Speakers

H.E. Bakheet Al-Rashidi

Minister of Oil

Kuwait

Mr Bakheet Al-Rashidi is the Chief Executive Officer (KPC Holdings-Aruba) and the President (Kuwait Petroleum International), since May 2013.

KPI is an international downstream subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), the state-owned entity responsible for Kuwait’s hydrocarbons interests world-wide. KPI has two refineries in the Netherlands and Italy, a supply and marketing network for retail, aviation, lubricants and speciality products, as well as research activities spread across Europe.

KPI is constructing a mega grass-root refinery project in Vietnam (NSRP) as a JV, with capacity of 200,000 barrels per day.

Mr Al-Rashidi has held several key positions during his career spanning nearly three decades, including: deputy chairman and deputy managing director for planning and local marketing of KNPC, a downstream domestic refining company; member of the board at KOC, a large upstream national oil and gas company; and chairman and managing director of M/s Kuwait Aromatics (KARO) from 2009 to 2012, a joint venture private sector petrochemicals company.

Mr Al-Rashidi is a chemical engineer by profession and an active member of several premier international bodies and technical committees on oil and gas. He was involved in 25 major projects which are being executed by KNPC, the downstream subsidiary company of KPC in Kuwait.

Nizar Al-Adsani

Deputy Chairman & CEO

KPC

Mr Nizar M. Al- Adsani is the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Chief Executive Officer of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation

He joined  Kuwait Oil Company in 1984,  and held several positions before being appointed General Superintendent, Project Management. In 1999 he moved to the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation to become Manager of Planning and Investment Coordination He held this position until September of 2004, at which point he became Executive Director, Business Administration for Khafji Joint Operations. In November 2007 he was promoted to Deputy Managing Director (KJO) at the Kuwait Gulf Oil Company. In October 2009 he was named Chairman of Joint Operating Committee at KJO. From 2011-2013, Mr. Al-Adsani served as Chairman and Managing Director of Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company

Mr Nizar Al-Adsani received his Bachelor’s Degree in Science (Mechanical Engineering) from South Dakota State University in 1984.

H.E. Dr. Mohammed Bin Hamad Al-Rumhi

Minister of Oil and Gas

Oman

H.E. Mohammed Hamad Al Rumhy is presently the Minister of Oil and Gas, Sultanate of Oman.

He graduated from Imperial College, London from 1980 and he was awarded B.SC. in Tulsa University, Oklahoma, USA from 1982-1983 with a M.S.   From 1986-1990 he studied at Imperial College, London, with a PH.D. Furthermore, H.E. Al Rumhy holds Awards from Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (By Emperor of Japan).

H.E. Al-Rumhy has also worked for P.D.O.- (Petroleum Development Oman) from 1980-1986 as a Petroleum Engineer.  From 1990-1997 H.E. worked for Sultan Qaboos University, Oman College of Engineering as Ass. Professor.  He is holding a number of academic positions.

Since December 1997 he became the Minister of Oil and Gas.  He is also Chairman of Oman Oil Company, Chairman of PDO Board of Directors, Chairman of Oman LNG and Chairman of Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA).  Also Chairman of NTF Board of Directors (National Training Fund).

Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa

Minister of Oil

Bahrain

Sh. Mohamed bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa graduated with honors from the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals with a B.Sc. degree in Electronics.  He completed his higher education in the United Kingdom with a Masters Degree from the University of Cambridge and an Advanced Masters from the Imperial College of Science.  He also holds an MBA from DePaul University, Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.

He joined the Ministry of Finance, Kingdom of Bahrain in the year 1999 where he became Director of Government Shareholdings in 2005.  During his tenure at the Ministry he worked on the privatization of key projects including the privatization of Power Plants, Seef  properties IPO and Muharraq STP.  He is a former Board member of The Bahrain National Gas Expansion Co., Lulu Tourism Co.

He was appointed as the Chief Executive of The Oil & Gas Holding Company in 2011.  He is currently a Board Member of the ‘National Oil & Gas Authority’ and the ‘Central Bank of Bahrain’.  He is also the Chairman of ‘The Bahrain Petroleum Co.’

Under the Royal Decree No. 45 for the year 2016, issued by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain, on 3^rd June 2016, Sh. Mohamed bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa was appointed as the Minister of Oil.

H.E. Mohammad Barkindo

Secretary General

OPEC

His Excellency Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo of Nigeria began his tenure as Secretary General of OPEC on 1 August 2016.

Over the years he also worked in several key roles at OPEC.  In 1986, he was appointed to Nigeria’s delegation to OPEC, and from 1993 to 2008, served as Nigeria’s National Representative on the Organization’s Economic Commission Board.  In 2006, he was Acting OPEC Secretary General, and represented Nigeria on OPEC’s Board of Governors from 2009 to 2010.

From 2009 to 2010, he was Group Managing Director and CEO of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).  Previous to that, he served as Deputy Managing Director of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas.  Earlier in his career, he was Special Assistant to former Minister of Petroleum Resources and OPEC Secretary General, HE Dr Rilwanu Lukman KBE.

Mr. Barkindo has also been leader of Nigeria’s technical delegation to the UN climate change negotiations since 1991.  He served as Chair of the Group of 77 and China at the UNFCCC and was elected to serve three terms as Vice President of the Conference of the Parties – COP13 (Bali, Indonesia), COP14 (Poznan, Poland) and COP15 (Copenhagen, Denmark), where he chaired the opening session.

Since his assumption of office as Secretary General, he remains a leading voice in the long standing quest for more OPEC and non-OPEC cooperation for stable oil markets on a sustainable basis. 

Mohammed Y. Al Qahtani

Senior Vice President – Upstream

Saudi Aramco

Mohammed Y. Al Qahtani was appointed Senior Vice President - Upstream in January 2016. His responsibilities include exploration,  petroleum engineering, drilling, oil and gas operations, unconventional resources and upstream research and development. 

Al Qahtani has held several management positions since joining Saudi Aramco, including chief petroleum engineer, and vice president - Petroleum Engineering & Development. He is Chairman of the Saudi Aramco Refinery Company (SASREF) and the Dharan Techno Valley Company (DTVC) Advisory Committee. He is also a board member of the Bilateral US-Arab Chamber of Commerce, serves on boards and committees for several universities, and has been a board member of numerous other organizations.

Al Qahtani holds Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in petroleum engineering. 

Khalid M. Abuleif

Sustainability Advisor to the Minister and Chief Negotiator for climate Change Agreements

Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, Saudi Arabia

Jamal Abdulaziz Jaafar

CEO

KOC

Appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Kuwait Oil Company in January 2016; previously held the position of Deputy CEO (Planning & Commercial) responsible for operational & strategic planning, budget control, purchasing & material management, and contract administration. He has over 30 years’ experience in the oil industry (Upstream), after graduation from Kuwait University as a chemical engineer. He spent 10 years working in Al Khafji Joint Operation representing Kuwait Gulf Oil Company.

Abby Badwi

CEO

Kuwait Energy

Abdel F. (Abby) Badwi is the Chief Executive Officer of Kuwait Energy.

Mr. Badwi is the Executive Chairman of GrowMax Resources Corp. He is a petroleum industry executive with more than 40 years’ upstream experience in implementing exploration, development and acquisition projects in Canada and internationally. He previously served as President and Chief Executive of Bankers Petroleum Ltd. from 2008 to 2013 and Vice Chairman until 2016.  He also served as President, Chief Executive Officer and director of Rally Energy Corp from 2005 to 2007, as well as President of Corundum Energy Ltd from 2003 to 2005. He has a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of Alexandria, Egypt and is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).

Sami Iskander

Executive Vice President, Upstream Joint Ventures

Shell

Sami Iskander was appointed Executive Vice President for Shell’s Upstream Joint Ventures business in February 2016.
In this role based in The Hague, Sami is accountable for business performance in 8 upstream countries (Abu Dhabi, Brunei, Denmark, Egypt, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait and Oman) in which joint venture assets represent the core of the business value for Shell.
Sami has extensive global oil and gas expertise. From 2008 and prior to joining Shell in 2016, Sami worked in BG Group where he held the position of Chief Operating Officer since November 2013. In this role, he was responsible for BG Group’s global Upstream operations in addition to being responsible for BG Technical, which incorporated developments, operations, capital projects, well engineering, HSSE, climate change, IT, contracts and procurement, and technology.
Prior to BG Group, Sami held many key leadership roles with Schlumberger, undertaking assignments in Latin America, the USA, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. He is also an independent board member of Pacific Drilling S.A.

Maen Razouqi

President Northern Middle East

Schlumberger

Maen Razouqi is the President for Schlumberger Northern Middle East Region (NME), located in Kuwait City, Kuwait, a position he assumed in July 2017. 

Prior to that role, Maen held various Senior Management positions including the Vice President for Schlumberger South East Asia based in Kula Lumpur, Global Marketing & Technology Vice President for the Reservoir Characterization Group managing the R&D and M&A portfolios based out of Paris.

He started his career with Schlumberger in 1998 as a Field Engineer based in Sonora, Texas and has worked since then in his home country, Kuwait, and internationally in North America, Africa, the Middle East and Europe in various operational and managerial roles including Technical, HR, Sales, Operations and Marketing. 

Maen holds an Engineering degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Arizona State University and a Diploma of Strategic Finance from IMD.  He is also an active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and has written many oil & gas related papers and received several industry awards.

Havard Devold

Group Vice President

ABB AS

Håvard is Chief Digital Officer for Oil, Gas & Chemical industries Business Unit, with revenues of 2 bn
USD. He is part of the BU Management team and will develop and drive the BU’s digital business
plan (solution roadmap, financial targets. Areas of interest include technology and execution models
for large Multidiscipline projects, Electrical-Instrument-Control-Telecom and Mechanical Integration,
Process Electrification, Subsea, Power to/from shore, Digital Oilfield, Smart Wells and Asset
Management/Condition Based Maintenance.
Håvard is also country technology manager (CTM) for ABB Norway which is the main technology
center for ABB in Oil and Gas, with responsibility for technology development across all business
units. The CTM function has a focus on emerging and disruptive new technologies and cross unit
opportunities, as well as cooperation with universities, research institutes and governmental functions.
Håvard is 59 years, and has worked for ABB since 1982 in positions ranging from software
development, project management, sales and technology management. He has a Masters degree in
Electrical Engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
and the ABB Business Development program at IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland. Håvard authored and
continues to update the “Oil and Gas Production Handbook”, has published a large number of papers,
and holds several patents with ABB.

Luciano Poli

President

Dow Chemical India, Middle East, North Africa & Turkey (IMET)

Luciano Poli, Global Finance Leader for Joint Ventures and Area Finance Director for Europe, Middle East, Africa first joined Dow in Horgen, Switzerland in 1989 and subsequently held various Treasury and Finance positions in Switzerland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland/Middle East, China and Saudi Arabia. His 28-year career at Dow has spanned assignments in Treasury, Corporate Finance, M&A, Mega project management, JV’s and leadership for large Area Finance Organizations.

Poli was Area Finance Director/CFO for Asia Pacific (2006 to 2010) and Europe Middle East and Africa (2010 to 2012). He was responsible for overall finance activities in these areas, including treasury, controller, tax, M&A, investor relations, corporate risk management (insurance), and strategic planning. He was also a member of the Ethics & Compliance Committees, Pension Fund Board and key JVs Boards.

As of January 2012, Poli served as Chief Financial Officer of Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara) and relocated to Saudi Arabia. Sadara will construct, own and operate a word-scale, fully integrated chemicals complex in Jubail Industrial City II. This will be the largest chemicals complex ever constructed in a single phase, with more than 3 million metric tons of capacity and 26 chemicals units.

In August 2014, Poli returned to Switzerland as Global Finance Leader for Joint Ventures and Area Finance Director for EMEA. In this role, he worked closely with the Joint Venture Governance Team, the businesses, functions and geographies to accelerate Dow’s joint venture portfolio strategy. In addition, Poli assumed area finance responsibility for EMEA.

In August 2017, Poli was named President of Dow in the IMET region and relocated to the regions headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He is responsible for driving the region’s growth strategy and further enhancing Dow’s leadership position through strengthening relationships and partnerships with key stakeholders.

Poli was instrumental in implementing Dow’s strategy in the Middle East and Asia Pacific via JVs, key petrochemical projects and various M&A transactions, including the formation and construction of Sadara, the EQUATE and Siam Cement/Dow expansion, the MEGlobal/Equipolymers formations, and others. He led large finance organizations (400+ employees) in Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa with excellent results in attracting, developing and retaining key talents and future leaders. The successful financing and the initial phase of the construction of Sadara project and Company, including setting up a fully-fledged finance organization (growing from zero to over 70 employees) was another key achievement by Poli.

Poli served and continues to serve on various Boards and Committees of large Joint Ventures, including EQUATE Petrochemical Co., The Kuwait Olefins Company (TKOC), The Kuwait Styrene Company (TKSC), and MEGlobal.

Dr Claus-Peter Hälsig

Vice President Process & Technology

Fluor

Claus-Peter Hälsig holds the position of Vice President Process & Technology for Fluor in Europe, Russia/CIS, Middle East and Africa and is located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He has over 35 years of experience in all aspects of hydrocarbon processing in the refining and petrochemical industries, covering catalysis, new process developments, clean fuels and heavy fuel oil upgrading up to bio-fuels, energy efficiency and sustainability / renewable aspects as well as alternative energy resources. His most recent area of interest is the impact of Industry 4.0 / Digitalization on enhancing operation and reducing life cycle costs.

Before he joined Fluor in 1993 he worked for nearly 15 years with BP in the UK and Germany, where he started his career in the R&D organization, providing technical service to the refineries and refining-petrochemical complexes worldwide.

Mr Hälsig holds a Dr.-Ing. degree of the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany, he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK and has been awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Dean Bell

President - Well Construction

Weatherford International

Dean Bell, recently promoted to President, Well Construction, joined Weatherford in 2016 as Vice President, Intervention Services and Drilling Tools. Previously, Mr. Bell was Vice President of Drilling Tools and Remedial Services for Europe and Africa at Schlumberger based in Paris and spent 22 years with the company. After time as a field engineer in MWD/LWD/Directional Drilling, his career spanned Operations Management positions in Central Asia, Latin America and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as General Management roles in Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Indonesia. Mr. Bell received a B.A.Sc. in Petroleum Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and has attended Leadership and Negotiation Executive Education at Harvard Business School.   

Omar Saleh

Director, Manufacturing & Resources

Microsoft Middle East & Africa

Omar Saleh leads Microsoft’s business in Manufacturing & Resources – Manufacturing, Oil & Gas, Power & Utilities, Mining, for the Middle East & Africa region. Omar is an Electrical Engineer with a major in Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, and holds a Master of Science degree in Technology Management. Omar’s work experience exceeds 24 years in Technical, Consulting and Management roles, having worked across a host of reputable companies as he worked for Eni, Schlumberger, Chevron, ADNOC, and Sun Microsystems prior to joining Microsoft.

Ahmed Dualeh

General Manager

Dow Chemical Company Kuwait

May Alzanki

Director of Sales & Business Development

GlassPoint Solar Kuwait

Redha Kelkouli

Production Group Vice President Northern Middle East

Schlumberger

Mohammad Al-Sharhan

Global HR Director

EQUATE Petrochemical Company

Mohammad Al-Sharhan is EQUATE’s Global HR Leader. Throughout a professional career of over 15 years, Al-Sharhan held a number of technical and administrative roles at Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) and EQUATE.

As the head of Global HR, Al-Sharhan leads and directs HR policies, processes and strategies to support business performance in Kuwait, UAE, North America, Europe, and Asia. His responsibilities cover all HR related functions, such as organizational effectiveness, systems, talent and performance management, as well as learning and development.

Mohammad has a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering (Summa Cum Laude) from California State University – Fullerton, as well as an MBA from Maastricht School of Management with distinction.

Dr Wafik Beydoun

Chairman

Total Kuwait

Wafik Beydoun is Country Chair for Total in Kuwait, and 2017-2019 Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC). Previous experiences include (in reverse chronological order): Manager Research & Development Division at the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), in secondment from Total; President and CEO of Total E&P Research & Technology USA, LLC in Houston (USA); Business Development Manager for Total E&P Technology/R&D worldwide; Senior Negotiator New Ventures and Asset Management for Total worldwide; Manager Geophysical Operations and Technology for Total worldwide; Area Exploration Manager for Blocks 17 & 33 and Chief Geophysicist for Elf Aquitaine Angola; Project Leader at the Geoscience Research Centre for Elf Aquitaine in the UK; Project leader at the Research and Technical Services in Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) in Plano Texas USA.

Wafik holds a Licence & Maitrise of Physics from the University of Paris VI (France), an MSc in Earth Sciences and a PhD in Geophysics, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). He is a member of SEG, SPE, EAGE, AAPG, AGU, and Sigma Xi, and has over 80 publications and communications.

Majed Essa AlAjeel

Chairman

KBA

Mr. Majed Essa Al Ajeel was with Burgan Bank since 1998 till 2004 as a Board Member and, had been appointed as the Vice Chairman of the Burgan Bank in 2007 then, Chairman of Burgan Bank in 2010 till date. And, currently holds the position of the Chairman at Kuwait Banking Association.  In addition, Mr. Majed is a Board Member of:

• the Institute of Banking Studies,
• Burgan Bank - Turkey,
• FIM Bank, Malta

Waleed M. Al-Awadhi

Executive Director, Supervision Sector

Central Bank of Kuwait

Waleed Al-Awadhi is the Executive Director of the Supervision Sector at the Central Bank of Kuwait.  

Prior to his career at the Central Bank of Kuwait, Mr. Al Awadhi has served in various capacities in Kuwaiti banks for over 20 years. 

Mr. Al-Awadhi sits on the Board of Directors of the Kuwait Credit Bank.  He serves on inter-ministerial committees representing the Central Bank of Kuwait while simultaneously serving on CBK executive management committees.  Furthermore, he represents Kuwait at the GCC Supervision Committee and the IFSB Technical Committee.  Mr. Al Awadhi has previously served on the Board of Boubyan Takaful.

He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Grand View University Des Moines, Iowa, USA.

Mohammad Yousef Yaqoub

Assistant Director General for Business Development

Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA)

Assign as Assistant Director General for Business Development at Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA ) since March 2015. with more then 18 years of local, regional and international experience in business development. 

Main areas of responsibly in developing KDIPA Strategy, Country Promotion and Business Zones of Kuwait. 

Also participated in many international Business Forums on the business development, Direct Investment, value proposition and investment climate.

Mr. Yaqoub has started at Mobile Telecommunication Company as a business planner and move in the Marketing division in many roles along with the development of MTC to MTC-Vodafone in kuwait and the region to Zain Group of Telecom in ME & Africa. 

Mr. Yaqoub shown leadership skills in managing many projects and initiatives across different functions, establishing teams and create a positive organization culture. 

Mahfouz Ibrahim Nader

HR & Administration Manager

HOT Engineering & Construction Co.

Mahfouz Ibrahim Nader recently join HOT Engineering and Construction Co. KSCC as their HR and Admin Manager. He has been in the oil and gas field for 20 years. Starting in Qatar Gas back in 1995, then moved to Qatar Petroleum until 2015. 

Stewart Williams

Vice President, Middle East Research

Wood Mackenzie

Stewart is a Vice President of Research at Wood Mackenzie with a specific focus on the Middle East.

Since joining Wood Mackenzie in 1996, Stewart has advised a wide range of clients on entry and business strategies, fiscal terms, competitor intelligence, asset benchmarking, M&A, global supply outlook and project finance due diligence. In 2017, he appeared before a UK parliamentary select committee, providing expert opinion on the Middle East’s oil and gas sector. He has been quoted extensively in the financial press.

Stewart has 27 years oil industry experience in a variety of technical and commercial functions. Before joining Wood Mackenzie Stewart was a senior geophysicist with GETECH. Stewart started his career as a field engineer, spending two years exploring for oil and gas in Nigeria and Libya.

Stewart graduated from Leeds University with a BEng (Honours) degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and holds an MSc in Exploration Geophysics, also from Leeds.

Farooq Qureshi

Managing Director

Accenture Strategy Energy Middle East

Farooq Qureshi is a Managing Director with Accenture Strategy Energy based in the Middle East. He also leads Accenture Strategy Energy's Talent & Organizational Practice.  Prior to joining Accenture, he was Senior Vice President with Schlumberger Business Consulting where he held leadership positions with the firm in the UK, Middle East, and Asia. 

Farooq has over 30 years of combined line management and consulting experience within the oil and gas industry. He mainly focuses on advising Oil & Gas and Oilfield Service companies on Strategy, Organization and Performance Improvement challenges in the region.

Farooq holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from Warwick Business School UK. 

Alok Chugh

Partner, MENA Government and Public Sector Tax Leader

Ernst & Young

Alok is a partner with EY’s Middle East practice, based in Kuwait. He has lived and worked in Kuwait for over 24 years and has detailed knowledge of business and taxes in the country. Alok is the Middle East Region Government and Public Sector Tax Leader for EY and this capacity, works very closely with the Government in advising on Tax policies and reforms, including the Ministry of Finance (VAT regime in Kuwait and Corporate tax) and the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA). Alok has extensive experience in advising entry-level strategies for foreign multinationals (including companies in the field of Oil & Gas) wishing to do business in Kuwait.

Dr. Dawoud Bahzad

Division Director - Science & Technology

Petroleum Research Center

Dawoud Bahzad has been assigned as Division Director - Science & Technology, for Petroleum Research Center, at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry and Catalysis from University of Wales, Swansea, since 1996. His previous experience was focused on catalyst preparation, deactivation, characterization, and obtaining testing of different catalyst systems using different type of feedstocks. His majority was focused on Hydrotreating process (ARDS) and hydrocracking process (HC), which involves testing commercialized catalyst systems in the pilot plant units using actual feedstocks similar to the one used in the refinery. In addition responsible for all research projects that are related to either Upstream or downstream fields which improve the relation of the center with clients.

His present work is focused in different areas based on PRC strategic goal. Involved in securing founds through joint work with local and international institutes, petroleum companies and universities in the area of upstream and downstream.

Involved in preparation center strategy with particular regard to longer-term perspectives 2030, and update the strategic every 5 year in particular finalized 6^th, 7^th and 8^th strategic plans for PRC center. Participate in reviewing and preparing KNPC, KOC and KPC strategy for 2040.

In charge of initiations and execution of all contractual projects between PRC and clients specific all K-companies and institutes as well as universities.

Coordinate with Center of Strategic Alliances for collaboration with regional and international organization such as; GCC (universities and institutes), JCCP, Taiwan-ACS, Korea, China University (CUP), RIPED, VTT, and India institute CSIR & IOC, University of Missouri, CONACYT-IMP Mexican Delegation.

Assists center towards goal of achieving financial self-sufficiency through greater generation of client-funded and commercially valued research engagements and management of the center’s innovation strategies including development and exploitation of Intellectual Property (IP).

Provides advice and counsel to the center management team on quality standards and ensures that scientific research outputs, procedures and publications meet specified organization’s quality standards.

Bahzad has several publications and technical reports in the related fields.

Olga Labai

Director

Oil and Gas Consultant

Olga Labai is practicing lawyer, speaker and trainer. Olga has fifteen years of professional experience in providing legal advice within upstream oil and gas sector - mix of both contentious and non-contentious experience acting for Sakhalin Energy, operator of major "Sakhalin-2" project in Russia and Weatherford in the Middle East, solid upstream contractor, where she covered all legal issues for Iraq operations. Olga’s current clients include procurement teams of major upstream operators and various contractors. 

For the last three years Olga provides consultancy and training services across multiple sectors.

Olga is a renowned speaker at numerous conferences and business workshops, with a passion for promoting awareness to procurement and contracts.

Olga is a Direct Associate of Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply.

Jamie Ingram

Gulf Editor

MEES

Jamie Ingram is the Gulf Editor at Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) where he is responsible for producing content on energy and political developments in the region. He has previously worked as a MENA analyst at IHS and as a Researcher at RUSI Qatar.