2019 Speakers

David Barrowman

VP, Energy Consulting

Wood Mackenzie

David has over 30 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry and leads Wood Mackenzie's upstream fiscal offering service. He was Project Director on two of Wood Mackenzie's fiscal multi-client studies. 

He has provided fiscal advice to a wide variety of clients, including governments, industry associations IOCs and NOCs.  These include working with Governments in Ireland, Indonesia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Colombia   

He has worked with the main industry associations in the United States, Canada, Norway and the United Kingdom providing fiscal support for discussion with governments. Other projects have included working with companies in responding when governments have proposed changes to fiscal regimes.  This included recent changes made in the UK fiscal regime when analysis of other options was evaluated. 

David is a chartered accountant and a member of the Institute of Taxation.  He graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry from the University of Edinburgh

Graham Kellas

SVP Global Fiscal Research

Wood Mackenzie

Graham has 30 years experience as a petroleum economist, specialising in the analysis of global fiscal systems. He currently directs Wood Mackenzie’s global fiscal research services.

Graham has advised several governments on petroleum fiscal policy, most recently Colombia, Ireland, Newfoundland & Labrador and South Africa.  He has also advised numerous IOCs on fiscal matters, including assistance to oil industry associations during debates with governments on appropriate fiscal terms (e.g. Nigeria and UK).

Graham has designed and authored several successful multi-client reports, analysing and comparing global fiscal systems with prospectivity, published by Wood Mackenzie. He also has wide experience delivering training courses in petroleum economics and fiscal analysis around the world.

Graham graduated in Economics from Aberdeen University and earned a masters degree (M Litt) for his thesis on ‘Oil Field Abandonment in the UKCS’.  He previously worked for Petroconsultants/IHS Energy, two independent oil exploration companies and as a research Fellow in Aberdeen University’s Economics department.

He is a member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN) and is a regular speaker at industry conferences.

Dr Valentina Kretzschmar

Director – Corporate Research

Wood Mackenzie

Valentina joined Wood Mackenzie 15 years ago and is a Director at Wood Mackenzie’s Corporate Research Group.

Valentina has over 20 years of experience in the oil and gas and coal sectors. She is an expert on the energy transition of the oil and gas sector into clean energies. Valentina delivers strategic, operational and financial research and analysis of global integrated energy companies, with particular focus on European and Russian O&G Majors.

Valentina’s other roles in Wood Mackenzie included project-management and delivery of multi-client studies and development and growth of new products and services. She advises senior leadership, both on corporate and country levels and is a regular speaker at industry events.

Valentina is a non-executive director on the board of NHST Global Media (Norway).

Previously, Valentina worked as a Petroleum Engineer with Edinburgh Petroleum Services Ltd and Research Fellow in the Energy Group at the University of Edinburgh.

She holds a BEng Honours Degree in Engineering from the University of Edinburgh, MSc in Advanced Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College, London, a PhD in Clean Coal Technology from the University of Edinburgh and an MBA (Finance) from Durham University. Valentina is a Chartered Engineer (C.Eng. MIMechE).

Nikita Golubchenko

Petroleum Economist, Asia Pacific region

Wood Mackenzie

Nikita joined Wood Mackenzie in spring 2015 and is based in our Moscow office.

Nikita is responsible for all fiscal models and analysis in the Asia Pacific region, in addition to client support and fiscal advisory projects.

Before joining Wood Mackenzie, Nikita worked as a senior consultant for Deloitte’s Petroleum Services Group. His responsibilities included economic and fiscal modeling, product demonstrations and external economics presentations.

His background is MSc in Petroleum Economics and Management from Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas and Insitute Francais du Petrole.

Acácio Langa

Commercial Director, Regional and Domestic Markets

ENH Mozambique

Acácio Langa was born in Maputo, Mozambique, he holds degree in Business Law, from the oldest and iconic university of Mozambique (Eduardo Mondlane University) and holds Post-Graduate Degree in Energy Law from Eduardo Mondlane University in association with Lisbon University (one of the largest university of Portugal). He is holding a Master Degree in Oil & Gas Law and Contractual Framework.

He is currently the Commercial and Marketing Director at ENH, the National Oil Company of Mozambique.

Before he move into Oil and Gas Sector Mr. Acácio Langa serve at Mozambique Tax Authority as a Tax Analyst.

Aside of the position at ENH, Mr. Acácio Langa, is a Lawyer registered as Member of Mozambique Bar Association and he is University Lecturer (Commercial Contracts and Business Law).

Chris Quigley

Legal Counsel

Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board

Chris serves as Legal Counsel with the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, located in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, a position he has held since June of 2015.

Prior to joining the Board, Chris was a lawyer with the provincial Department of Justice, practicing mainly in the areas of oil and gas, hydro-electricity and corporate / commercial law. While with the provincial government, he served a secondment with Cabinet Secretariat, the central agency which supports the cabinet and Premier’s office. He was also a member of several project teams, providing legal support to negotiations over royalty and benefits agreements for two offshore oil and gas projects.

Chris enjoys a diverse legal practice with the C-NLOPB, providing advice in relation to the organization’s regulatory mandate (covering offshore safety, environmental protection, exploration and licencing, operations, and local benefits) as well as on a variety of in-house issues in such areas as IT, corporate governance, consultant contracts, employment law and landlord-tenant matters.

Admitted to the Bar in 2005, Chris is a graduate of Dalhousie University Law School, and holds a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) from St. Francis Xavier University and a Master of Arts from the University of Toronto. Earlier this year, he completed the requirements of the Certified In-House Counsel program offered by the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto.

In his spare time, Chris enjoys running, golf, and spending time with his niece and nephew. He’s also been known to enjoy the odd karaoke session, provided a forgiving audience.

João Pedro Gonçalves

Senior Economic Advisor

United Nations Development Programme

João Pedro Gonçalves is a Senior Economic Advisor at United Nations Development Programme since 2011, with several missions on Public Finance Management, Sovereign Wealth Funds Management, Public Investment Strategy and Analysis, Public-Private Partnerships Design, Private Sector Development, Strategic Development Planning, etc. to National Governments and Central Banks in East-Timor, Brazil, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, Fiji Islands, Tanzania, China, etc. Currently he is working on the integrated Sustainable Development Strategy for the Agenda Equatorial Guinea 2035. He also served as Senior Economic Advisor to several Sovereign Wealth Funds and was made member of some of its Investment Committees in Zurich.

He is Professor of Economics & Finance at Catholic University of Portugal since 1999, where he was also Vice Dean and Dean ad interim, and Professor of Law Economics & Finance at University of Minho since 2006. During these years he has also taught Economics & Finance at London School of Economics, University of Rome Tor Vergata, University of Vilnius, University of St. Joseph (Macao), University of Granada and University of Barcelona among others.  He has a summa cum laude BSc in International Business and a BSc in Economics (University of Porto) and holds a magna cum laude MSc in Finance (Catholic University of Portugal), a summa cum laude MA in Economics (University of Rome Tor Vergata), a magna cum laude MPhil in Political Science (Catholic University of Portugal). He also finished the Business Economics Programme (Green College – Oxford University) and the PhD Programme in Economics, Finance & Public Policy (University College London – University of Minho).

Lars Erik Aamot

Director General, Head of Oil & Gas Department

Ministry of Petroleum & Energy, Norway

Mr Lars Erik Aamot has more than 20 years of experience from the oil and gas industry, mainly from different roles in the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. Since 2009 he has been the Director General for Oil and Gas in the Ministry.
Mr Aamot obtained his Cand Oecon degree from University of Oslo, Norway in 1996. He joined the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy working with issues related to Norwegian petroleum and environmental policies. In 2000 he joined Statkraft as Senior Economist. In 2001 Norsk Hydro AS as a Senior Investment Analyst working with business development and follow-up of its activities in US, Libya and Russia. He returned to the Ministry as Deputy Director with responsibility of Economic Analysis in 2002. Between 2004 and 2007 he was the Counselor for Energy at the Norwegian embassy in Washington DC.

Lénine Narciso

Director of the Special Tax Directorate

Angolan General Tax Authority, Ministry of Finance, Angola

Lenine has over 15 years experience in the oil and gas sector. Initially, he has worked in dedicated oil & gas projects at Sonangol P&P and Total E&P Angola, specialising in budgeting and cost control, fixed asset management, fiscal audit and internal control. Lately, he has moved from the corporate sector and join the Angolan General Tax Authority (AGT) where his responsibilities includes managing the handling of all activities related with the taxation of all companies in the oil and mining sectors, subject to special taxation regimes, overseeing both the preparation of revenue forecasts from the sectors for the government and the compliance of tax obligations due by taxpayers.

Lenine graduated in Business Administration and Management and Economics, (joint degree) from Oxford Brookes University, and holds an MBA (Masters of Business Administration) from the American Intercontinental University.

Frequently participates in roundtable discussion on oil & gas fiscal policy framework with stakeholders (i.e.: Ministry of Mineral Resources and Petroleum, Ministry of Finance, National Concessionaire, IOCs, oil industry association, etc), while defending on behalf of Ministry of Finance and General Tax Authority (AGT) balanced fiscal terms for the full range of investment opportunities of the sector in Angola.

Muhammad Anas Pradipta

Manager at Finance and Monetization

SKK Migas, Indonesia

I developed an early interest in Energy Market since I started working for Special Task Force for Upstream Oil And Gas Business Activities Republic of Indonesia (SKK Migas) 9 years ago. SKK Migas is an institution that acts on behalf of the government to supervise and manage the oil and gas upstream activities in Indonesia. From 2009 - 2013, I involved in negotiating and monitoring of gas sales contract, as well as evaluating Indonesia’s gas market. Since 2013, I am responsible to conducting LNG Market research, LNG Price comparison, and reviewing current & future LNG Demand in Indonesia. The challenge in this position is that I involve in marketing activities for new Indonesia’s LNG Project where I have the responsibility to ensure not only the Indonesia’s domestic LNG needs are fulfilled but also Indonesia’s economic projection can be achieved.

My working experience has shaped my passion in LNG Market tremendously. While finishing my master program in ESCP Europe (London and Paris Campus) in 2015, I started a research in a LNG Market, particularly in European and Far East Asia LNG Market. I also experienced to be part of Energy Charter Secretariat where I was responsible on analyzing Indonesia position on International Energy Charter and Energy Charter Treaty as well as analyzing Indonesia Energy Efficiency. Currently I’m involving as the part of Task Force to Vice Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Team, providing support and review to all the issues related to oil and gas business.

Nurul Nashwar binti Mohd Taib

Manager, Exploration Business Development

Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM), PETRONAS

Graduated in 2004 with Bsc (Hons) Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Nashwa started her career in East Malaysia (Labuan) in 2005 as an Instrument Engineer for 4 years. Nashwa then left for West Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) to assume various positions in parlay of commercial and strategy work for the next 10 years both in Upstream (Exploration,Development&Production) and Downstream (Refinery&Petrochemical) business covering plant-based, project-based and corporate-based portfolios. Nashwa’s career notable highlights include an Economics Manager of multi-billion projects, where she has been responsible for the sanction of Project RAPID and various Upstream projects in Malaysia, SEA & Australia. With solid 14 years experience in Oil & Gas Industry, Nashwa, who has just completed her 1-year MBA in Warwick Business School, University of Warwick with dissertation in “UK’s Energy Scenarios”, feels that she has soft spot and true passion in Energy related industry.

Roman Kabakov

Head of Division of Tax & Customs Tariff Policy in the Oil & Gas Industry

Ministry of Energy, Russian Federation

“Born on December 11, 1990 in Yaroslavl region.

Since October 2014 is employed as a Head of Tax and Customs Tariff Policy in the Oil & Gas Industry Division by Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation

and responsible for:

development of legislative initiatives and law drafting on new fiscal regimes, tax exemptions for companies, tax maneuvers in the Oil & Gas industry;

launching of fiscal and customs tariff policy stimulation measures for the upstream and downstream.

During 2015-2017 successfully developed legislative initiatives on new fiscal regimes for the upstream based on taxation of the financial result and additional income tax introduction.

During 2018-2019 launched the so called inventory check and roadmap of common stimulating measures for the upstream sector.

Wissam Zahabi

Board Member and Head of Economics and Finance Department

Lebanese Petroleum Administration

Mr. Wissam Zahabi, Chairman of the Board of directors as of 4 December 2015 and Head of Economic and Financial Department at the Lebanese Petroleum Administration. He was working as an Energy Advisor at the office of the Prime Minister in Beirut. He was actively involved in the energy sector; he was part of the team that drafted the petroleum policy, the offshore petroleum law and the petroleum activities regulations. He has been involved with all aspects of energy chain (Hydrocarbon Strategy, gas infrastructure, LNG project, feasibility study of the refinery, gas sales agreements). Wissam followed up on the Electricity sector and securing petroleum products to the thermal power plants. He has a master degree in engineering from the AUB and an MBA in Finance from HEC Montreal and has publications on Energy resource allocation using multi-objective goal programming.