Argus Rio Crude Conference

Renato Dutra

National Secretary of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels, Ministry of Mines and Energy, Brazil

Luiz Carvalho

CFO, Brava Energia

Luiz Carvalho is currently Brava Energia CFO / IRO. Luiz was ranked #1 analyst by Institutional Investor survey in Brazil Oil & Gas for 10 consecutive years and holds a degree in Industrial Engineer from Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, with specialization courses at Harvard and Wharton. Prior to Brava Energia, Luiz spent 15 year in Finance where he worked at UBS, HSBC and BTG Pactual. Luiz also has industry experience at Shell and Transocean and worked offshore in Brazil for 2 years.

Alipio Ferreira

Vice President- Crude Oil Trading Brasil, Petrochina

Alipio Ferreira is a Petroleum engineer with a master’s degree in Administration, from Coppead-UFRJ. He currently serves as the Crude Vice President at PetroChina Brazil International Trading. With extensive experience in the oil industry, Alipio has held key positions both in Brazil and internationally. Notably, he has contributed to exploration and production, crude and products trading, distribution, and petrochemicals. His career spans roles such as Petrobras America Downstream VP, Petrobras Singapore Managing Director, BR Distribuidora Director, and Petrobras Head of Global Crude and Products Trading.

Samir Awad

Director of Trading, PPSA

Holder of an Undergraduate Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Military Institute of Engineering (IME) in 1982, with a Master´s degree in Subsea Engineering (Cranfield University and Insead Business School), in England, and Postgraduate Certificates from Stanford (USA) and Insead Business School, in France, Samir Awad began his professional career at Petrobras, where he worked for over 30 years. Among the various activities carried out at the company, the engineer served as CEO of Petrobras Nigeria Ltd. (1999-2006); executive manager for the Americas, Africa and Asia, managing E&P and downstream projects in 17 countries (2007-2009); and CEO of Petrobras Netherlands BV. (2009-2016).

Daan Struyven

Co‑Head of Global Commodities Research & Head of Oil Research, Goldman Sachs

Daan is co-head of Global Commodities Research and head of Oil Research within Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research. He is co-responsible for research and views on global commodity markets, spanning oil, natural gas, power, precious metals, industrial metals, and commodity portfolio allocation. He also continues to drive research on oil and gold markets. Prior to leading the firm's research on oil markets, he co-led research on the global economy for three years, led the firm's economics research effort for Canada and worked in the US economics group for five years. Daan joined Goldman Sachs in 2015 and was named managing director in 2021. Earlier in his career, Daan worked as an economist at the World Bank. He was also a guest lecturer at Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Columbia University and Universite Libre de Bruxelles. Daan's work has been published in several academic journals, including the American Economic Journal: Policy and the Journal of Banking and Finance. Daan earned a BA in Political Science and Business Engineering and an MA in Business Engineering from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium. He also earned a PhD in Economics from MIT in 2015.

Łukasz Strupczewski

Executive Director for Oil Trading, ORLEN S.A

Francisco Villamil

Executive Trading Manager, Vista

Rob McLeod

Global Head of Energy Risk Solutions, Hartree Partners

Rob McLeod leads Hartree’s Global Risk Solutions group, sharing advice and insight to customers across all industry sectors on energy price risk – from crude and refined products to natural gas, emissions, freight and beyond – and providing hedging tools to help manage that risk. With 20 years’ experience, Rob has built a leading franchise in risk management across the energy sphere – structuring solutions to exactly fit clients’ needs, whether as standalone derivatives or embedded into physical supply & offtake. Prior to joining Hartree, Rob worked in energy at UBS. He holds a BSC in Economics from the University of Bristol.

Bruno Donato

Associate Director, Macquarie

Vanessa Viola

Executive Vice President, Latin America, Argus

Vanessa Viola is the Executive Vice-President of Latin America at Argus. She rejoined Argus in 2011 as our Brazil Country Manager and is now working to expand the company’s business across Latin America. Vanessa initially joined Argus in 2001, working as Deputy Editor of the Argus European Products report and Editor of the Argus International LPG report before leaving in 2005 to work as an LPG broker with Gibson in London. Prior to her assignments in the UK, Vanessa worked as a political and financial correspondent for Reuters (Brasilia, Sao Paulo), as a financial reporter for Brazil’s leading news agency Agencia Estado and as a press relations officer with energy engineering company Asea Brown Boveri, also based in Sao Paulo. A graduate from Brazil’s Casper Libero University with a BA in social communications, Vanessa has a master’s degree in international journalism from London’s City University. In addition to Portuguese and English, she is fluent in Spanish.

Arturo Vial

Market Intelligence Analyst, Ultranav

I’m an Industrial Civil Engineer with a Diploma in Environmental Engineering. Born and raised in Santiago, Chile, I joined Ultranav as a Business Analyst for CPP/DPP Business Units (Panamax, MR2’s & Aframax) Sept-2020 to an almost empty office during COVID lockdowns. In Jan-2023, I joined the Miami offices to work as a Market Intelligence Analyst, working alongside the Chartering department with a mixture of Market Intel & Risk Management duties.

Matt Smith

Head Analyst- US, KPLER

Matt started his career at Royal Bank of Canada in London, England, working his way up to portfolio manager in the investment management team. He then moved to the US and spent 8 years as a Global Commodity Analyst at Schneider Electric / Summit Energy, before becoming Director of Commodity Research at ClipperData for 6 years, leading a team of analysts across a variety of energy commodities.
Matt joined Kpler in September 2021, and as Head Analyst, US, he is focused on producing research and providing counsel to key clients on the energy market.