Argus Marpol Strategy Summit

Joseph Israel serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Par Petroleum, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Par Pacific Holdings, focused on refining, commercial, and logistics. Mr. Israel’s 20 plus years of experience in the oil and gas industry includes a successful track record of structuring and leading petroleum refining, marketing and asphalt operations, as well as driving profitable corporate development initiatives. Prior to joining Par in January 2015, Mr. Israel served as Senior Vice President at Hunt Refining Company, where he led operations planning, crude oil supply, marketing and business strategy. Previously, between the years of 2000 and 2008, Mr. Israel served as VP of M&A for Alon USA, a US refiner and marketer, and as Chief Operating Officer for the company between 2008 and 2011. Mr. Israel holds his Master of Business Administration and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Read less

John F. Hatley PE, Americas VP Marine Solutions Wartsila North America, has over 30 years of combined marine experience spanning business development, project management of domestic and overseas vessel construction, advisor pension fund shipping assets, ship operations, and vessel design. He holds positions of industry trust as Board Member SGMF, Commercial Governor Gastech, Member SEA LNG, University Michigan Advisory Board, and Board of Puget LNG. He is a Fellow of The Royal Institution of Naval Architects and SNAME. Awards include, 2016 Recipient Rosenblatt Michigan Award for Outstanding Contributions to Marine Engineering, 2014 featured employee Wartsila Annual Report, and 2008 Admiral McCready Award for Outstanding Achievement in Marine Engineering. BS Kings Point US Merchant Marine Academy; MSE University of Michigan; MBA University of Washington. Read less

Guillaume worked for Totsa and Litasco for 15 years in the oil trading industry as analyst. He has been heavily involved in crude oil, feedstocks, fuel oil and bunker market analysis. He lead the Analytics in Litasco for 7 years; generating intelligence for the oil and refining desks before turning his focus on the IMO2020 regulation. Guillaume brought his oil expertise to Cargill Ocean Transportation in 2018 to be part of the experts team in charge of the shipping strategy. Read less

Ian Adams has been involved in the Shipping Industry since 1985 in various capacities, with P&O Cruises, Deep Sea Seals and Hamworthy. He is currently Executive Director of the Clean Shipping Alliance 2020 (CSA 2020) and Managing Director of IMA Marine Ltd. He was appointed Chief Executive of The International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) in February 2009, after having been its Secretary-General for seven and a half years. During his time there, Ian gained consultative status at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for IBIA. This resulted in him being involved in the process of the revision of MARPOL Annex VI. He was a member of the IMO Secretary General’s Scientific and Industry Expert Panel during 2007. He left IBIA in July 2011. With his wide experience, Ian continues to be in demand to present at conferences around the world about emissions from ships. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering Science and Technology (IMarEST) and has served on the Council as well as being a Past President of the Southern Joint Branch (SJB) in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2011, IMA Marine Ltd is a Marine Consultancy providing consultancy, acting as an expert witness, training, research and advice within the marine industry. Read less

Greg Dolan has held a variety of senior management positions with the Methanol Institute over the past 23 years. In June 2014, he was appointed as permanent CEO of the global methanol industry trade association, after serving as Acting CEO for four years. Mr. Dolan manages MI’s offices in Washington, Singapore, Brussels and Beijing, while directing international governmental relations, media relations, public education and outreach efforts. He has presented papers on methanol-related topics at over 100 international conferences, authored magazine articles, and written book chapters on the methanol industry. Mr. Dolan came to MI after spending a decade in a variety of public information positions in New York State, including the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Department of Transportation, and the Energy Research and Development Authority. Mr. Dolan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Boston University, and did extensive post graduate work in Political Communication at the State University of New York-Albany. Read less

Rick leads Motiva’s Oil Products, Petrochems & Renewables Trading Dept from their company HQ in Houston. Backed by the largest integrated refining & chemicals manufacturing plant in the Americas, Motiva’s trading teams operate in collaborative fashion among diverse internal & external stakeholders. Ensuring end-to-end value and mutually beneficial trading partnerships are the primary missions of the trading teams. Although flows related to the manufacturing sites dominates the daily mandate, growing working relationships with the various global affiliates of Motiva’s owners (e.g. Aramco Trading Company & SABIC) have positioned Motiva Trading well to participate in expanding markets. Read less

Briton P. Sparkman is an attorney at Chalos & Co, P.C. Mr. Sparkman concentrates his practice on civil and criminal litigation with a focus on admiralty and maritime law, including but not limited to contract disputes, maritime liens, maritime attachment, carriage of goods, vessel collisions, oil and hazardous material spills and discharges, and the criminal defense of ship owners, managers, and crewmembers. Mr. Sparkman has considerable experience assisting clients with MARPOL examinations and investigations, cases involving the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act. In addition to handling cases pending in a variety of state and federal courts, as well as arbitrations before the Society of Maritime Arbitrators (among others), Mr. Sparkman also regularly assists clients navigating regulatory and administrative proceedings, including actions pending before the United States Coast Guard, the National Pollution Fund Center, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Read less

Anthony J. Odak has been the Chief Operating Officer at John W. Stone Oil Distributor LLC., in Gretna, LA since 2008. Mr. Odak obtained his BS degree in Marine Systems Engineering and USCG Unlimited HP Engineering License, from the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1996 and received his MBA in Finance from Tulane University in 2006. Mr. Odak oversee the operations of Stone Oil’s inland fleet (17 boats, 49 barges), offshore fleet (5 units), and 8 docks and terminals located throughout the lower Mississippi river, Intracoastal Waterway, and Gulf of Mexico. He also serves as the company’s Director of Business Development. Over the years his professional background has included marine surveyor and engineer for the American Bureau of Shipping, Owner of Holly Marine Towing, and Territory Manager for ExxonMobil with specialization in Marine Lubricants and Marine Fuels. Mr. Odak has written and presented widely on various aspects of Marine Fuel, and is an expert witness in various cases related to the subject. He is a participating member of the USCG CTAC and TSAC committees, and has co-chaired multiple IMO and USCG Subcommittees related to LNG as a Marine Fuel, and LNG Bunkering, as well as Traditional Marine Bunkering, Midstreaming and SIMOPS. He is also a regular speaker and commentator at business seminars and conferences. Read less

Dr. Dean Foreman is Chief Economist for the American Petroleum Institute. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Florida and brings more than 20 years of industry experience in corporate strategic planning, forecasting, risk management, and finance. Before joining API, Dr. Foreman was the lead economist for ExxonMobil Corporate Planning between 2002 and 2008. From 2009 to 2013, he was a member of the executive team at Canadian-based exploration and production company Talisman Energy, where he focused on corporate planning, hedging/marketing, and business development. In 2013 to 2015, he directed the risk management function in North America for South African energy and petrochemical conglomerate Sasol, where he helped drive business cases for $25 billion in U.S. mega projects, including the $11 billion ethane cracker and derivatives complex in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Most recently, he was with Saudi Aramco Strategy & Market Analysis in Dhahran, where he managed short-term market monitoring and the long-term oil demand outlook. Read less

Kevin Cote serves as the Marine Technical Sales Manager (Americas) for Innospec Fuel Specialties, LLC, a global specialty chemicals company focused on bringing to market innovative new technologies combined with fast and responsive service. Mr. Cote has been in the maritime industry for thirty-five (35) years of which ten (10) years have been within the fuels and lubricants business. He has worked in the public sector for organizations such as: Supervisor of Shipbuilding; United States Coast Guard and Military Sealift Command. Since entering the private sector in 1996, Mr. Cote has worked for companies such as: ExxonMobil; Royal Caribbean Cruises; Shell Marine; Caterpillar Marine; MAN; and Wartsila. Mr. Cote holds his Bachelors of Science from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and his Masters in Public Administration from Norwich University. He is also a retired U.S. Navy Reserve Commander with Veteran Status and presently serves as the Vice-Chair South for the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) Southeast Section in Florida. Read less

Zach Stansbury heads supply and trading at GCC Bunkers, a leading marine fuel supplier, which services its customers in the port of Houston and surrounding areas. Stansbury has experience supplying marine fuels in the US Gulf Coast, US West Coast, Canadian East Coast and Caribbean markets, during his time at GCC Bunkers and NuStar Energy. At GCC Bunkers, Stansbury has focused his efforts in developing the group’s low-sulfur marine fuels expertise, as the company develops innovative solutions for its customers in 2020 and beyond. Read less

Stephen Broadbent is the handles buying and selling of VGO, slurry, and VTBs for Flint Hills Resources, which has refineries in Corpus Christi, TX and Pine Bend, MN. He is focused on managing the heavy fuels transition to IMO 2020. Prior to working at Flint Hills, he worked at Koch Supply and Trading for 11 years trading VGO and working on refinery supply and demand models. He worked at ExxonMobil as a process engineer in Baytown focused on plastics and aromatics for 5 years prior to joining Koch. He holds a chemical engineering degree from Brigham Young University and an MBA from University of Houston. Read less

Photo and bio coming soon Read less

James Wait has an over 35 year combined maritime record of achievement spanning the oil and gas, salvage, and LNG as bunker fuel sectors. James presently serves multiple roles including CEO of small scale integrated solutions provider, REV LNG Marine LLC, Marine Coordination service provider to Cheniere Corpus Christi Liquefaction, and consultancy services to the small scale LNG supply chain industry. A 1985 graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, James served 15 years (of 25 years at sea) as Captain on board LNG and petrochemical carriers followed by five years as Salvage Master to SMIT Salvage Americas where he managed over 35 global cases in the challenging and dynamic world of marine salvage and emergency response. He is a fervent advocate of safeguarding LNG’s safety reputation into the future and promoting a cooperative industry mandate amongst contributors to the LNG as bunker fuel supply chain. Read less

Juan Carlos Manzano has over 10 years of energy-commodity experience, particularly crude oil. Currently, he is the Commercial Planning Manager of Frontera Energy Corp. In this role, Juan Carlos leads Frontera’ market intelligence analysis and develops commercial & trading strategies. Prior to this position, Juan Carlos held various positions within Citgo Petroleum, Platts, Wood Mackenzie & Tenaris in Houston, Texas. Read less

Ananth currently serves as the Vice President at V-TIC Services. V-TIC Services focuses on the supply side of the fuel supply chain and is intimately involved in supporting suppliers across their business. From helping suppliers develop fuels for the future to helping them develop the basis of design in their refineries, the V-TIC Services team was developed to be at the cutting edge of our customer’s next challenge. Ananth Srinivasan has over eighteen years of experience working at Baker Hughes and in a startup, in a variety of roles including P&L management, sales, operations, engineering, product development, and project management. His breadth of experience spans the oil and gas sectors from upstream operations to the marine shipping business. He has an Executive MBA from Texas A&M and a Masters in Chemical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines helping combine technical knowledge with commercial acumen to help clients succeed. Read less

Michael is the Vice President, Global Fuel Sourcing for Carnival Corporation. He has a diverse set of experiences in the petroleum and shipping industries that spans over 30 years and covers all aspects of finance, production, processing, transporting, selling, buying and testing petroleum products. Prior to joining Carnival Corporation & PLC, he served Managing Director & President, Americas for Veritas Petroleum Services B.V. where he oversaw all aspects of Sales, Marketing, and Operations for North America and South America Prior to joining Veritas Petroleum Services, he was responsible for coordinating global strategies for all aspects of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines fuel exposure and energy expense across all of the corporation’s operations, including fuel procurement, emission abatement, fuel/emission regulation, fuel hedging, and energy efficiency programs. Michael holds an MBA in international business and finance from Oklahoma City University, and has completed the Executive Management Program at Wharton School of Business Read less

Paul Hicks is a lifelong member of the shipping industry in the Houston/Galveston area. He began his carrier in the container business as a boarding agent for Evergreen Marine, then worked for Maersk Inc. as well as CP Ships in a variety of capacities. In the mid 2000’s he shifted gears and began work in the breakbulk/project arena. He has since worked with breakbulk brokers managing charter, part charter and lo/lo cargoes. His most recent expertise is with breakbulk/project cargoes on ro/ro carriers and has worked with Hoegh Autoliners as a key account manager for the Americas. His current position is with Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean, the largest true ro/ro carrier in operation today with over 130 ro/ro vessels. He has extensive experience in project and breakbulk sales focusing on a direct on-site consultative approach. Projects include locomotives, passenger rail, oil and gas sector, wind generation equipment and mining equipment. Current position is global in nature and entails extensive international travel coordinating projects worldwide. Paul is also key point of contact for IMO 2020 for Wallenius Wilhelmsen for customer relations. Read less

Stephen Jones is Senior Vice President of Oil Markets Strategy at Argus and is based in Houston. Stephen leads engagements with industry stakeholders on strategic matters related to market fundamentals, regulatory developments, and price factors across the petroleum sectors. Stephen joined Argus in 2017 as the manager of the Americas Oil Markets Business Development team and became the Global Head of Oil Products in 2018 where he was responsible for Argus pricing solutions for the rapidly changing trading requirements for gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, marine fuels, base oils, asphalt, refinery feedstocks and biofuels markets. Stephen has expertise in all aspects of the energy business, having served clients for 34 years in the industry. Prior to Argus, Stephen was with Purvin & Gertz and IHS Markit for 17 years where he was Vice President of the Refining & Marketing team. He has been an instrumental leader for large international teams, providing research and consulting services to clients in the upstream, crude oil markets, refining, natural gas liquids, chemicals, automotive, maritime, and midstream businesses. While at IHS Markit, Stephen was charged with leading the Energy Product Management team and the integration of the legacy PFC Energy, Purvin & Gertz, and CERA market analytical subscription services. Stephen began his career in the energy business with Exxon at the world-class Baton Rouge Refinery where he advanced through a variety of technical support, business planning, engineering supervision, and operations management positions. He then held positions in Exxon’s Refining Headquarters and Supply & Trading teams in Houston where he gained expertise in crude oil trading, refinery optimization and energy market economics. Stephen holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Tulane University. Read less

Ed covers upstream, refining, US transportation trends, and biotechnology for Argus Consulting Services. He has 39 years’ experience conducting market analysis, project feasibility studies, and new process technology evaluation, working for Argus, Jacobs Consultancy and UOP/Honeywell. He has provided advisory services for many of the world’s most successful oil production, refining, energy, logistics and bio-fuels organizations, as well as for banks, sovereign wealth funds and government agencies. Ed holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry from the University of California, a Master of Science degree in Microbiology from the Illinois Institute of Technology and he received a Master in Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago. Read less

Stefka Wechsler joined Argus in 2012 as an editor and marine fuel analyst contributing to the daily price and news report Argus Marine Fuels. Formerly a residual fuel oil consultant with Poten & Partners (2006-2012) where she focused on market analysis and scenario planning for fuel oil production, consumption and regulations. While at Poten, she contributed to the monthly Fuel Oil in World Markets and Fuel Oil Opinion reports and co-authored the studies Fuel Oil Prospects 2010-2015, North America ECA 2012-2020 and Marine Fuel Regulations 2010-2025.
Stefka has an extensive network of international marine fuel suppliers, traders, brokers and ship owners and ship charterers. She created and maintains a detailed marine exhaust scrubber database and low-carbon fuels vessels database.
Stefka has an MBA from Fordham University. Read less