Alirio A Parra was Venezuela’s Minister of Energy and Mines from 1992 to 1994 and head of its OPEC delegation. He is a past President of the OPEC Conference and of the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE). As Minister of Energy and Mines he was Chairman of the Stockholders Assembly of PDVSA. As a member of the Presidential Commission on Oil Nationalisation in 1975, Dr Parra participated in the smooth transition of the Venezuelan oil industry to the then newly created Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., of which he became a founding Board Member. During Dr Parra’s 15-year tenure on the Board of PDVSA he helped shape the national oil company into a highly efficient entity that significantly increased the reserves position of the country, initiated the development of Orinoco heavy crudes, modernised the downstream including the revamping of the refinery sector in Venezuela and integrated abroad both into US and European markets. Dr Parra is a previous President of the International Association of Energy Economists (1988), and a past Chairman of the British Institute of Energy Economics (1997) and the Oxford Energy Policy Club (1984-95). He has also been a Member of the International Advisory Board of Total S.A. He is currently a Director and Senior Associate of The CWC Group and chairman of the Advisory Board of the Energy Intelligence Group (EIG), Washington DC. He is Vice-President of the Anglo-Venezuelan Society, London. In October 2006, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the British Institute of Energy Economics.

Biography to follow.

Tony spent some 30+ years with BP in a variety of technical, commercial and management roles in Europe, Asia, Australasia, West Africa, South America and the US. His most recent BP post was as Commercial Director responsible for New Business Development across the Middle East. Tony left BP in 2006 to set up Oil Experience Ltd; a networked consultancy consisting of some 400 ex Major Oil Company professionals; the business was sold to RPS Energy in 2007. Tony continues to work in RPS on a variety of advisory projects.

H.E Gabriel M Obiang Lima, graduated with a degree in Economics from Alma Collage, Michigan, US, between 1999 and 2003 he was secretary of State for Mines and Hydrocarbons and has been Vice Minister of Mines, Industry & Energy since 2003. He is the President of the Committee for Monitoring of Petroleum Operations and a member of the boards of SONAGAS (Compañia Nacional de Gas de Guinea Equatorial), GEPetrol (Guinea Equatorial de Petroleum and SEGESA (National Electricity Company).

Engr Andrew Yakubu graduated in chemical engineering from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1979 before joining the NNPC as a chemical engineer in 1980. He quickly rose to assistant chief engineer/refinery superintendent before being transferred to WRPC as deputy chief engineer/fuel plant superintendent in 1989. Here he was promoted to officer in charge of fuels plant 1 & 2 before becoming head of chemicals department of PROMAS and then transferring to NAPIMS in 1992. Here he was project leader and venture manager of Excravos Gas Project Phase 1 and then moved to venture manager on several projects in NAPIMS and the NNPC. Next he was promoted to manager project coordination department, Gas Division, NAPIMS before being appointed executive director, operations, Nigerian Gas Company and then executive director, operations, NETCO in 2005. Engr Yakubu was deployed to NNPC Corporate Headquarters as general manager, engineering and technical services in 2006 before managing director, Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company between 2007 and 2011 and then his current role as group executive director, exploration and production at the NNPC in 2011. He is a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers.

Joyce Aryee is a former Minister of State in Ghana. She is also a Management & Communication Consultant and a Professional Counsellor.  She is currently the Chief Executive Officer of The Ghana Chamber of Mines and the first woman to head an African Chamber of Mines.  Joyce draws her experience from over 36 years of service to the nation, dealing with a wide range of issues including environmental and publicity.  Ms Joyce Aryee was recently awarded the Order of the Volta of Ghana (OVG) (Companion) by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana.  As a talented PR Executive, she worked with Ghana’s two main environmental and standard regulatory bodies in the late 80s and participated in international conferences on behalf of these bodies.

Mr Nelson Narciso Filho is a Mechanical Engineer, post graduated in Industrial Administration and Economic Engineering. Mr Narciso has 35 years of solid experience in Operational Management as President and Director at such international corporations as HRT Africa, Halliburton, ABB, Vetco Gray and Hughes WKM in Brazil and abroad. From June 2006 to June 2010, Mr Narciso was Director of ANP, Brazil’s oil, natural gas and biofuels regulatory commission, where he was responsible for Technical Data Management, Blocks Definition, Bidding Round Promotions, Exploration, Production, Local Content, Gas Transportation, Processing and Refining. Since December 2010, Mr Narciso has been the President of HRT Africa, based in Windhoek Namibia, responsible for the Management and Development of Exploration and Production of Oil and Gas in the African Continent

Dom Onoh is presently a Deputy Director in the department of Monitoring and Inspections of the Nigeria-Sao Tome & Principe, Joint Development Authority (JDA).  He possesses the Bachelor and Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering in the 1986 and 1994 respectively. Since graduating, he has garnered varied experiences from the academic/research sector as lecturer/Head of Department Chemical Engineering, IMT, Enugu. As pipe lines Engineer with Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited. He joined Joint Development Authority in the year 2002 as a Chief Engineer, became Assist. Director in year 2004 and Deputy Director in 2006, in charge of Monitoring and Inspections of E & P Companies. He has attended many E & P training Courses in the areas of Reservoir/Facilities Engineering, E & P Project Management and HSE. He has also attended many conferences including OTC, Off Shore West Africa, SPE, Nigeria Oil and Gas and HSE International conferences to mention some. He belongs to the Nigeria Society of Chemical Engineers, Nigerian Society of Engineers and the SPE International.

Marcio Rocha Mello, PhD, Petroleum Geologist and Geochemist, expert in petroleum geochemistry, petroleum exploration and petroleum systems. Worked 24 years at PETROBRAS, most of this period served as the Head of the Petroleum Geochemistry Group. In 1996 founded and headed the First Center of Excellence of Petrobras (CEGEQ) up to 2000. From 1990-2000 he was responsible for the development of petroleum system studies for most of the sedimentary basins of Brazil, West Africa and Latin America. In 2000, Marcio Mello left Petrobras and founded Analytical Solutions (AS) and Petroleum and Environment Geosciences (PEG), in Rio de Janeiro, considered the leading private petroleum G&G services and laboratory companies in Brazil with more than 500 professionals. In July 2004 both companies were sold. In August 2004, he founded HRT-Petroleum considered to be the leading G&G and environmental services and laboratory company in the Southern Hemisphere. Marcio was the founder, first and current president of the Brazilian Association of Petroleum Geologist (ABGP) and the former President of American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), Section Latin America. In 1998 he received the Distinguished AAPG Achievement Award and in 2000 the Robert H. Dott Sr. Memorial Award for the Petroleum System from the South Atlantic Basin, AAPG Memoir 73, considered as the best Memoir publication of AAPG, in North America, in the year 2000. He has published more than 300 papers, including extended abstracts and books about geology and geochemistry linked to petroleum exploration all around the world. In 2009, Marcio incorporate, through a “private placement”, HRT-Petroleum in HRT Participações with two subsidiaries: HRT Oil& Gas that is an E&P company and IPEX that is a G&G and environmental service company.Presently, Marcio is the CEO and IRO of HRT Participações and CEO of HRT Oil&Gas.

Rolake Akinola divides her time between Ecobank Capital’s UK representative office and Group offices across Africa, providing research and analysis across the oil and gas value-chain to both internal and external clients. She joined Ecobank from the leading global risk consultancy Eurasia Group, based in New York, where she had been the lead country risk analyst for West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea, focusing on the oil and gas and mining/metals sectors. She brings a wealth of experience and in-depth coverage and understanding of the policy, commercial and risk dynamics of pan African extractives industries. She has acted as a consultant on Africa for a wide range of corporate, governmental and financial sector clients and institutional investors, providing cogent and authoritative analysis of market developments. Prior to Eurasia Group, Rolake worked for many years as the Senior Africa Analyst in the global risk analysis team of London-based Control Risks Group, where she built a reputation for insightful analysis. There she acted as the main Africa risk consultant and advisor on key oil and gas projects for leading multinational oil and oil service companies on projects Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Nigeria. She has a Bachelors and a Masters degree from the London School of Economics

Ade Adeola is a Managing Director, Project and Export Finance at Standard Chartered Bank plc, responsible for project and export finance in Africa. He has over 20 years’ banking experience covering retail, commercial and investment banking roles. He has been actively involved in numerous project finance, structured export finance, acquisition finance and financial advisory mandates in oil and gas, power and infrastructure projects. He began his banking career in 1987with OBN plc, a subsidiary of Middle East Bank Dubai UAE. Prior to this he worked with Team Associates – Project Consultants. He joined Ecobank Plc in 1995 working in commercial, institutional banking and product development roles. In 1999, Mr Adeola joined Standard Chartered Bank and has performed in product specialised roles in core geographies. Mr Adeola has served on public-private partnership committees including Presidential Specialised Committee on Port Reforms-Nigeria, Nigeria-British consultative process and has functioned as a resource person on International Trade to Trade Partners UK. He is a regular speaker on project finance at energy and infrastructure related conferences focused on Africa. He is a member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers and holds an MSc in Banking and Finance.

Mr Nana Boakye Asafo-Adjaye is the Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC). GNPC was established to support the Government’s objective of providing adequate and reliable supply of petroleum products and reducing the country’s dependence on crude oil imports through the development of the country’s ownpetroleum resources.

Mike joined Shell in 1988 and has since held various supply, shipping, strategic business development and trading management positions in Melbourne, Singapore and London. Responsibilities over the past two decades include Business Development and Global Chemical Feedstocks Trading Coordination. Mike has been a member of Shell’s Trading Leadership Team since 1999, and from 2003 his remit has covered fi nancial crude oil trading (derivatives) and the North Sea. In his present role as “Global Leader, Crude Oil” Mike has responsibility for the above plus Africa and Latin America. Based in London, Mike is married with a daughter in her early twenties.

Jay Park is a Partner and Chair of the Global Resources Practice Group with Macleod Dixon LLP, where he has practiced energy law since 1980. Jay has conducted oil & gas transactions and joint ventures, and negotiated, drafted and provided advice in respect of numerous oil and gas agreements and laws, in over 40 countries, spanning every continent. Jay has represented oil & gas companies, state oil companies, governments and multilateral agencies such as the World Bank.Jay has been recognized by Who's Who Legal, the independent research partner of the International Bar Association, as the world's leading oil & gas lawyer in 2006 and 2007. Jay is actively involved in legal education and training.

Solicitor (England & Wales) and Avocat (France), Nicolas Bonnefoy heads the Mining, Oil & Gas team of Gide Loyrette Nouel in London. Nicolas specialises in reviewing, structuring and implementing African projects and acquisitions of mining, oil & gas companies and assets in Africa and also advises governments and national oil companies. The Mining, Oil & Gas team was recently retained to perform a comparative analysis of hydrocarbons legislations, regulations and model contracts in force in the 16 countries comprising the African Petroleum Producers Association and draft a model production sharing contract, together with MacLeod Dixon. In addition to this recent engagement for the African Petroleum Producers Association, Nicolas was extensively involved in many francophone and non-francophone countries all over Africa, including in North Africa (mainly Algeria, and Morocco), West Africa (mainly Senegal, Guinea, Benin, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Congo, DR Congo and Angola), East Africa (mainly Tanzania, Burundi, and Somaliland) and Southern Africa (mainly Madagascar). Nicolas is the Vice Chair Europe Middle East Africa of the Energy & Natural Resources Group for the Lex Mundi Association and member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators.  

Mr Serapio Sima Ntutumu, graduated with BSC (Hon) Economics, from the University of Lagos in 1996. In 1998, he was acting as Head of the Loan and Credit Department at CCEI Bank, EG, Malabo. He moved from this position to become Administrative & Finance H&P (Drilling Company). In 2000 was designated Economist at the Ministry of Economy and Finance. He was nominated by Presidency and became Public Servant of the Ministry of Mines, appointed as Chief of Financial Control of the National Oil Company “GEPetrol”. Recently, he was appointed by his Presidential Decree as Deputy Director General of “SONAGAS GE”. To date he is one of the key players of EG Gas Business development. He is also Member of EGLNG BOD, AMPCO, Alba Plant, Member of SONAGAS GE BOD, Member of Follow up Oil and Gas Committee and CEO of EGBL SA.

David Ige is a Group General Manager and Senior Technical Adviser to the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). He has been responsible mainly for the development of the Nigerian Gas Masterplan and advises the Group MD on broad upstream issues. Dr Ige holds a PhD in Engineering from Cambridge University UK and an MBA from the University of Aberdeen. He started his career with the Shell Group as a Petroleum Engineer in 1993. In 2000, he joined the Global Energy Practise of the consultancy firm, Accenture, in London where he worked as a Strategy Consultant. He joined NNPC in 2005 as General Manager, Executive Strategy and now Group General Manager and Adviser to the Group MD.

Engr Nwapa (MNSE) was appointed executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board in April 2010 following the signing of the Nigerian Content Act. He has worked for many years in the international oil and gas industry gaining most of his experience within various capacities and functions at NNPC. His appointment as the pioneer Nigerian Content Coordinator in 2004 threw up the challenge of translating volumes of stakeholder recommendations into a comprehensive, implementable policy document. This policy document was submitted to the Federal Government in February 2005 and provided the framework for setting up the NCD in March 2005. Engr Nwapa worked at the NCD until his appointment as group general manager Nigerian Content Division of NNPC in March 2010. Engr Nwapa is a 1982 graduate of the Civil Engineering Department (BEngr) of the University of Nigeria Nsukka graduating with honours. Engr Nwapa is internationally recognised and well known for his advocacy and promotion of capacity building and local content development in national oil and gas industries.

Willy H Olsen is the former Senior Advisor to the President & CEO of Statoil. He joined Statoil in 1980 after 15 years in journalism. During his time at Statoil Willy H Olsen held a number of senior positions, including Managing Director of Statoil UK and head of Statoil's activities in the former Soviet Union. Willy Olsen has an in-depth knowledge of the role of national oil companies. He has been a member of various advisory boards on Caspian and Russia, and has been a Governor in the Board of Oxford Energy Institute. Mr Olsen is now the senior advisor to INTSOK a foundation owned by the Norwegian government and Norwegian oil industry. INTSOK is coordinating the efforts of expanding the internationalisation of the Norwegian petroleum cluster.  He is an Associate Fellow of Chatham House in London and member of the Governing Board of Revenue Watch Institute in New York and has in recent years worked with Governments and national oil companies in several oil producing countries.

Jonathan Annan is a lecturer in Operations, Logistics and Supply Chain Management at School of Business, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics, Post Graduate Diploma in Education and Master’s Degree in Industrial Management and currently an on-going Doctor’s Degree in Logistics and Supply chain Management. He is currently the Deputy Director of West Africa Institute of Supply Chain Leadership (WAISCL) – a supply chain management focused education, research and training unit within the KNUST school of Business. Jonathan Annan has consulted for several companies in Ghana and the sub-region in the area of logistics and supply chain management.

Antoine Rostand is Global Managing Director of SBC, the management consultancy arm of Schlumberger. Antoine joined Schlumberger in 1986 as a field engineer and worked on various international assignments for major oil and gas companies, including extensive projects in African countries such as Algeria, Gabon and Libya. His comprehensive experience in management and consulting also comprises being Partner at A.T. Kearney and serving as President of EDS France. He continues to advise executives of leading oil and gas companies on strategy and critical organizational issues. Antoine graduated from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

 Afua Amissah, PMP, MSc. is the Local Content Project Coordinator for the Ministry of Energy Ghana, where she oversees the development of policies and practices to ensure that local companies in Ghana have fair access to business opportunities in the Oil and Gas sectors. Prior to joining the Ministry in 2010, Afua successfully managed complex projects in Information Technology, Telecom and Finance in multinational organizations across Europe, United States and Ghana. Afua holds a BSc. in Computer Science from the University of Science and Technology in Ghana and a MSc. in Management Information Systems from Washington University in St. Louis, USA. 

 

Dr Stephen Kudom Donyinah holds PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering (2004), Postgraduate Training in Computer Simulation and Applications to Petroleum Engineering, Geology and Related subjects in the Oil and Gas Industry, (2001), China University of Geosciences, PR China. He also hold a BSc (Hons) Geological Engineering from KNUST, Kumasi (1990), a MSc in Petroleum Engineering, Oil and Natural Gas Exploration (1996). Dr Donyinah is currently a Lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, KNUST, Kumasi. In October, 1995, Dr Donyinah was a visiting Scholar to Stanford University, CA, USA. In 2002, he was awarded the “Who is Who Award for Achievement in Science” by International Biographical Center based in Cambridge, England.He is Associate Member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and the Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE). Dr. Donyinah has several publications in Local and International Journals

Caetano Capitão has a BA Degree in Sciences of Education, English Language Teaching specialty and Law Studies from the Universidade Agostinho Neto in Angola. Has over ten years teaching experience. He worked for two years for the Demining Program of the NGO “Norwegian People’s Aid”, then spent five years for a freight forwarding agency Panalpina where he worked in different positions such as Shipping, Freight Forwarding Agent, Operations Management Assistant and Head of Administration of Panalpina Angola. After this, he spent five years working for the British Embassy as Trade Officer. He is the Director of CAE – Centro de Apoio Empresarial of the Angolan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He has experience in dealing with local small and medium enterprises on their legalisation, challenges, partnership vision and sectors expertise.

Ernest N.T. Rubondo completed a BSc in Geology at the Chang Chun College of Geology in China and later an Msc in Petroleum Reservoir Geology at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London in 1990. He worked briefly with Scott Pickford Plc in the United Kingdom before returning to Uganda to participate in field geological and geophysical data acquisition as part of the country’s petroleum exploration promotion effort. He has been part of the Uganda Government team promoting the country’s petroleum potential to industry with a view of attracting investment in the country’s oil and gas sector. He is also a member of the team which negotiates Production Sharing Agreements for acreage in the Albertine Graben in Uganda over the last twenty years. As Commissioner for Petroleum Exploration and Production Department (PEPD) in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Ernest Rubondo is responsible for all aspects of PEPD which include monitoring and regulating the upstream petroleum sector in the country, initiating policy and legislation together with capacity building for the sector. He also provides leadership and guidance to an interdisplinary staff of over 50 professionals. He chaired the working group which coordinated the formulation of the National Oil and Gas Policy for Uganda which was approved in 2008 and chaired the Steering Committee for the 5th East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition (EAPCE’11) which was held in Kampala, Uganda in February, 2011.

 Mr George Ngwale is working with Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation as a Principal Petroleum Geologist. He has more than 20 years of experience in petroleum industry as an explorationist. He has been involved mainly in prospect evaluation and basin analysis, promotion of basins, contract negotiations and monitoring of exploration licences.He holds a BSc in Geology from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. (1981), a Post Graduate Diploma in Petroleum Prospecting and Reservoir Evaluation from the University of Trondheim, Norway (1982) and an MSC in Petroleum Geology from University of Aberdeen, Scotland (1990).

Semyon Astakhov was born in 1982 in Russia. In 2003 he graduated from the Institute of International Relation with a degree in International Economic Relations, Yekaterinburg, Russia. In 2006 Semyon Astakhov received his PhD in Economics from the Ural Academy of Government Administration, Yekaterinburg, Russia. In 2000 he took up a position as Sales Engineer in TMK-Sinarsky the seamless tubulars manufacturing plant in Russia. Since 2004 he worked in TMK Head Quarters in Moscow, Russia as Regional Sales Manager to Middle East and Africa. In 2006 became Senior Sales Manager in TMK Middle East, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Semyon Astakhov was appointed as General Director to TMK Africa, Cape Town, South Africa in April 2010 to promote sales of TMK’s products to oil and gas companies in sub-Saharan Africa.