Top Speakers Confirmed For The 2013 Unconventional Oil & Gas Conference

Steve Garrett is currently Manager of Chevron’s UK Global Technology Centre (GTC) in Aberdeen, Scotland. The UK GTC provides multi-functional support for major projects worldwide.  Most of his energy industry work has involved leading teams applying technology in field development and reservoir management for gas, water flood and heavy oil steam flood fields in NW Europe and North America, together with people development for earth scientists in Chevron.  Steve has published over 20 papers on geophysics, tectonics, earth modeling, regional stratigraphy and reservoir characterisation. He was the first Vice-President of the gOcad research consortium at the start of successful commercialisation of this modeling environment.

Marek Karabula is President of the  Management Board of Polish Oil & Gas Company Libya B.V. Currently Marek is responsible for exploration activities of Polish Oil and Gas Company in Libya. He has been involved in shale gas development in Poland since 2008. In 2011 he was directly supervising the first hydraulic frack of Lubocino well – resulting in the first Polish shale gas flow. From 2010 to 2012 he was Vice-president Exploration and Production Polish Oil and Gas Company S.A.

Anne Gerd Folden Bakken has  20 years of experience. After 4 years as an engineer in Aker Engineering, she moved into the field where technology meets business and above ground issues in Norsk Hydro (that later became a part of Statoil).  Her experience ranges from international business development, commercial and technical manager of gas to liquids (GTL), health safety and environment, gas infrastructure negotiations, and business development related to offshore and onshore facilities on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The past 2 years, Anne Gerd has lead the Business Development group pursuing unconventional exploration opportunities in Europe, South Americas, Africa, Middle East and Asia for Statoil ASA.

Adam Peltz is an attorney for the U.S. Climate and Energy program at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where he focuses on unconventional oil and gas regulation and policy relating to local environmental impacts and climate change. His recent work includes campaigns to improve rules related to well integrity, information transparency and methane leakage mitigation. He holds a JD and an MA in International Relations from Boston University.

Greg specialises in risk analysis of early phase of new ventures start-up. He has worked on a number of international and local strategic initiatives (from West Africa to Europe) that led to new partnerships and cooperation frameworks in oil and gas developments. Greg is a member of the Advisory Board of Shale Gas Europe (an information and awareness initiative coordi

Eric Vaughan has over 30 years’ experience in the drilling and well service industry. He is a former US and European regional manager for NOWSCO Well Service, where he managed significant onshore oilfield service operations. Following the acquisition of NOWSCO by BJ Services, he established Evergreen Well Services as a flagship model for internal service provision. This provides a seamless vertically integrated drilling and completion service subsidiary into the parent operating company. It is a model operated by Cuadrilla to underpin operational standards and safeguards.

Mr. Angerer has over 25 years of operational and managerial experience in the upstream oil and gas industry. Graduated as a Petroleum Engineer at Leoben University he worked in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. His recent positions include General Manager for Austrian based OMV in Iran and the UAE, where he was also responsible for the Business Development in the Gulf area. In 2011 he finished an energy specialized MBA at the Executive Academy of the Vienna University of Economics before joining BNK as General Manager responsible for their German business.

Márton works as Head of the Brussels Representation of the MOL Group. Previously he served in MOL Group’s Strategy and Business Development where he was responsible for downstream M&A projects and subsidiary portfolio management; later he joined the company’s Exploration and Production Portfolio Development unit where he was responsible for creating oil & gas exploration and production partnerships in the company’s Central-Eastern European asset portfolio. Prior to joining MOL Group in 2002, he filled various consulting positions both in Budapest and London.

James Elston, has 22 years of broad ranging oil and gas experience in industry, banking and consulting. Mr Elston was until recently CEO of Realm Energy International Corp a TSX-V listed Shale explorer active in Europe currently subject to a headline C$140m bid fron San Leon. He is a director Palladian Energy Limited, where he advises investment banks, private equity firms and energy companies on a variety of issues largely relating to equity capital markets, M&A and equity research. Mr. Elston has assisted with floating 8 energy companies over the last few years on London’s AIM market, making him one of the most active pre-IPO analysts. He has worked with numerous unconventional gas players, and their advisors, and assisted in bringing Great Eastern Energy and Green Dragon to AIM.

John joined Natural Resources Canada in 1991, and became Director of the Oil & Gas Policy & Regulatory Affairs Division in 2008. His role is to provide information and policy advice to the Minister and department on crude oil, natural gas, and petroleum product market, pipeline, or regulatory matters.  The division also advises the Government on approvals of major pipelines, natural gas or Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export licences, and changes to National Energy Board pipeline regulations.  He also manages the Pipeline Arbitration Secretariat, which arranges for arbitration of financial disputes between landowners and pipeline companies. 

Sven Bausewein in charge of the development of wastewater treatment solutions for the worldwide upstream oil & gas industry.
He has a background as an environmental process engineer with a strong expertise in all treatment processes necessary for this type of wastewater with such a wide variety of possible pollutants.
Together with Rockwater Ressource LLC he played a major role in the development and design of a mobile treatment solution for flowback water

Dr. LV Jianzhong is Vice President of Economics & Technology Research Institute (ETRI) of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), with the professional title of Professor-Level Senior Economist. ETRI is CNPC’s think tank for corporate strategy & policy research and high-level decision support. Dr. LV, as a strategic expert, is good at the corporate strategy and policy management and has rich knowledge of Energy Policy, Oil & Gas Market, Oil Company Strategy, and the like. He was engaged in oil & gas strategy and policy research for many years, while writing and publishing a lot of research papers and some books independently or cooperatively. Recently, he, together with his colleagues, has been studying China’s unconventional gas development strategy, dealing with issues of resource, technology, market and policy. Meanwhile some research reports have been finished to support the decision of both the state and CNPC.

Toni Harvey is the geoscientist at the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) responsible for onshore exploration and development. She’s working with the BGS on the geotechnical evaluation of onshore Great Britain, reviews licence applications, well consents, and onshore field development plans (and also is responsible for exploration in the Southern North Sea and Irish Sea). More recently, she has spent more of her time on shale gas and frac induced seismicity, attempting to put as much information as possible in to the public domain, working with industry and academic experts and advising policy colleagues who respond to issues raised - in the media, by ministers and members of the public. Toni’s a graduate of Colorado School of Mines and Birkbeck College, with degrees in Geophysical Engineering and Sedimentology.  She started her career in Denver working as a geophysicist for Amoco, identifying plays in the Thrust Belt, offshore California, Alaska, the UKCS and Norway before joining government, the DTI Energy Group, when oil was $10/barrel, 14 year ago.

Following a period in the manufacturing industry, Philip Lowe joined the European Commission in 1973, and held a range of senior posts as Chef de Cabinet and Director in the fields of regional development, agriculture, transport and administration, before becoming Director-General of the Development DG in 1997. From September 2002 he was Director-General of the Competition DG until he took up his current appointment as Director-General of the Energy DG in February

Sally Kornfeld leads DOE’s international oil and gas collaboration and has delivered speeches on offshore development in Brazil and on U.S. shale gas technology and development issues in China, Poland, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, and Bulgaria and speaks to many foreign delegations.  In July 2012, Ms. Kornfeld was awarded, by the President of Poland, with Knight Cross of Order of Merit for her cooperation on shale gas development.

Previously, Ms. Kornfeld served as Energy Attaché in Kiev, Ukraine, where she worked on nuclear safety, non-proliferation, and achieved the permanent closure of Chernobyl.  Earlier in her public career, she managed oil, gas, and coal research and development projects. Prior to joining the government, Ms. Kornfeld worked as a Petroleum Reservoir Engineer in the private sector at Gulf Oil Corporation, ARCO Oil and Gas Company, and the First National Bank of Chicago.  She earned her Master of Business Administration degree at the University of Houston and Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Linhua Guan is a strategy manager in Statoil Global Strategy and Business Development area and he has been working for Statoil since 2006. Previously, he worked for Chevron and CNPC, respectively. He received a BE degree in petrophysics and an MS degree in petroleum geology from China Petroleum University, an MS degree in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University, and an MBA degree from Rice University. Linhua is a registered petroleum engineer in Texas and served as a committee member for RPSEA's Deepstar Reservoir Engineering Committee & SPE Continuing Education Committee. He has published more than 30 technical papers in the past 19 years.

Natalyn is a Technical Director in Atkins Water & Environment business and advises on ground and groundwater contamination, remediation and environmental risks and liabilities associated with oil and gas, energy utility, infrastructure, land regeneration and mergers and acquisitions projects.  She is a Chartered Geologist and Scientist in the UK and a Professional Geologist in California, with a specialism as a hydrogeologist having served on international groundwater specialist delegations, committees and steering groups.  Natalyn is currently a member of the London Geological Society Council, serving on the Accredition Panel and Professional Committee and supporting the development and recognition of geoscientists.

David Forster has been with the Environment Agency since its creation in 1996 and the predecessor waste regulation bodies since the late 70’s. He has held a broad range of operational and management roles in this time and he is currently on assignment to our Unconventional Gas programme, developing the environmental risk assessments and the regulatory approach to Shale Gas and Coal Bed Methane developments.

Ian is a Managing Director in Navigant’s Energy practice with specialisms in, Business analytics and technology enabled transformation: using sophisticated analytics to identify and deliver business value; focused on delivering the tangible benefits of technology change programmes. He also focuses on smarter networks: delivering business cases and strategies. He is an expert in power and gas market development and transformation: bringing specific insight and experience of successfully designing and implementing complex changes to the UK power sector. He also specialises in regulatory and policy design and implementation: supporting regulators and regulated businesses to develop strategies and implement policies to achieve lasting beneficial change.

Laszlo Varro joined the IEA in 2011 as the Head of Gas Coal and Power division. The division undertakes the analysis of gas, coal and electricity markets and policy developments with a special focus on supply-demand balance, capacity investments, supply security issues as well as the implications of climate policy for the gas and electricity systems. Before joining the IEA Laszlo worked in the private sector as the Director for Strategy Development at MOL Group, a publicly quoted integrated energy company. There he was responsible for demand and price forecasting, investment capital allocation and the incorporation of energy policy developments into corporate strategy. Before MOL Group, he was the Head of Economics and Price Regulation at the Hungarian Energy Office, the national gas and electricity regulator in Hungary. His main projects at the regulator included unbundling and establishment of network tariffs, renegotiation of pre market opening power purchase agreements as well as the introduction of feed-in tariffs for renewable energy.

Andrew is one of the founders and the Chief Executive Officer of IGas Energy Plc, previously he specialised in energy projects in the gas, electricity and renewables sector. Andrew has been an Executive Director since 2004 and for the last four years has been CEO with full time responsibility for day to day operations and business development. Prior to joining IGas Andrew has been involved in ventures as principal and has also raised substantial funds from private and public equity for clients during the course of his career to date. Andrew spent 17 years working in investment banking in the City of London with Merrill Lynch, Nomura, Citibank and Barclays Capital. Latterly he was general manager of Creditanstalt Investment Bank in London. He also has six years of management and consultancy experience with clean tech companies including Generics Group and Whitfield Solar.

Poe Leggette joined the Washington, D.C., office of Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. as a partner in 1998. He is now partner in charge of the firm's Denver office. Poe heads the firm's Western Lands and Energy Practice. His practice focuses on judicial and administrative litigation concerning natural resources development on federal and Indian lands. He has extensive experience in deepwater oil and gas operations and regulation, including permitting delays and lease suspensions. He counsels oil and gas and wind energy companies on obtaining and operating leases on federal and Indian lands. He also defends oil and gas companies under investigation by the Office of the Inspector General or who are accused of violating the False Claims Act. 

Adam has 20 years’ experience in the oil and gas sector strategy, having worked with global companies in the Upstream and Midstream and Downstream parts of the value chain, as well as oilfield services. Adam leads engagements focusing on strategy development and implementation, competitor and market assessment, technology strategy, mergers and acquisitions, due diligence and corporate integration and separation. Adam has worked on projects in Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, Africa and North America. This has provided wide industry exposure to the various perspectives and challenges of major international oil and gas companies, independents, infrastructure developers and oil and gas services companies, as well as investors.

Márton works as Head of the Brussels Representation of the MOL Group. Previously he served in MOL Group’s Strategy and Business Development where he was responsible for downstream M&A projects and subsidiary portfolio management; later he joined the company’s Exploration and Production Portfolio Development unit where he was responsible for creating oil & gas exploration and production partnerships in the company’s Central-Eastern European asset portfolio. Prior to joining MOL Group in 2002, he filled various consulting positions both in Budapest and London.

Rick Smead is a Director in the Power Systems, Markets & Pricing group of the Energy practice of Navigant.  He specializes in the natural gas sector, offering expert policy analysis and advice, litigation support, and strategic advice with respect to gas pipelines, potential supplies, and market initiatives.  His background includes over three decades in the natural gas industry, including over 20 years as the chief regulatory officer for major interstate pipeline systems, with multiple experiences advising non-U.S. governments in the creation of a regulatory structure.  His practice has frequently concentrated on the downstream market and infrastructure issues affecting LNG import projects, working both for project developers and for a large national oil company as the importer. More recently, his practice has concentrated on the U.S. shale gas boom and its interaction with LNG, the pipeline industry, power generation, and other gas markets.  With Gordon Pickering, he was responsible for the first major quantification of the U.S. shale potential in 2008, Navigant’s pivotal North American Natural Gas Supply Assessment.

Nick Prowse is an energy lawyer based in London. He specialises in the natural gas industry and has worked on many upstream and downstream transactions in Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East and the USA. Nick has a broad range of upstream and downstream experience advising international oil and gas companies, national oil companies, owners, developers and lenders on major energy transactions. Nick spent over three years with BG Group as BG's legal manager in Trinidad and Tobago, advising BG and its co-venturers, ChevronTexaco, Eni SpA, Petro-Canada and Petrotrin, on a broad range of upstream and downstream activities for the development, production, transportation, processing, liquefaction, marketing and sales of natural gas. Nick first joined Norton Rose in 1992 and qualified as a solicitor in 1994, having spent six months in Bahrain. He rejoined the London practice in 2003 and became a partner in 2005. Nick read Law at Birmingham University and studied for the Law Society Finals at the College of Law in York.

Dr. Arne Eriksson is a Scientific Project Officer in the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, Energy Security Unit, where he is currently project leader for shale gas. He spent most of his career in the field of nuclear reactor safety, including positions at ABB (now Westinghouse Nuclear), the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate and the JRC, which he joined in 2000, leading a project on European development and harmonization of nuclear safety practices. In 2009 he moved his attention to “energy security”, initially focusing on the role of nuclear energy, but has recently shifted his interest to shale gas and it potential role in Europe. Arne received a MSc at Lund University, Faculty of Engineering and a PhD at Chalmers University of Technology.

Chris Faulkner, President and Chief Executive Officer Breitling Oil and Gas, has a diverse background in oil & gas industry.  Mr. Faulkner studied at the University of North Texas and Baylor University received his Doctorate Degree from Concordia College.   Mr. Faulkner has extensive past experience in all aspects of oil and gas operations including project management, production, facilities, drilling and business development.  Mr. Faulkner has also served on key corporate and industry committees, including Breitling’s World Shale Gas Advisory Committee, R&D Committees, and the Oil and Gas Technology Advisory Committee.  Mr. Faulkner has been featured in numerous publications including American Oil and Gas Investor, Energy Today, EuroAsia Industry, D Magazine and the Dallas Morning News. He is a frequent lecturer at industry events and is a member of many industry organizations including the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, the Dallas Petroleum Club, Independent Petroleum Association of America, Texas Alliance of Energy Producers and Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association.

Malone Mitchell 3rd founded Riata Energy, an oil & gas company. In 2006, Riata Energy purchased National Energy Group for $1.5 billion. Soon after, Riata’s SandRidge Energy became the company’s new name. Mr. Mitchell is CEO and Chairman of TransAtlantic. TransAtlantic is engaged in the exploration and development of oil and gas, primarily in Turkey, where it currently produces more than 5,000 boepd. Mr. Mitchell remains active in the oil field service business through Viking Drilling. Mr. Mitchell also owns a significant stake in HWD Drilling, which focuses on drilling horizontal wells.

Mr. Brezger has over 35 years of diversified multi-national experience in the upstream oil and gas industry.  He has held managerial, supervisory and technical positions with Chevron Corporation, Gulf Oil Corporation, Hess Corporation, Murphy Oil Corporation, Swift Energy Company and Vanco Energy Company while on assignments in Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Congo, Scotland, Louisiana and Texas.  His experience includes drilling, completions, facilities, production and reservoir engineering, field exploration, appraisal and development, production operations, strategic business planning and technology transfer.  He manages all company Poland strategic business unit asset activities.  Mr. Brezger graduated from Marietta College with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Petroleum Engineering.  He is an active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Mr Bass is a Director in Navigant’s Energy Practice in London and has provided strategic advice and transaction support to his clients in the energy industry for over twelve years. Richard’s projects have covered oil, gas and renewable resources. These assignments have included investment appraisal, strategy development, commercial advice, negotiation and litigation support for governments, national oil companies, project developers and investors. Recent projects include the implementation of an onshore 100MW wind farm project, the commercial feasibility of developing an LNG receiving terminal and negotiation support on an independent power project. Previously Richard worked for Mobil in the United Kingdom.

Professor Riley specialises in two principal areas. In the field of  competition law he co-founded and chairs the European-wide Competition Law Scholars Forum and is co-editor of the Competition Law Review. He also specialises in energy law, particularly in relation to the market and strategic questions in relation to pipeline gas and LNG.

Mr Des Pallieres, a French national, was formerly the Chief Executive Officer of SPQR Capital LLP. Previously Bertrand was the Global Head of Principal Finance and member of the Global Market Leadership Group of Deutsche Bank from 2005 to 2007. From 1992 to 2005 he held various positions at JPMorgan including Global Head of Structured Credit, European Head of Derivatives Structuring and Marketing and Co-head of sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa. He is a non-executive director of Versatile Systems Inc. listed on the Toronto and London Stock Exchanges and Equus Total return, Inc., listed on the NYSE.

Gordon Pickering, is a Director and leads Navigant’s North American natural gas and other fuels practice. He is located in Sacramento, CA.  He has over 30 years of energy industry experience, in the natural gas industry in the United States and Canada. His background includes over a decade with a large oil and natural gas exploration and production company and over eleven years in energy marketing and business development with a natural gas marketing company and with a public electric utility. He has now been with Navigant since 2002. Mr. Pickering is co-author of the ‘North American Natural Gas Supply Assessment’ study, a gas supply research project for the American Clean Skies Foundation. This widely distributed study updated the natural gas resource base in North America and was first issued in July of 2008 and was one of the first studies that helped identify natural gas as an abundant, clean and domestic fuel supply source. Based on the study he continues to be very interested in supporting shale gas development in North America and natural gas’ role in the ‘low carbon economy’ of the future. Most recently he has directed Navigant’s industry leading efforts assisting LNG export projects filing for non-FTA approval before the DOE.He is also a frequent speaker on natural gas topics throughout North American and abroad.

Professor Peter Styles, is Professorial Research Fellow in Applied and Environmental Geophysics, University of Keele, and has taught environmental geophysics for 35 years to undergraduates, postgraduates, and CPD, nationally and internationally. In 2000 he moved to Keele University as Head of the School of Earth Sciences and Geography and subsequently Director of the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics Research Institute. He was President of the Geological Society of London from 2003 to 2006 and President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (Geology Section). He chaired the DEFRA committee which developed sub-surface exclusion criteria for geological disposal of radioactive waste. He was a member of the Royal Society Committee on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Geosphere Characterization Panel of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. He was author of the recent DECC report on induced seismicity associated with shale gas hydrofracturing in the UK.

Eric Vaughan has over 30 years’ experience in the drilling and well service industry. He is a former US and European regional manager for NOWSCO Well Service, where he managed significant onshore oilfield service operations. Following the acquisition of NOWSCO by BJ Services, he established Evergreen Well Services as a flagship model for internal service provision. This provides a seamless vertically integrated drilling and completion service subsidiary into the parent operating company. It is a model operated by Cuadrilla to underpin operational standards and safeguards.

Graham Dean is a director of Reach Coal Seam Gas which is one of the companies that hold an onshore hydrocarbon licence in the UK.  The Reach licence covers 400 km2 in the Scottish Midland Valley and is prospective for shale gas in the early Carboniferous West Lothian Oil Shale Formation.  Graham is an engineer with a long undistinguished career in the oil and gas upstream industry working in Petrophysics, Business Development, Strategic Planning, and Petroleum Engineering.

Iain Dowell has worked for Halliburton for the last thirty years in a variety of functions including training, operations and technology development. He is currently the UK business development manager responsible for all aspects of the growth of the company in the UK. He graduated in Engineering from Aberdeen University and is a Chartered Petroleum Engineer and Fellow of the Energy Insitute.

Professor Richard Davies is a petroleum geologist who worked in Mobil and ExxonMobil for 8 years and has spent 8 years in academia, most recently as Professor of Energy and Dean of Knowledge Exchange and Impact. From 2006-2011 he led an international team that worked on the Lusi mud volcano in Indonesia, which caused 13,000 homes to be destroyed and 13 fatalities. Although this was attributed by company drilling a nearby gas well to be caused by an earthquake, Professor Davies and his colleagues demonstrated it was a subsurface blowout. Most recently he has been researching the risks associated with shale exploitation and the hydraulic fracturing process including a ground breaking paper this year that looked at the probability that hydraulic fractures can cause contamination of aquifers.

Rustom Mody, is VP of Technology (Completions and Production) for Baker Hughes Inc. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration in Finance. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas, USA. Rustom holds 15 patents and is the author of numerous technical publications. He has won numerous Meritorious Award for Engineering Innovation. In all, he has more than 32 years of experience in drilling and completion. Rustom is an active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, American Association of Drilling Engineers and International Association of Drilling Engineers and serves on various sub-committees of all three organizations. He also serves on the Board of Advisors – University of Oklahoma Engineering Department, USA.

Manas is a geologist with 19 years industry experience. After receiving his M.Sc. in Applied Geology (1991) and Masters in Technology - Geoexploration (1993) from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai he worked in the oil field operations for 5 years in different roles as wireline engineer and wellsite geologist. Manas joined Schlumberger in 1998 and has worked in technical roles in Asia and Middle East. He assumed his current role based in the UK in 2009 which focusses on supporting and advising on best practices in geological modeling

Mr. Mitschanek holds a BS degree in Petroleum Engineering from the Montanuniversitaet of Leoben; and he is currently enrolled in the MS program in Drilling Engineering. In the course of a research project he assisted in preparing a report for the European Energy Commission on Shale Gas in Europe and an environmental impact study for the Ukrainian government. Currently, his focus is on a shale gas field development model, which involves and describes all pertinent operations. Scenario planning, social and environmental impact studies, as wells as the potential economical analysis will be a major scope of the project.

David has a diverse background in working with large scale resource projects, with a focus on early stage project identification and financing. David has built and developed more than 10 companies over his career, running both private and publicly listed companies in the resource space. David has been a part of a team that has raised over US$500m in capital for early stage projects over his career. David is currently the Chairman of GOSH, an oil shale holding company that intends to advance an early stage oil shale deposit in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordon using proprietary technology.

Piers was appointed Commerical Director in May 2011, having previously served as Interim Asset Management Director from March 2010.  In 2006, Piers helped establish an innovative funding mechanism for technology companies, called TAG (Technology Approval Group). TAG bridges the gap between venture capital investors and the water company end-users and has resulted in over £40million being invested in water-related cleantech companies in recent years.

Richard Selley has spent most of his career  at Imperial College apart from some years employed by oil companies in the North Sea and overseas. Richard has been involved in petroleum exploration in the UK and abroad for 50 years, both as an academic researcher and as a consultant. He identified and evaluated the UK's shale gas resources in the mid-1980's but industry, academia and the Department of Energy were underwhelmed at the findings. After many rejections by UK learned journals his research into UK shale gas was published in the USA. Now recognised as the 'Rip van Winkle' of UK shale gas, Richard's advice on shale gas exploration has been widely sought both as a consultant and lecturer. He was the first witness summoned to give evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee of Enquiry into Shale gas in February 2011. Richard  has received various national and international honours including the Silver Medal of the Geological Society of London awarded for excellence in petroleum geoscience. He is an Honorary Member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of GB. 

Dr Nick Riley MBE, C.Geol., FGS has been an international expert on Carboniferous rocks throughout his 32 year career with BGS. His expertise has been deployed in a variety of ways, including surface and subsurface mapping of UK Carboniferous strata, coal, oil & gas exploration & development in the UK and Former Soviet Union, large civil engineering projects, underground radwaste, carbon dioxide and natural gas storage, as well as mineral exploration. In 2003 Nick was awarded an MBE by Her Majesty the Queen for “Services to UK Geoscience”.

Dr Douglas Parr is Chief Scientist and Policy Director at Greenpeace UK. Currently working on climate change policy in the power, heat and transport sectors, he has previously worked on a number of issues including GM crops, chemicals policy, green refrigeration, marine conservation and bioenergy. He obtained a D.Phil in Atmospheric Chemistry from Oxford University in 1991.

Professor Paul Stevens was awarded the 2009 OPEC Award in recognition of his outstanding work in the field of oil and energy research. The award was established in 2004 by OPEC to honour individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the petroleum industry and oil-related issues. The award honours those who have demonstrated a high level of independence and integrity in their work and who have persistently presented a critical, yet impartial view on oil-related issues in debates. His expertise lies in International oil markets, National oil companies, Developments in oil producing countries, Political economy of the Middle East and Energy in developing countries.

Fivos Spathopoulos holds a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of London. From 1990 to 2006, he worked as an exploration geologist and basin analyst in Hess and other oil companies, where he was involved in exploring for hydrocarbons in various regions of the world, as well as in mapping the world’s petroleum source rocks. From 2006, Fivos works as a consultant on unconventional petroleum exploration in Europe. He is also a Visiting Lecturer in Petroleum Geology at Imperial College London, teaching Petroleum Systems and researching organic-rich rocks in Europe, as targets for unconventional petroleum. He is involved in the United Nations Expert Group on Resource Classification

Grzegorz Pytel is a quantitative risk expert and international business development consultant. He has extensive international experience advising governments and companies in the area of hydrocarbons exploration, including licensing rounds, and international telecommunication licensing. He started his career with Shell Exploration in 1990 and continued with Petroleum Geo-Services in Norway. From 2000, he has been involved in private practice consulting for governments and international organizations, state-owned companies, and private enterprises. His work has been used and published by the British Parliament, House of Commons, Select Treasury Committee, in their investigation to the causes of the financial crisis of 2008-2009.

Udo Edelmann is founder and managing partner of One Planet Associates LLC, a company specializing in solutions for sustainable unconventional energy development in the areas of water management and community outreach. Udo has over 20 years experience in the global technology and energy businesses and has traveled to over 75 countries on six continents to help multinational companies achieve their desired results. He has worked in leadership positions for SAP, Oracle and start-up companies. Udo lives in Pennsylvania, USA.

Mike is a Principal in Nexant’s Global Gas practice. Mike has over 30 years of experience in the energy industry. Before working as Consultant, Mike was a Director at British Gas Transco, and prior to that President of British Gas Americas during which time he oversaw many successful acquisitions and projects including the acquisitions of Metrogas (Argentina), NGC (now Dynegy), the Bolivia – Brazil pipeline and Trinidad LNG project. Since working as a Consultant Mike has undertaken a wide range of projects in the areas of gas distribution, gas transmission, LNG, gas supply and gas trading, covering regulatory matters, gas pricing and tariffs, due diligence, project development, gas sales and transportation contracts, market studies and price forecasting. Mike has also been a member of the International Gas Union’s Strategy and Economics committees and is currently Chairman of the Gas Price Formation sub-group. He also speaks widely at gas conferences all over the world, particularly on gas pricing, tariffs and regulatory matters.

Dr. Aviezer Tucker is Assistant Director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas in Austin.  He studies energy issues in Eastern and Central Europe.  He is particularly interested in the geo-political, local-political, and social aspects of shale gas extraction through hydraulic fracturing.  Dr. Tucker’s academic background is in political science, the philosophy of science, and political philosophy. Before coming to the Energy Institute, Tucker was an IMESS EU professor in the Baltic States, and a Gvirtzman Memorial Foundation research fellow in Prague, where he also taught political science and philosophy.  Previously he was a research Fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra where he conducted research on deliberative democracy and technology assessment at the Department of Political Theory in the Research School of Social Science.

Thierry Bros was appointed Senior European Gas and LNG Analyst for Société Générale’s Commodities team in 2010, having joined the group in 2007 as a Senior Financial Analyst to provide recommendations on listed pan-European gas stocks and in-depth research on gas issues. From 2002 to 2007, Thierry was a Senior Oil & Gas expert at the French Ministère de l’Economie des Finances et de l’Industrie, where he represented France on oil markets and advised on emergency issues at the International Energy Agency (Paris), the European Commission and the Energy Charter (Brussels). His responsibilities included providing global oil and gas industry reviews to senior French officials and negotiating European directives. Dr. Bros is also a visiting faculty professor at several universities. Since 2011, Thierry has also regularly chaired sessions at the United Nations Gas Centre (Geneva). He is the author of the book After the US shale gas revolution published, in 2012, by Editions Technip.

André is Managing Director and head of Environmental and Social Risk Management at J.P.Morgan in London, where he guides the assessment of environmental and social issues associated with a broad range of banking transactions. André was previously Director at Sustainable Finance Ltd., focusing on the delivery of environmental and social risk management services to the financial sector. Prior to joining Sustainable Finance, André was head of Sustainable Business Advisory within ABN AMRO Bank's risk management division in Amsterdam, where he co-authored the Equator Principles and led the implementation efforts within ABN AMRO. André holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration, a Masters Degree in Corporate Law, and an Advanced Diploma in Sustainability.

Ashutosh Shastri is the founder of EnerStrat Consulting- a London based strategy-policy and technology advisory practice in the energy-carbon and cleantech markets. Ashutosh has successfully advised leading international energy companies, private equity and venture funds, international policy institutions and on occasion governmental clients since setting up EnerStrat Consulting in the spring of 2003. Prior to starting EnerStrat, he was an expert consultant in the global energy practice of McKinsey and Company based in London and in Mumbai.  He is a member of the Clean Fossil Fuel Systems Committee of the World Energy Council (WEC) and enjoys a rare distinction of representing two national member committees in the WEC- UK and India. Additionally he is also a member of the Energy Institute, and The Institute of Directors in the UK and a Liveryman in the Worshipful Company of Fuellers.

Philip Wolfe joined UBS as Co-head of Energy, EMEA in June 2010 and is responsible for the coverage of EMEA oil & gas clients and the execution of transactions in the global oil & gas industry. Prior to joining UBS he was Global Head of Oil & Gas at HSBC. Previously, Philip worked at Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch in London, New York and Singapore. Over a twenty year oil & gas investment banking career Philip has advised on various strategic and financing transactions for both NOCs and IOCs, including Saudi Aramco, PetroChina, Rosneft, PDVSA, PTT, OMV, MOL, PGNiG, INA, BP, Shell, Total, Premier Oil and Dragon Oil. 

Paul Beat is responsible for the delivery of the company’s services to its Oil & Gas client base throughout the world. Paul advises clients on developing and implementing strategies to reduce the risks to people, information and physical assets, particularly in complex or hostile environments. Paul’s extensive knowledge of operating in Africa and the Middle East helps him to assist companies to operate securely and efficiently. Before joining Control Risks in 2000, Paul spent seven years as a security adviser for a large multinational. During this period he advised on management security and community policies, emergency response policies, mass evacuation, extortion and fraud, as well as human rights issues.  Paul appears regularly on News channels to comment on crisis management, maritime security and current affairs. Paul holds a Diploma in Security and Risk Management from Leicester University. He lives in Cape Town with his family.

Maximilian Kuhn has just moved to the European Commission, Institute for Energy & Transport (IET), Energy Security Unit at Scientific Officer. Prior to this he was Chief Editor of the EUCERS Strategy Paper and a Visiting Research Associate with the European Centre for Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS) at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. He is also a Research Associate at the Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP); School of International Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University, New York, where he coordinates the EURASIA GAS 2030 Scenario Project. Maximilian Kuhn specialized on EURASIA Gas, Caspian Region Studies, Energy Policy, international energy markets, and Policy Analysis for Policy Making. Prior to fulfilling his PhD in Caspian Region Environmental and Energy Studies (CREES), he has worked in the fields of Public Affairs and Institutional Public Relations, corporate PR, agenda setting and consulting, combining both academia and policy practice. Maximilian Kuhn academic work has been published in specialized journals and he has contributed to and has been quoted in international media such as BBC World Service, Spiegel, European Energy Review and other media outlets specializing on energy. He is a Member of IAEE, AIPN, SPE, CASMII and of the Gulf2000 Project.

Photini Pappas is an Intercultural Strategy consultant and trainer, working with professionals and teams across different cultures, supporting them to achieve excellence in their performance and communication skills. She is founder and director of French-based Wisdom in Action International She holds a Doctorate in Politics and the Media, and an MA in International Journalism. She was senior lecturer at the University of the Arts-London for fifteen years and has considerable experience and a life-time interest in adult learning and development. Her research expertise has been in the areas of Political History, Communication and Culture with special focus on Western Europe, the Mediterranean countries and South America. A Greek by birth, she has lived in Greece, England and France. She is also a certified coach and specialises in the Brief Solutions Focus approach in her professional development work with teams and individuals. Photini is a member of the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR), the International Coach Federation and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.

Jenny Labbett is a training consultant and facilitator with 30 years’ experience in the corporate, public and voluntary sectors in the UK.  She holds an Honours degree in Sociology.  She started her own IT consultancy in 1994, undertaking projects in the UK, Holland and Germany.  She now specialises in communication skills training, and uses transactional analysis as the basis of her personal and professional development programmes.  She is a member of the European Association for Transactional Analysis and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.