Argus Methanol Forum

David Cassidy is Chief Executive of Proman. Since taking up the position in 2008, David has continued driving the global business to success and year-on-year growth. A committed entrepreneur, he has brought new subsidiaries into the Proman family of companies, expanding operations into new markets, establishing the company’s global footprint and delivering a fully integrated, diversified platform across the whole value chain, from the production of natural gas to the marketing and delivery of end products to customers. David graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1998 with a Bachelor’s degree with Honours in Medicine and a Master’s degree with Honours in Social and Political Science. A touring golf professional until a major shoulder operation curtailed career, David formed Re:event Limited, an event management company, in 2002. In 2006 David joined Proman working in Germany, the United States, Oman and Trinidad before settling in Switzerland in late 2007. Read less

Dave McCaskill has been invested in the petrochemical industry for over 35 years. Beginning his long career with Celanese Chemical in 1975, Dave started as a chemical engineer at their Pampa, Texas plant, and steadily progressed through a series of positions ranging from planning, supply chain, field sales and marketing within the organization. Noted positions included Business Manager Ethylene Oxide/Ethylene Glycol and the last several years with the company as Business Manager Methanol & Derivatives. In 2000, Dave moved into the consulting sector and worked with another leading industry consulting organization, heading their Global Methanol service for 10 years. Joining DeWitt & Company in 2010, as Vice President Methanol & Derivatives, Dave continues to be focused on all commercial aspects of the methanol industry—supply, demand, capacity, pricing, cost structure, etc. Dave graduated from the University of Kansas, with a degree in chemical engineering, in 1975. Read less

Anita Gajadhar is Managing Director of Proman Shipping and Managing Director of Marketing and Logistics for Proman. In these roles, Ms Gajadhar develops and implements the company’s global shipping and marketing strategy and oversees all of its operations. Ms Gajadhar has over 18 years’ experience in the energy sector in Trinidad and Tobago and Europe and has worked for companies in the Proman family for sixteen years. Prior to her appointment to the role of Managing Director of Proman Shipping, Ms Gajadhar was Commercial Manager at Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Limited (MHTL), a leading player in the energy sector and also a member of the Proman family of companies. Ms Gajadhar has been a member of the Methanol Institute Board of Directors since 2019, and is a member of the Boards of Helm Proman Methanol and Proman Stena Bulk Ltd. Ms Gajadhar holds an MBA from Heriot-Watt University, a bachelor’s degree in Management Studies and Finance from the University of the West Indies and a Certificate in Maritime Law and Shipping Contracts. Read less

Alexander gained his PhD degree in Chemical Engineering at the Technical University Karlsruhe. He joined ThyssenKrupp Uhde in 2003 as process engineer. He has gained experience in engineering work as well as project management in local and international projects. From 2004 until 2015, he was responsible for coordinating R&D activities in the field of refining and petrochemical and has extensive knowledge of refining / hydrocarbon processing and lube oil technologies. He has held various functions and positions in the refinery and oil & gas sector. Since 2016, he has been product manager for methanol and responsible for the methanol process team. Read less

Becky Zhang works for Argus in a role of Asia petrochemical analyst, mainly covering Asia’s olefins and methanol markets. She has over ten years of real-time market editor work, familiar with chemical market dynamics particularly on China market and has wide industrial networks. She has also spent two years particularly in consulting service as a project manager focusing on China market and led projects in various industries, including refinery, olefins, polymers, coal and methanol. Becky is also a regular presenter at olefins and methanol conferences and forums. Becky is a chemical engineering graduate from East China University of Science and Technology, and holds two masters’ degrees in Environmental and Energy Engineering from the University of Sheffield (2001-2002) and Entrepreneurship from the University of Nottingham (2002-2003). 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

Roel Salazar, is the Methanol and Derivatives Consultant for Argus DeWitt. Roel is responsible for assessing US Methanol spot prices and monthly indexes. Roel is also instrumental in preparing the Annual Global MTBE Report and MTBE Monthly Outlook. Roel joined DeWitt & Company Inc. in 2005 as an Olefins Analyst supporting the Ethylene, Propylene, and Butadiene services. Mr. Salazar joined the Fuels and Octane team in 2011 and has steadily built key client relationships with US MTBE consumers, producers and traders while helping them analyze the global MTBE and Octane markets. Roel’s previous experience includes managing system development projects in several industries. His petrochemical experience includes working at one of Mobil’s ethylene cracker in Houston between 1996 -1997. Mr. Salazar holds an undergraduate degree in Information Systems from the University of Houston. Read less

As Manager Sustainability & Transformation, Peter Björkborg is leading Stena Bulk’s innovation and business development initiatives within the areas of sustainability and digital transformation. Within the field of decarbonization, Peter has been working with several commercially focused projects involving alternative fuels and new technology to improve efficiency and reduce emissions from shipping. Prior to his current position, Peter has 10 years of experience from business development and project management in the maritime industry. Read less

Berit is Head of Decarbonization Business Development at Maersk and is working on projects to decarbonise shipping with a focus on future marine fuels. Before joining Maersk in April 2020, she worked for Haldor Topsoe for 13 years in roles within R&D, business development, technology scouting and corporate strategy, covering technical and commercial projects across ammonia, methanol, syngas and refinery catalysts and technologies. Berit has also worked as a research scientist in materials science at Princeton University. She has a master’s in physics from the University of Duisburg-Essen and a PhD in physics from the Technical University of Denmark with a focus on catalysis and ammonia synthesis. Read less

Before co-founding Alembic Global Advisors, Hassan served as managing director and global sector head for chemicals research at HSBC. In the past, he has also worked as a senior buy-side research analyst covering the materials space at Brown Brothers Harriman, a senior sell-side research analyst covering the chemical space at Sanford Bernstein, a strategy consultant at the Mitchell Madison Group and a process engineer at Imperial Chemical Industries. Extel has ranked Hassan #1 Middle East and north Africa analyst across all sectors consecutively for the past four years. He was ranked #1 US stock picker by FT/Starmine in 2008 and Best Up and Comer in the US chemicals sector by Institutional Investor in 2006 and 2008. He holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in chemical engineering from London University and an master of science degree in operations research from Columbia University. 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

In her role at Enerkem, Andrea leads the development and implementation of Enerkem’s global business development and partnership strategy. Andrea brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in business development, technology licensing and capital projects. Before joining Enerkem, she led the global technology licensing business at Siluria Technologies, with responsibility for commercialising breakthrough technology in petrochemicals and fuels. Before this, she led major international projects and technology with BP and Shell, with her experience spanning early conceptual design work and new technology development, through to in-field commissioning and plant start-up. Andrea holds a master's degree in chemical engineering from Imperial College London and is a chartered chemical engineer. Read less

Philip brings to ZEEP over 30 years of diverse technical and commercial experience, with specific skills in science and engineering, commodities and trading, project management and private equity. Mr. Lewis provided seed round funding to ZEEP in 2008, before joining the company fulltime in 2009. He served as the executive vice president of Rock Well Petroleum Inc. and the Chief Operating Officer of Texas Energy Center. He is Chairman of independent oil and gas producer Dolomite Petroleum, L.C. Has provided web-based management solutions to ADTI, the largest drilling contractor in the Gulf of Mexico, and to the largest producers in the North Sea. Read less

Saleem has invested 51 years in the maritime industry, with hands-on experience in the oil and gas sector on an LNG terminal project. In addition to being a shipowner and operator, in the past he has served as director of the UAE Flag and maritime adviser to the chairman of the UAE’s maritime administration. Previous roles have included director of business development at Dubai Maritime City, senior vice-president of research and strategic planning at DVB Bank in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and logistics and LNG supply consultant with Emirates LNG in Abu Dhabi. Saleem has been published in Petroleum Economist’s LNG gold edition, Lloyd’s List, Tradewinds and SeaNews. In the past two years, he has organised eight international seminars and webinars to raise awareness of methanol as an alternative marine fuel. Read less

As Oberon’s Vice President of Commercial Development, Cinch is leveraging Oberon’s 10+ years of foundational innovation to move Oberon’s DME production technology to global, commercial deployment. Cinch has overall responsibility for developing and managing both the feedstock supply required to produce Oberon’s renewable DME as well as securing offtake agreements and fostering DME market development. Cinch has more than 20 years in the energy and agribusiness sectors. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President, Business Development, for the Propane Education Research Council (PERC), a trade association that promotes the safe and efficient use of propane. Read less

Mads Friis Jensen is an experienced commercial executive and leader with a focus on bringing fuel cell technology to global markets. He has build-up a global Sales & Service organisation for stationary fuel cell segment with a network of key customers and partners. Mads Friis Jensen is a pioneer in methanol fuel cell automotive, launching Europe’s first public methanol fuel station and building several vehicles/vessels with global OEMs. He has an extensive background within the fuel cells industry from Schneider Electric, Ballard Power Systems and SerEnergy before starting Blue World Technologies together with Anders Korsgaard and Mads Bang in October 2018. Read less

Amanda de Jager graduated in 2007 with B.Eng Chemical Engineering degree and is currently a Senior Technical Service Engineer working within the Chemical business unit of Haldor Topsoe where she is involved with process design mainly on MeOH-, GTL-, and SynCOR technologies. She has seven years of site experience with South African energy company Sasol Synfuels, of which five years was specifically with operating and optimizing autothermal reforming. Amanda also worked within the process specialist group for hydraulics at Sasol Synfuels and currently she is furthering that knowledge by focusing on oxygen systems, specifically with the drive to become an oxygen system specialist in her field. Read less

Mr. Lamoureaux is an entrepreneur, start-up company specialist, and Higher Alcohol patent holder who has successfully brought new products and technologies to market over the past 30 years in the chemicals and building products industries. He has been active in business development in China for the past 11 years, and has established extensive contacts in the areas of methanol production and consumption. The China National Level Joint Venture that Mr. Lamoureaux was able to secure with the Yankuang Group (the largest methanol producer in China) to promote the commercialization of pollution-reducing alcohols, was one of the first National Level JVs to be established with a development stage company. Read less

Charles Methanol, LLC project. He spent 14 years at Leucadia National Corporation (“LUK”) as a vice president responsible for LUK energy investments, primarily in the gasification sector. Previously, he spent 22 years as a commercial banker specializing in energy, including 14 years when he was a Manager Director at BNP Paribas responsible for its energy business in the Americas. Read less