Argus Clean Ammonia Europe Conference

Before joining the Port Authority in January 2017, Jacques was active at Elia, the Brussels network operator and listed company, where he held various management positions since joining it in 2001, and became chief executive in 2012. He has occupied various directorships with companies such as Febeg (Federation of Belgian Energy Companies) and the Federation of Belgian Enterprises. He is currently an active board member of the data platform NxtPort, Kunsthuis Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Royal Antwerp Football Club and the Belgian coffee brand Vascobelo. He is also co-founder, and chairman of the Belgian sustainability platform The Shift, as well as co-investor in Qpinch, which generates energy from waste heat. Jacques, who currently lives in Antwerp, graduated with a Master of Laws, a qualification which he later supplemented with a masters in European Studies, a middle management course with Vlerick Business School and an “advanced management programme INSEAD”. He is married to Barbara Baeckelmans, with whom he has three children. Read less

Tom graduated as a master industrial engineer – option in construction at the KIHO in Ghent, Belgium. Subsequently, he attended additional management training courses in Fontainebleau, France: INSEAD and CEDEP. He started his professional career in 1993 as project manager of industrial projects at Lafaut NV. As a job site manager, he supervised new industrial projects and concepts. In 1998, he joined the West Flemish multinational Bekaert and became a general manager with strong international experience. At Bekaert, he rose to senior vice-president within the building products division, which consists of 700 people all over the world. He also negotiated various partnerships across several continents. Since October 2020, he took up the role of chief executive at the Port of Zeebrugge. After the merger with the Port of Antwerp in April 2022, he was appointed chief commercial officer. Tom is a very strong team leader. He also transfers this positive quality to his whole team. Not only because of his strategic thinking and operational experience, but also because of his track record in highly internationalised environments. Read less

Olivia leads the molecules origination team at utility EnBW. Her particular focus is on the commercialisation of upstream green and low-carbon molecule projects, to unlock midstream infrastructure and secure downstream end use in Europe. Olivia has almost two decades’ experience in the energy and utilities sectors. She began her career at ExxonMobil, optimising equity gas production flows and securing long-term production for South Hook LNG. After ExxonMobil, Olivia spent over a decade at European trading firm Vitol, trading the pan-European gas portfolio and expanding it to new markets in the North Sea and eastern Europe. Read less

Christian has over 25 years of international leader experience in the oil and gas and offshore wind industries. His background includes hands-on experience with vessels, marine consultancy and offshore chartering. He joined Amogy Norway in 2022 as Managing Director, and was previously Commercial Director with Yara Clean Ammonia. Read less

Tobias leads the new energy solutions division at German renewable energy company Enertrag. Enertrag is involved in wind and solar photovoltaic power generation, as well as storage, green hydrogen and grid infrastructure. The new energy solutions division is responsible for green hydrogen. Before joining Enertrag in 2017, Tobias led the energy centre at the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and served on the inaugural South African Ministerial Advisory Council on Energy. Tobias is author of the book South Africa’s Energy Transition, which outlines a roadmap for a low-cost, decarbonised and job-rich future for South Africa’s energy sector. Tobias studied engineering and public administration in Darmstadt, Berkeley and New York. Read less

Wouter has 25 years’ experience, executing different roles in chemical businesses in research and development, sales and marketing, supply chain and product management. Wouter currently develops projects for INEOS’ own use and sales to third parties to use hydrogen as both a feedstock and transport fuel, and replacing natural gas. He has a doctorate in Applied Biological Sciences from the Catholic University of Leuven Belgium. Read less

Tjaša Bole-Rentel has more than 15 years of experience as a researcher, adviser, campaigner and now project developer in the low-carbon fuels sector, from biofuels to electrofuels. Her work includes assessments of feedstock production potentials for biofuels, techno-economic assessments of various low-carbon fuels technologies, evaluation of policy support options, developing decision-support tools, sustainability assessments of carbon sources for various advanced fuels, as well as hands-on policy development and sustainability standard development. Before joining Enertrag, Tjaša was the Bioenergy Programme Manager at WWF South Africa, and before that she held various research positions in South Africa and the Netherlands. Tjaša has a BA in Economics from the University of Ljubljana and an MSc in Environment and Resource Management from the Free University in Amsterdam. Read less

Hans is the chairman of the Pherousa group and a co-founder of Pherousa Green Shipping. A shipbroker by profession, he created freight solutions for the energy, forestry and mining industries for 25 years. He lives in South America. Read less

Catherine is responsible for coordinating Argus’ business development strategy for base oils, marine fuels and bitumen. For base oils, her role involves engaging with market participants to explain the benefits of using Argus base oil spot prices to facilitate risk management. From London, she works closely with the global editorial team to develop awareness and understanding of Argus Base Oils in global markets. Prior to her current role, Catherine was responsible for European base oils market coverage at Argus: contributing spot prices, market commentary and analysis to Argus’ weekly global base oils report. Catherine holds an MSc in Petroleum Geoscience from the University of Aberdeen and a BA in Natural Sciences from Trinity College Dublin. 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

Rustin has worked in the oil industry for more than 20 years. Before becoming head of fuel oil procurement at Euronav, he worked at Macquarie Commodities Trading, leading the IMO 2020 strategy. Before this, he was the global head of fuel and feedstock trading at Cargill. He also spent seven years at Chevron, managing fuel oil and feedstock trading businesses supporting the US refinery base and managing bunker supply and trading businesses in Latin America and the US. Prior to this, he spent seven years at Hess working in supply and trading operations and as a port captain at the Hovensa refinery in St Croix. Rustin is a licensed master mariner and a graduate of the US Merchant Marine Academy. He has an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in North Carolina. Read less

Abeer has more than 14 years of expertise in the fertilizer and petrochemical industry. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Strategic Management from Ain Shams University. Abeer is also an adjunct teacher at Cairo Engineering Faculty, where she teaches Energy Economics and delivers international courses on hydrogen investment and finance. Read less

Louise joined the Europe New Energy Team in 2022 as a business development manager and enjoys speaking to customers about their evolving needs as the energy transition gathers pace. She has been with Woodside for eight years based in their London office and during this time has primarily worked as a geologist and exploration manager on projects on three continents: Africa, Europe and Latin America. Prior to working for Woodside she worked in exploration and development with Tullow Oil, Hunt Oil and Shell Exploration on various projects worldwide. Louise is currently studying part-time for a Master of Science in Renewable Energy Development with Heriot Watt university in Scotland. Read less

Antoine has been working for the association since 2010, driving industry’s decarbonisation efforts. He previously worked for eight years in the fertilizers industry, holding positions in R&D and licensing. Antoine has a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Liege, as well as an Executive MBA from the Louvain School of Management, and has completed the Certificate in International Association Management from the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management. Read less

Pedro Mendes has been Policy Officer on clean hydrogen for DG Research and Innovation since August 2022. Originally a Physics Engineer, he then completed a second master’s in European Studies to combine scientific expertise with policy making. The core of his job is to represent the position of the European Commission under the Clean Hydrogen Partnership. Pedro is Portuguese-born, has lived in Belgium since March 2022 and is also an amateur stand-up comedian. 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

Vibeke joined Yara in 2014, where she has been working within R&D as head of the NPK and environmental technologies department, and as product quality director prior to joining the Yara Clean Ammonia team. Prior to joining Yara, Vibeke worked within the waste and water industry for many years, where she also held managerial positions. She was managing director for Norwegian water and wastewater engineering company BioTek, and was also COO for KrugerKaldnes, which is part of Veolia. Vibeke has an MSc in civil engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and an MBA from Lincoln University. Read less

Christian studied chemical engineering and did his PhD on DME synthesis from gasified biomass at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Following completion of his PhD, Christian worked in Australia for six years in the fields of wastewater cleaning and nitric acid/ammonium nitrate. He returned to Germany and started working for thyssenkrupp in 2014 as a research engineer. A year later, he was promoted, heading the Technology, Innovation and Sustainability Fertilizer group. Through restructuring the group, Christian is now responsible for several technologies including green and blue ammonia developments. Read less

Read less

Alexander has served as CMB’s chief executive since September 2014 and before this, he was the company’s director from 2006. In 2004, he founded Delphis, a short-sea container shipping firm. Alexander has a master’s degree in law from the University of Leuven and Complutense University of Madrid and holds an MBA from the Fachhochschule für Wirtschaft Berlin. Read less

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

Rob is a thought leader, driving market development of cutting-edge Power-to-X technology, converting renewable energy to green fuels and chemicals. Before joining Topsoe, Rob was a technology opportunities expert at Saga Pure, a green finance start-up. He is VP Past-President of the Ammonia Energy Association and gained an MSc and a PhD from Delft University of Technology. Read less

Jim has more than 25 years of experience in technology and business development, focused on solution design for supply chain and government markets. His deep technical expertise and strong interpersonal skills have made him an effective business leader and trusted partner for clients in need of product authentication and security. At Authentix, Jim is responsible for aligning advanced technologies and managing cross-functional teams to deliver world-leading authentication solutions, while also interfacing with customers to define, deliver and support solutions that meet current and emerging needs. Jim helps customers make informed, rational decisions for complex issues in product security and tax recovery. Read less

Erika Taugher has worked in the energy industry for 15 years, focusing on business development, trading, structuring, and origination. Her experience includes work at top-tier investment banks in London, New York and Houston, where she currently resides. Her trading experience includes natural gas financial derivatives and options, power, renewables, and physical crude oil. Erika is currently focused on developing Pattern Energy’s green fuels business. She is working on several projects in North America that will produce both green hydrogen and liquefied green ammonia for domestic and international use. Awarded a full Division 1 athletic scholarship, Erika earned her BS in Mechanical Engineering, and MS in Business from New Jersey Institute of Technology. Erika grew up in Canada, however due to her ancestry she was chosen to play for the Portuguese national soccer team in 2006 and 2007. She was inducted into her Alma Mater’s Hall of Fame in October 2021. In 2022, Kayo named Erika to its “Top 22 in ’22 Women in Renewable Energy Finance and Development” list. Read less

Ana is responsible for promoting Spanish utility Iberdrola’s green hydrogen projects, and creates long-term alliances with global corporations. She has more than 10 years of experience in sales and supporting business development across the world. Ana studied economics at King Juan Carlos University in Madrid. She has an MBA from the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade and a master’s in energy business from the Spanish Energy Club. Read less

Damien Valdenaire is currently the Low Carbon Transition Manager at the TotalEnergies Antwerp Platform (Refinery & Petrochemicals). Damien’s role is the continuation of a 24-year career in the refining industry within TotalEnergies with a broad knowledge gained in the technical, economical and strategic areas (Belgium, UK and France). Furthermore, he was seconded to the EU refiners trade association Concawe in 2016-22, developing a higher perspective and understanding of the refining challenges, energy transition and soft skills. In his current position, Damien is involved in all topics linked to the energy transition in Europe from an industrial perspective (CCS, electrification, hydrogen, low-carbon fuels, biogas, recycling, etc.). Damien holds a mastersin chemical engineering from the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Toulouse, France. Continuous interpersonal skills is a key career motivation driver for Damien, holding numerous certifications such as individual life and performance coaching. Read less

Wouter is a commercial engineer in business informatics by background with a master’s degree in financial management from Vlerick Management School, Belgium. Wouter joined Hinicio, a strategic consultancy specialising in hydrogen, 10 years ago as Europe Director and assisted European Commission, national and regional policy makers as well as blue chip companies and technology start-ups in the hydrogen space. Before joining Hinicio, he worked in the Middle East for three years and in China for one year. Since 2014, he has co-ordinated the multi-stakeholder CertifHy project, an initiative financed by the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking and considered worldwide as the leading hydrogen certification system. He is a CEN JTC6 liaison, contributing to the European CEN Standard on renewable energy guarantees of origin, and acted as board member and chair of the Renewable Gas Scheme Group within the Association of Issuing Bodies during 2020-22. Wouter is spokesperson for Industry of Hydrogen Europe. He speaks fluent English, Dutch and French, and has knowledge of Spanish and German. Read less