Argus European Crude Conference

Ben Harris is the Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the US Treasury Department. Prior to this role, he was a professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and the senior economic adviser to the Joe Biden campaign. He also founded the economic consulting firm Cherrydale Strategies. Earlier in his career, he served as the chief economist and economic adviser to then-vice president Biden, the policy director of the Hamilton Project, Economic Studies fellow at the Brookings Institution, and deputy director of the Retirement Security Project. Harris was also a senior research associate with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a senior economist with the Council of Economic Advisers, and a senior economist with the Budget Committee in the US House of Representatives. He holds a PhD in economics from George Washington University, master's degrees from Cornell and Columbia, and a BA from Tufts University. Read less

Saad Rahim is Chief Economist at Trafigura, one of the world’s largest traders of oil, metals and other commodities. He is responsible for the company’s views on markets and macroeconomics, including the outlook for crude oil, oil products and metals markets, commodity prices, equity and credit markets, and political risk. Prior to joining Trafigura, Saad was Chief Economist at BG Group (now Shell), a major integrated oil and gas company, and prior to that Deputy Chief Economist at Chevron. Before joining Chevron, Saad was an international energy adviser with PFC Energy (now IHSMarkit). Saad received BA degrees in Economics and Political Science from Stanford University, and attended the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) for advanced degree work in Economics and Global Energy. Read less

Marco joined Saras Group in 1993 after a brief experience at Olivetti, where he held a number of roles in the trading and financial field. He initially served as Corporate Finance Manager and then moved on to the role of Investor Relations Manager. He later took up the role of Supply and Trading Director, with responsibilities overarching the entire supply chain. In 2015, Marco became Saras Trading’s Chief Executive and three years later, he was appointed the company’s Chief Commercial Officer. Read less

Frederic joined Gunvor in September 2020 as global head of research and analysis, leading a team of 20 oil market analysts, quants and data managers. Before this, he worked for Total Oil Trading, where he worked since 2016. He started his career at Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking as an oil analyst, building up and managing the company’s commodity research team over 12 years. Frederic holds a BS degree in applied mathematics and a PhD in economics, both from the University of Bordeaux in France, as well as a master’s degree in banking and finance from the UK’s University of Birmingham. Read less

Lukasz Strupczewski is Director of Crude Oil Trading and acting Executive Director of Oil and Gas Trading for Polish refiner Orlen Capital Group. Lukasz joined Orlen 15 years ago and was responsible for the first deliveries of oil to Orlen refineries from Africa, the Middle East and the US. Lukasz is a graduate of the law and administration faculty at the University of Warsaw and has a degree in economic sciences from the School of Economics in Warsaw. Read less

Vicki Goodwin joined the oil desk at Ezpada AG, Zug, Switzerland, in 2020 as senior oil trade strategist. She covers analytics and trade deployment across the oil barrel, with a core focus on crude oil and middle distillates, using the increased range of advanced data now available in the oil space to assist with successful risk deployment. Ezpada started out trading power and now trades across the energy and commodity space and is headquartered in Prague. Vicki was previously on the distillates desk at Koch Supply and Trading in Geneva and started in the oil industry at Shell, in London and Singapore. She read engineering, economics and management at the University of Oxford and lives in Zug. Read less

Alexander Peters is an executive director with over 25 years of experience in financial leadership roles covering the oil & gas and mining space ranging from upstream, midstream to downstream operations. He is group Chief Financial Officer and Board Director of ArrowResources Group, and board director of the Commodity Club Switzerland. Prior to that he was group CFO of Prax Group. His previous roles include CFO of Sahara Energy, Head of Finance with Trafigura. Alexander holds a Master of Business Admiration degree from Webster University Vienna, a Master of Business Law degree from University St. Gallen and certificate of advanced studies in corporate finance from INSEAD Business school. Read less

Juan Carlos has more than 18 years of professional experience, with 12 years of commercial experience in the Americas and European energy value chains, with a strong focus in trading and commercial development in the upstream and downstream sectors including refining, logistics and supply. In 2005, he started his international career as a project engineer in the water treatment sector, working at Veolia Water in the US for six years. After finishing his MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, he joined BP in 2012 and spent six years working in Chicago and London in the commercial space. After more than 14 years abroad, he decided to return to his native Colombia and joined Ecopetrol in 2018 as the global head of crude and carbon trading, leading the commercial strategy of Ecopetrol´s crude oil portfolio and commercial decarbonisation. Read less

Vladimir is a downstream oil executive with broad experience in crude oil and products trading and sales, crude and feedstock optimisation, refining, retail, and operations. As managing director of Europe and Africa at Prax group, he leads Prax group’s entire downstream value chain in the region, including refining, sales, logistics and terminals, and operations. Before this, Vladimir worked at OMV from 2006, serving as managing director of the firm’s trading arm in Switzerland. He oversaw a team tasked with optimising crude and feedstock supply for the OMV’s western refineries in Austria and Germany, and also as managing director of the firm’s trading office in London. Read less

Owain is the Global Head of Research and Product Development at CME Group, where he previously served as Managing Director of Energy Research and Product Development. Before that, Owain was the Managing Director of the Dubai Mercantile Exchange, as well as Executive Director of CME Group Singapore. Before joining CME Group in 2010, he served as Asia Business Development Manager for Argus Media. Owain is the author of “The Price Reporters: A Guide to PRAs and Commodity Benchmarks” and “40 Classic Crude Oil Trades: Real-Life Examples of Innovative Trading”. He is chair of CME Group’s ESG Product Committee; co-chair of the UN’s Sustainable Derivatives Markets Committee; deputy chair of the World Federation of Exchange’s Sustainability Working Group; and a member of the International Regulatory Strategy Group’s ESG Workstream. He is a member of the International Association for Energy Economics, and earned his master’s degree from Cambridge University. Read less

Jeanine Wai is a Director and the US Integrated Oil & E&P (exploration and production) analyst at Barclays. Last year, Jeanine ranked runner-up in the Institutional Investor E&P category. She joined Barclays in June 2018 from Citi, where she covered SMID Cap E&P. Jeanine has more than 20 years of experience on the buy side, sell side and in industry, all of which directly involved oil and gas, including working at Nexus Asset Management, JP Morgan and Bechtel. She began her professional career at Chevron, where she spent six years as a process engineer in various downstream roles in refining and base oils. Jeanine has a BS in chemical engineering from the University of California-Berkeley and an MBA from MIT Sloan. Read less

Jakob has more than 20 years’ experience in the tanker shipping sector, holding operational and commercial positions including Head of Operations at Maersk Gas Carriers, Maersk Tankers and BW Shipping with fleets in excess of 100 vessels. Jakob is based in Copenhagen but has previously had postings in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, India and Singapore. Jakob currently heads the oil and gas research division at Maersk Broker Advisory Services and is also deeply engaged in decarbonisation consultancy. Jakob holds a degree in business administration from Copenhagen Business School and has also attended executive training at Harvard Business School. Read less

Together with her life partner Conor, Sofia helps shipowners with their transition journey, developing ESG strategies for mutual value creation and risk sharing. As Maritime Directors to the Ammonia Energy Association, they facilitate knowledge sharing and connection between maritime and ammonia stakeholders. FMA supports the connection between start-ups and corporates, through their collaboration with The Ocean Opportunity Lab (TOOL). FMA is a member of the Getting To Zero Coalition and in various outfits supports the UN Ocean Decade. Sofia was previously Innovation Portfolio Manager at Maersk, BDM for Nor-Shipping, and Senior Consultant at DNV. In the industry since 2006, she has worked in Oslo, Singapore and Copenhagen. Based in Sweden, she is a Board Member of WISTA International and leads its Tech and Futures Committee. She has a MSc in Chem. Eng. from Lund, DNV’s Top Tech Diploma from Berkeley in 2008, and is a 2015 graduate of the Blue MBA, CBS. Read less

As Vortexa’s chief economist, David Wech is contributing his extensive experience in research operations across strategy execution, product development, supply and demand modelling, competitive market positioning, commodity analysis and price forecasting. Before joining Vortexa, David worked for more than 18 years at JBC Energy, including eight years as managing director and seven years as the head of research. He is a graduate in economics from the University of Vienna. With great passion and dedication, David is distilling valuable insights from deep fundamental market analysis, making use of Vortexa’s leading coverage of crude, refined products and gas flows, crude inventory data and various freight services, allowing for global market coverage in close to real time. He regularly shares his unique market views and forward-looking perspectives in client and industry events, as well as with leading media outlets. Read less

Viktor started his career at Hungary's MOL, first as a physical crude trader, managing Russian pipeline crude flows to Central Europe, then leading the same company’s seaborne crude trading operations. Having joined JBC Energy in early 2021 to gradually become the head of crude analysis, Viktor is now heading Kpler's sour crude analysis within the wider research team, covering supply and flows of OPEC+ countries, Latin America and others. He is based in Vienna, Austria. Read less

Ms Toril Bosoni is the Head of the Oil Markets Division at the Paris-based International Energy Agency, and has been tracking international oil market developments for the IEA for over two decades. She is the editor of the agency’s flagship Oil Market Report and Medium Term Oil Market Report. She is also a regular contributor to the IEA’s World Energy Outlook and World Energy Investments and plays a lead role in the agency’s essential work on energy security. Ms Bosoni obtained her BA in International Economics & Business Administration at the American University of Paris (AUP), and has undertaken extensive training in econometrics and energy economics. Toril is originally from Stavanger, Norway. Read less

Paul Sebastien is co-founder and director of Climate Neutral Commodity, an independent certification standard for climate-neutral commodity transactions and services. Paul was previously an energy and carbon trader for a utility, a bank and a hedge fund. Paul also acted as a commodity and sustainability expert for various national agencies in Africa and for the United Nations. Read less

Serge K Mazodila is a qualified technical analyst with extensive portfolio management experience and currently head of risk management and trading at The Monarch Partnership. He is in charge of developing the group’s trading strategies and risk management policies and leads its market intelligence as editor-in-chief; covering energy commodities, equities, FX and fixed income, while specialising in macro-economics with an emphasis on geopolitical risks. Serge has contributed to the energy sector with works and papers concerning energy market outlooks/forecasts and associated price risk. Serge also acts as a panellist at energy forums such as the Major Energy Users’ Council. Serge is a full member of the Society Technical Analysts in the UK and gained his certificate in technical analysis from International Federation of Technical Analysts. Serge holds a Bachelor of Science in accounting and finance from the University of York, with a strong focus on investment management. Read less

Paola has more than seven years’ experience in the energy industry and for the past four years has been focused on advising traders and midstream companies on a broad suite of topics, including crude and product storage capacity, US export infrastructure trends, crude demand and refinery downstream trends. She works closely with different stakeholders and is frequently interviewed on oil and gas topics by leading news outlets, specialist publications and think-tanks. Read less

Adi Imsirovic has over 30 years of experience in oil trading. He held a number of senior positions, including Global Head of Oil at Gazprom Marketing & Trading, Director of Petraco and the Head of their Singapore office and The Regional Manager of Texaco Oil Trading for Asia. He was a Fulbright Scholar and he studied at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University. Adi also taught economics at Surrey University for several years: Energy Economics as well as Resource and Environmental Economics. He has a PhD in Economics and a Masters degree in Energy Economics. Read less

Kurt is an independent director at Zenith Energy, a midstream bulk liquids business with assets in the Americas and Europe. In his 29-year career as a crude oil trader, he has worked with several prominent firms, including Sempra Energy, Koch, Elf (now Total) and Morgan Stanley. Before joining Zenith, he ran the international crude oil business for Mercuria Energy in Geneva. He reached the rank of second lieutenant in the US Marine Corps after completing the US Navy ROTC program at MIT. Kurt has a BA degree in economics from Harvard University. Read less

Mark is Carbon Management Director – Europe, Africa and Middle East for GaffneyCline, helping clients understand the options available that will ensure continued business success through the energy transition. Mark brings close to 20 years of technical and commercial experience leading business strategy and project investments in energy decarbonisation. He started his career with BP and his recent roles include Head of Renewable Energy for Saudi Aramco and Global Renewable Energy Programme Manager for Heineken. Read less

Richard Matthews has been working in the shipping markets since 2009. For the past eight years he has led Gibson's consultancy and research offering, which provides an investment and chartering advisory service to Gibson's clients and third parties in the maritime and associated industries. Richard spends a significant portion of his time travelling internationally to present Gibson’s views on the market to clients and at industry events. In January 2022, Richard was appointed to Gibson's board of directors, where he is responsible for research, technology and strategy. Before Gibson, Richard worked as an analyst in the maritime and trade department of IHS Markit, before being promoted to the role of maritime business manager, where he oversaw a team of 25 shipping analysts. Read less

Bill Farren-Price is a director with Enverus and leads the macro oil and gas team, with a particular focus on international energy policy and geopolitics. Bill has reported and researched the Middle East energy industry for 27 years and is widely connected, providing Enverus clients with insight into the world’s less predictable oil and gas producers. Before joining Enverus, Bill founded advisory firm Petroleum Policy Intelligence, serving institutional investors and oil and gas operators, and also worked as head of energy policy at New York-based Medley Global Advisors. Read less

Rachel is KPMG’s lead expert on low-carbon fuels, advising a range of clients on strategies and investments at UK and global levels. Until February 2022, she was deputy director for low-carbon fuels at the UK Department for Transport, where she helped drive a major increase in supply of sustainable fuels, and laid the foundations for growth in UK production. Rachel’s career has spanned a range of energy and environment policy areas, including solar feed-in tariffs and the climate change act. Read less

Euan Craik is Head of Oil and served on the board of directors of Argus Media Limited from 2005 until 2016. Since 2006, Euan has led the Argus management team in the Americas, expanding the reach of offices and breadth of services. He joined Argus in 1996, initially as a specialist on the Russian oil and gas industries. From 2000, Euan served as Argus’ Executive Editor, based in London, where he developed Argus’ LNG coverage and other areas of the global gas and power portfolio. In the early nineties, Euan worked in business journalism in Moscow, initially at the first post-Soviet business newspaper, Kommersant, then at the English-language Moscow Times. He was later awarded a fellowship at the Centre for Economic Performance of the London School of Economics. Read less

David has more than 30 years’ experience of working in energy markets. Prior to joining Argus, David was most recently chief economist at commodity trading company Gunvor. Before this, he managed the oil industry and markets division of the International Energy Agency and edited its influential monthly Oil Market Report. David has a master’s degree in energy policy and economics from Imperial College London. Read less

James is responsible for business development in southern Europe and Africa. James has been with the company since 2004 performing several editorial roles, including editing European electricity and emissions market publications. From 2007-10, he was the editor of the daily Argus Crude report, managing a global team of reporters and developing new crude price assessments. Prior to joining Argus, James worked as a teacher, speechwriter and journalist. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and American literature from Manchester University and a master’s degree in international journalism from City University, London. Read less

Alex Younevitch is the Global Head of Freight at Argus, responsible for the strategy, editorial coverage, market engagement and adoption of Freight & Transportation services at Argus Media. Prior to joining Argus in February 2020, Alex was head of EMEA shipping at S&P Global Platts, overseeing over 100 of daily freight assessments and three daily publications. He drove the rapid expansion of the Platts freight portfolio in the tankers, dry bulk and container markets. Alex previously worked as a tanker broker at Gibson Shipbrokers. Alex has a 1st class BA Honours degree in International Supply Chain and Shipping Management from the University of Plymouth. Read less

Tom Reed joined Argus from UK broadcaster the BBC in 2003. He worked on Argus’ corporate and European products desks before moving to head Argus’ Asian market analysis of oil and generation fuels. As Vice-president of China crude and products he oversees Argus’ China oil pricing and analysis service. Read less

Kriton Xydas is head of data science at Argus Media. His main focus is the development of innovative AI/ML products for trading and hedging on commodity markets. Before joining Argus Media in 2018, Kriton worked as a quantitative analyst for various firms, gaining experience from applying a variety of machine learning algorithms in different industries (banking, consulting and insurance). Kriton holds a PhD in engineering from Cardiff University, specialising in machine learning applications in the energy industry. Read less

Andreea Moldovan is head of data science, Europe, at Argus Media. Before joining Argus, Andreea spent a few years at the Financial Conduct Authority, in the supervision and enforcement and market oversight divisions. At the FCA she gained vast experience in applying machine learning algorithms to complex financial problems. At Argus, Andreea uses her expertise in the application of innovative AI/ML algorithms to develop products for trading, hedging and risk management. Andreea holds an MSc and PhD from the University of Essex on the advanced quantitative methods path, fully funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and Wellcome Trust. Read less