. She is also responsible for external relations, often invited as guest speaker to present the results of the WCC research at international conferences. Her current research topics include Best Practices and Success Factors to enhance competitiveness, Knowledge Transfer, Nation Branding, and Sustainable Competitiveness. Lastly, she teaches many of these themes in seminars/workshops on competitiveness around the world.

Prior to working at IMD, she taught several years in the field of economics, teaching for five years in her last assignment as professor of economics (B.S. and MBA) at Business School Lausanne, Switzerland. She also worked at Morgan Stanley, New York in corporate finance as well as at E.F. Hutton, Geneva, Switzerland with assignments in London and New York. She was educated in the United States, England and Switzerland, receiving her economics degree at Stanford University, CA.

CONSULTANT – VDG Geologische Diensten & Chief Geologist with PanTerra Geoconsultants

CONSULTANT

Philippe Voyer is an independent consultant with an expertise in Petrochemicals and Supply Chain Management based on a 30 year experience in Shell Downstream.

Philippe Voyer graduated from Ecole Polytechique in Paris (X76) and is Civil Engineer (Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris - PC81). His experience in Shell covers a wide range of industrial jobs in term of sectors (refining and chemicals) and functions (operation, supply, trading, R&D and strategy).

As Regional Integration Manager of Shell Chemicals, he was between 2005 and 2011 in charge of optimizing the overall feedstock purchase, production plan and supply chain of Shell Chemicals Europe. He is an expert in Oil-chemicals Advantage management and exerted in Shell the role of internal consultant/auditor to successfully add value on this interface in many petrochemicals sites of Shell. He has been also in charge of the Upstream/Chemicals interface in Scotland. He has gained a strong practical experience on how complex organizations can overcome interface issues and potentially conflicting objectives.

He developed in the recent years a new interest in training and coaching staff in Shell. In 2012 he moved to independent consultant and trainer to specialize further in that direction. He is teaching Industrial Marketing, Operation and Supply Chain Management in various Business Schools. He is acting as expert consultant for IFP on Petrochemicals