Argus Clean Ammonia Europe Conference

Dr Kubota joined IHI Corporation in 1990, and had numerous general management roles in various departments. In 2019 he became Associate Director and General Manager of the Business Development Department of Resources, Energy and Environment Business Area. He has been in his current post since April this year. Dr Kubota obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Engineering at Yokohama National University in 1988 and 1990, respectively, and completed his doctorate in Engineering at the University of Tokyo in 1997. Read less

Benedikt Messner is Senior Vice-President in Global Origination and LNG at Uniper Global Commodities SE, based in Düsseldorf, Germany. In this role, Benedikt primarily focuses on building a portfolio of renewable power purchase agreements, global green hydrogen-related projects and offtake agreements. His interests extend into clean technology and energy transition ventures. Benedikt was General Manager at Enerjisa in Turkey until July 2016, which is a joint venture between Germany utility Eon and Turkish conglomerate Sabanci. Before joining Enerjisa in 2013, Benedikt was Origination Director at Eon Global Commodities in Düsseldorf. Before that, he held various managerial roles, including leading the power trading desks at Eon, Acton Energy and Enron Europe. Benedikt has a master’s degree from Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. Read less

Before co-founding InterContinental Energy in 2014, Alicia led investment and strategy in global markets for 20 years, managing private equity funds, market entry and finance for multinational companies and institutional investors across Australasia including the Middle East. Alicia led international strategy and acquisitions at Elan Biopharmaceuticals and was vice-president of Prudential Asia Infrastructure Mezzanine Capital Fund. She was a founding principal at NetFuel Ventures and has held international strategy and investment positions at Gemini, Lend Lease and AirTouch International (Vodafone). Alicia currently sits on multiple industry and charity boards, steering committees, advisory boards and councils, and is a frequent speaker at clean hydrogen, ammonia and sustainability events. She holds a BSc in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Read less

Tim is Senior Vice President for the fertilizer sector at Argus. Tim worked a process manager at an ammonia/urea plant in South Africa before moving to the UK to join KBR (then M.W. Kellogg) as a process engineer in the ammonia technology team. More recently Tim has covered fertilizer and industrial nitrogen as a market analyst. Read less

Lisa Assmann is Senior Shipbroker at the projects department at Steem1960, where her focus is on long term ammonia projects in addition to other specialised shipping (liquid gases, chemicals and clean petroleum products). Prior to that Lisa has been heading the gas analytics team at Steem1960 for 6 years as a leading expert in LPG, Ammonia and Petrochemical shipping, working closely together with the market’s forefront ammonia shipbroking desk. As part of her previous career Lisa worked in consulting and banking in addition to being a researcher at Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen and the Energy Institute at UCL in London investigating aspects of green shipping and prediction methodology for freight. Lisa holds a Ph.D. in Business Economics and a Master of Science in Energy Economics from Norwegian School of Economics, as well as a B.A. in from Zeppelin university, Friedrichshafen, Germany. Read less

Tony started his career in ammonia at Argus in 1995. After working there for five years as the ammonia analyst, he moved on to Yara and then Trammo, responsible for roles such as the East of Suez and European ammonia markets. From there, he moved into in the fertilizer area with a focus on nitrogen, both distribution and production, before gravitating back to ammonia in 2019. He joined Mabanaft in 2021 to oversee the marketing of products from their co-investment in new production at Gulf Coast Ammonia coming on line in Texas in 2023. Mabanaft has an extensive fuel supply business, and the responsibility extends to using the presence as a platform for the energy transition and involvement in clean ammonia. Read less

Monika is Chairwoman of the Board for industry organisation eFuel Alliance and a founding member of environmental group Greenpeace Germany. Monika was the first woman to serve on the international board of Greenpeace, from 1984-1990. After this, Monika was the Environment Minister for Lower Saxony for eight years. In this role, Monika advocated for a new energy policy for the state — for renewable energies to be introduced and for the phase-out of nuclear energy. Monika was Director of Environment and Society at the cruise line AIDA Cruises from 2012-2018, where she played a key role in the company's adoption of LNG as a ship fuel. Monika was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2018. Read less

Ayoub has a master’s degree in business and a diploma in engineering from Alpes University in Grenoble. He began working with the Institute of Analytical Sciences in Lyon in 2012 and joined French energy company Engie in 2015 as Operating Engineer, where he was involved in a project that aimed to reduce power plant CO² emissions through the integration of bioenergy. Ayoub has also worked as Project Manager at Berkefeld-VWS, developing new technologies for the energy, water treatment, food, chemicals and refining sectors, as well as working as Development Manager for Eurovent Certification. Ayoub joined IRESEN in 2018 and has helped set up new partnerships with potential stakeholders for green hydrogen power-to-X projects, and has worked on pilot projects for smart agriculture and green chemistry applications. Read less

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Sjoerd has 20 years of experience in the fertilizer and chemical industry. Sjoerd joined OCI in 2010, and has held several commercial and business development roles in the ammonia, fertilizer and methanol business of OCI among others as business director of global ammonia trade. Prior to OCI, Sjoerd worked at Royal DSM, and there he started his career in safety, health and environment. Sjoerd holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences from Saxion University of Applied Sciences, and a master’s degree in international business from Maastricht University. Sjoerd is passionate about creating sustainable business value, together with all stakeholders and value chain partners of OCI, and is collaborating day to day in order to minimise the impact of OCI’s processes and products on our planet. Read less

Thomas leads initiatives promoting green hydrogen adoption in heavy industry. Previously, he helped build consultancy McKinsey & Company’s sustainability and resource productivity practice, advising the world’s largest companies on decarbonisation of production and supply chains, and serving as a senior advisor to governments drafting and implementing sustainability strategies. He holds a master’s in engineering physics from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. Read less

Stefan leads Argus‘ Hydrogen and Future Fuels service which provides news, analysis, production cost indicators and datasets on hydrogen, e-methanol and ammonia. He has been with Argus for more than six years and covered European natural gas markets before shifting his focus to hydrogen and its derivatives. Prior to this, he worked for an investment research company in London and studied in Maastricht, Leeds and London. Read less

Eystein is responsible for developing new market segments for low and zero-carbon ammonia in Europe. His main focus is on energy and industry. Eystein has more than 25 years of experience in product and concept development, innovation and business development in industrial gases and pollution abatement, with most of that time spent with Norsk Hydro and Yara. Read less

Thore has been in his current role since January 2021. Prior to that he was responsible for thyssenkrupp’s business in Egypt, and he has managed the local organisation as CEO and member of the executive board in Cairo, with more than 200 employees. He was also a board member of the German Arab Chamber of Commerce for many years. Lohmann started his career at thyssenkrupp Uhde in 1999 in the Oil and Gas Division. After holding various positions, he became Engineering Manager in Mumbai for a large-scale petrochemical complex and subsequently the commissioning manager for the complex in Port Said, Egypt. From 2011 to 2014, he worked as Head of the Product Development Department in the Gas Technologies Division. Read less

Tessa holds master’s degrees in biology and marine and lacustrine sciences. She has worked in the maritime sector for over 10 years and has vast experience in sustainability-driven projects such as the development of alternative maritime fuels and sustainable industrialisation. Tessa has a proven track record in business development and commercial and strategic port development. As a Belgian, Tessa’s global expertise stems from working and living abroad — Brazil and Norway — and her involvement in international initiatives including as Vice-President of the International Association of Ports and Harbors. At Yara Clean Ammonia, Tessa is responsible for port relationships and regulations and business development activities across the value chain, to foster clean ammonia as a fuel for shipping. Read less

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Jack Merriott has ten years’ experience working in strategy consulting, strategic planning and market intelligence, spanning fertilizers, industrial products and consumer goods and is responsible for low carbon consulting projects at Argus Media, spanning green hydrogen, green ammonia and carbon markets. Prior to joining Argus, he was a Manager at Integer Research with responsibility for consulting projects in Europe and the America. Jack is a graduate of Oxford University and is fluent in French and Spanish. Read less

Jorge has more than 20 years’ experience in the energy sector, taking in engineering and fuel trading. He has served as Iberdrola’s Head of Global Operations and Trading in Europe and Head of Corporate PPAs. In his current role, Jorge is responsible for more than 60 projects being developed in eight countries. He has a degree in mining engineering from Universidad Politécnica of Madrid (Spain), an International executive MBA from Universidad Antonio de Nebrija and a master’s in energy industry economics from Carlos III University, and has also taken several leadership programmes at the IMD Business School. Read less

Andre founded Amon Maritime in 2019 with a vision to lead the green shift in shipping, pioneering the use of ammonia fuel for ships. He has since co-founded Viridis Bulk Carriers, Azane Fuel Solutions and Ula Ship Management, all in the pursuit of putting ammonia-fuelled ships and related infrastructure on the water. He has 10 years’ experience working for leading shipowners, mainly with large newbuilding projects, fleet management and project development. [ Read less

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Ruth has been editor of the Argus Ammonia report since 2017, most recently overseeing the report’s expansion into the green ammonia space. She joined Argus in 2009 and covered the coal, biomass and freight markets in the UK and US, before moving into fertilizers in 2016. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Brunel University London. Read less

Christopher coordinates several funding programmes for alternative fuels and energy conversion systems in maritime applications. After working in strategy development for DB Schenker he worked as project manager for several R&D projects in shipbuilding and the shipping industry, with a focus on offshore wind and maritime energy systems at Berlin Institute of Technology between 2011 and 2016. Between 2017 and 2021 he was Programme Manager for the mobility and fuels strategy of the German government and Project Manager for Gas-Fuelled Ships at NOW. Since 2021 Christopher has represented cross-technology maritime affairs and funding programmes at NOW as Head of Maritime Applications. He holds a master’s degree in industrial engineering, as well as a PhD in naval architecture and ocean engineering. Read less

Maria is Head of Future Fuels for the decarbonisation group at A.P. Moller — Maersk. In this role, Maria leads a team that is responsible for identifying, exploring and evaluating carbon neutral fuels for Maersk's fleet of 700+ vessels. The team works to identify carbon neutral fuels that are not only sustainable but also scalable, economical and technically viable. Maersk’s aim is for its fleet be fully carbon neutral as fast as possible. Read less

Christian Stuckmann, Vice-president Business Development Hydrogen, Uniper Christian has led the hydrogen business development activities of German utility Uniper in the UK, Netherlands, Sweden and Germany since 2020. His project portfolio includes several gigawatts of green and blue hydrogen projects as well as the import of hydrogen and ammonia. Christian has 20 years of experience in the German and international energy industry and was previously Vice-president Global LNG Origination at Uniper after 15 years at German utility Eon. Christian has a Master of Energy Economics from Munster University, Germany. His primary office location is in Dusseldorf, Germany. Read less

Rob started his career at Yara in product and technology development for fertilisers. Over the next 20 years, he held several management positions at Yara related to ammonia production and use in the Netherlands, Qatar, Norway and Australia. Rob brought forward ammonia energy as General Manager at Yara Pilbara in Western Australia. He executed the clean ammonia energy agenda as Vice-President of Technology Scouting and Vice-President of Ammonia Energy and Shipping Fuel at Yara HQ, ultimately contributing to the establishment of the Yara Clean Ammonia business unit. Rob is now Vice-President of Ammonia Opportunities at Saga Pure, facilitating clean ammonia energy investments, and board member with Horisont Energi. Since August 2021 Rob has been the elected president of the Ammonia Energy Association. Read less

Tobias has 20 years of experience in trading, shipping, risk management and physical and derivatives markets. He has been originating and implementing business opportunities across different products, including LPG and distillates, in diverse regions and markets. More recently, Tobias is focused on the commercial and operational start-up of the Gulf Coast Ammonia production facility in Texas, which will be the world’s most efficient ammonia project after commissioning H1 2023. Read less

Akihiko has spent 30 years in the energy industry, with Chubu Electric and then JERA, and has been in his current role since April 2020. His focus is LNG — including annual delivery programmes, sale and purchase agreements, and price negotiations with Qatargas — and upstream thermal coal operations in Japan and Australia. He has a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Tokyo and an MBA from the International University of Japan. Read less

Lawrence joined Argus Media’s European Natural Gas team in 2014 following an gas industry market analysis role in Berlin. Joining Argus, Lawrence specialised in German and Italian gas market and regulatory developments, working closely with Argus’ coal and electricity teams to develop cross-commodity analysis. Moving to the business development team in 2017, Lawrence now covers European natural gas, power and LNG taking in markets from Italy and the Netherlands to Ukraine and Turkey. Read less

Denis is Global Director of Business Development and Marketing for Water Electrolysis at US engineering firm Cummins. Before joining the company in 2014, Denis worked in the solar photovoltaic sector in Europe for eight years. He has a master’s degree in business administration and a European master’s degree in renewable energy. Read less

Sabas is in charge of green business development, supporting NYK’s projects and initiatives on green energy and maritime shipping decarbonisation. He has had an extensive career in the energy sector, with particular focus on natural gas and LNG, since joining energy utility Naturgy in 1998 as business developer. In 2002, he moved to ENGIE Group as head of marketing and sales in Spain. Within ENGIE, he subsequently held various positions in the LNG and upstream oil and gas business units, in France and abroad, with responsibilities in marketing and sales, contract management and LNG bunkering activities. He joined NYK Group in 2021. He has a degree in industrial engineering from Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, specialising in energy resources. Read less

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Peter has nearly 20 years’ experience in various commercial and senior management roles within the energy commodity sector, focusing on storage and logistics. After working for Vopak in Rotterdam, where he was part of the EMEA business development team, Peter joined energy trading firm Mercuria and worked in a small team to build out its midstream asset portfolio, including the Vesta storage terminals. Having held several senior roles, Peter was appointed CEO and was responsible for leading the company until he joined GPS Group, where he is responsible for EMEA, a function he retains in parallel with being CEO of GES. Peter graduated from Delft University of Technology with a Master’s degree in engineering. Read less

Kieran is an experienced commodity derivatives broker with extensive knowledge and experience of trading swaps, futures and options. He has started and run desks at ICAP and BGC and has expertise in the Agricultural, Metals and Energy spaces. Prior to broking derivatives Kieran traded a physical grain book. He joined FIS in June 2022 and is helping to lead their drive in the ammonia space. FIS is a leading, global commodity derivatives and physical broker specialising in freight and commodity markets. Kieran studied Economics at Royal Holloway University of London. Read less

As one of German LNG terminal developer HEH’s initial shareholders, Urban is actively involved in project development and has been one of the cornerstones of the LNG terminal project in Stade, northern Germany, from the start. Urban envisioned the idea and developed it into a project. Throughout the project, his more than 20 years of experience in project development, financial engineering, business management and new technologies — particularly in the field of energy — proved to be extremely valuable. His interdisciplinary skills and the ability to connect various cultural and interprofessional aspects, as well as his extensive network woven through years of project development throughout the world are helping the project stay on course and move fast with a lean team. Read less

Sjoerd is Vice-President of New Energies at Advario BV, a carve-out of Oiltanking GmBH. Sjoerd is responsible for deploying Advario’s global asset footprint to accelerate global decarbonisation. He has worked in various commercial and business development roles at Advario, including heading the Asia-Pacific commercial teams and the Europe, Middle East and Africa teams. Sjoerd has a master’s degree in fiscal economics from the University of Groningen. Read less

Anne works as a Project Manager and Engineer in the Renewables Certification department at DNV and is based in Oslo. She works with (floating) offshore wind and hydrogen projects. She is part of the project management team of a DNV-led joint industry project (JIP) on the Certification of Hydrogen Production Systems by Electrolysis. With this JIP as the basis, DNV aims to develop a scheme for the certification of hydrogen production systems. Before joining the Renewables Certification team, she was involved in developing a new DNV service to increase sustainability in the decommissioning phase of wind turbines, called Re:Wind. Earlier, she has been a Project Engineer in DNVs Control Systems and Cybernetics Advisory department in Trondheim. Where she worked on the testing of dynamic positioning systems for the offshore industry. She holds a master's degree in Marine Technology from the Delft University of Technology, specialising in Ship Design, Production and Operation. Read less