Argus Crude Live - Virtual Conference

Bernard Looney was appointed chief executive officer in February 2020. He previously ran bp’s Upstream business from April 2016 and has been a member of the company’s executive management team since November 2010. As chief executive, Upstream, Bernard was responsible for bp’s oil and gas exploration, development and production activities worldwide. The Upstream segment included some 17,000 people operating across almost 30 countries producing around 2.6 million barrels equivalent of oil and gas a day. In this role, Bernard oversaw improvements in both process and personal safety performances and production grew by 20%. There were also significant improvements in both gender and global diversity. Bernard initiated a group-wide dialogue on mental health in hope of ‘ending the stigma’ associated with the issue – a subject he remains passionate about today. He led access into new countries, high-graded the portfolio and created innovative new business models. Bernard also encouraged bp to lead on methane detection methods as well as driving sustainable emissions reductions of almost 3 million tonnes CO2 equivalent over two years. In earlier Upstream executive roles, he was responsible for all bp-operated oil and gas production worldwide and for all bp’s drilling and major project activity. He led the creation of central drilling and projects functions following the Deepwater Horizon accident. Bernard joined bp in 1991 as a drilling engineer and worked in operational roles in the North Sea, Vietnam and the Gulf of Mexico, including as drilling engineer on the discovery of the giant Thunder Horse field. After a period in bp Alaska, he became head of the group CEO's office, working directly for bp CEO’s Lord Browne and then Tony Hayward. An Irish citizen, Bernard grew up in County Kerry and in 1991 gained a degree in Electrical Engineering from University College Dublin. In 2005, he gained a MS in Management from Stanford Graduate School of Business. Bernard is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the Energy Institute and is also a mentor in the FTSE 100 Cross-Company Mentoring Executive Programme. He was elected a director of Rosneft in June 2020. Read less

Mr. Teague has served as Co-Chief Executive Officer since January 2020 and has been a director of Enterprise GP since November 2010. He also serves as Co-Chairman of the Capital Projects Committee. Mr. Teague previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise GP from January 2016 to January 2020, Chief Operating Officer of Enterprise GP from November 2010 to December 2015, and Executive Vice President of Enterprise GP from November 2010 until February 2013. He served as Executive Vice President of EPGP from November 1999 to November 2010 and additionally as a director from July 2008 to November 2010 and as Chief Operating Officer from September 2010 to November 2010. In addition, he served as EPGP’s Chief Commercial Officer from July 2008 until September 2010. He served as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of DEP GP from July 2008 to September 2011. He previously served as a director of DEP GP from July 2008 to May 2010 and as a director of Holdings GP from October 2009 to May 2010. Mr. Teague joined Enterprise in connection with its purchase of certain midstream energy assets from affiliates of Shell Oil Company in 1999. From 1998 to 1999, he served as President of Tejas Natural Gas Liquids, LLC, then an affiliate of Shell. From 1997 to 1998, he was President of Marketing and Trading for MAPCO, Inc. Mr. Teague also serves on the board of Solaris Oilfield Infrastructure, Inc. 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

Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at Equinor, group responsible for macroeconomics, energy and commodity market analyses, and policy and regulation in Equinor’s commodity markets. Broad experience from government, academics and private sector companies, as advisor and in different leadership positions. In Equinor, leader of Corporate Strategy, Corporate Planning and Analysis, Economic Analysis in Upstream Norway, Energy Market Analysis, in addition to current role. Currently non-executive member of the Board of Innovation Norway, and non-resident fellow at Payne Institute, Colorado School of Mines, as well as non-executive member of the Board of Centre for applied research at the Norwegian School of Economics. 2018: Member of the Global Commission to examine Geopolitics of Energy Transformation, set up by IRENA, the International Renewable Energy Agency. July 2016 – February 2018 non-executive member of the Board of the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet). 2014-2018 in different energy initiatives under World Economic Forum, including special advisor for their work on energy architecture and member of the global council on the future of energy. In the period 2010-2013 member of the Executive Board of the Central Bank of Norway. Previous work experience from the Centre for applied research at the Norwegian School of Economics, Norwegian Ministry of Finance, Total E&P Norway, and Pöyry Management Consulting/Econ Centre for economic analysis. Read less

Ed Morse is Managing Director and Global Head of Commodities Research at Citi, and held similar positions at Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse. He has taught at Princeton, Columbia and Johns Hopkins universities, worked as the Council on Foreign Relations, served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Policy, and in management at Phillips Petroleum. A co-founder of PFC Energy, a former publisher of "Petroleum Intelligence Weekly", he also worked at Hess Energy Trading Company. Among his consulting experiences has been designing Yemen's oil pricing policy and consulting for the UN Security Council on the design and negotiation of the Oil-for-Food Program for Iraq. Morse frequently writes guest editorials for The Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post and often is a commentator for Bloomberg TV and CNBC. He serves on advisory boards at Columbia and Princeton Universities and the business school at the University of Colorado. He is a Senior Fellow of both the USAEE and the IEEJ and in 2018 was named by Petroleum Economist in its inaugural “Global Energy Elite” issue as among the ten most prominent individuals in energy banking and finance. Read less

Helima is a Managing Director and the Global Head of Commodity Strategy at RBC Capital Markets. She specializes in geopolitics and energy, leading a team of commodity strategists that cover energy, metals and cross‐commodity investor activity. Helima is a member of the National Petroleum Council, a select group of individuals who advise, inform and make recommendations to the Secretary of Energy with respect to any matter relating to oil and natural gas. She also is a CNBC contributor, a member of the channel’s exclusive family of experts, is on the Board of Directors for the Atlantic Council, and is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Helima joined RBC Capital Markets from Barclays, where she was a Managing Director and Head of North American Commodities Research. Prior to that, she worked in Lehman’s Business Intelligence group, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Central Intelligence Agency, where she focused on geopolitics and commodities. Helima has received many industry accolades throughout her career and received her PhD in economic history from Princeton in 2001. 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

Nick Allen is General Manager, Global Crude Oil and NGL for ConocoPhillips, responsible for marketing and sales optimization of the company’s global crude oil and natural gas liquids portfolio. He has over 25 years of experience in energy trading and management roles. Previously, he was manager of Europe Commercial, overseeing marketing, trading and commercial development of equity crude oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas production in Europe and Africa. Allen first joined ConocoPhillips in 1997. He has also worked at J. P. Morgan, ED&F Man and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein gaining experience in oil derivatives broking and trading. ConocoPhillips markets around 1 million barrels of crude oil and liquids daily, centered on production in North America, Europe, North Africa and Asia. Read less

Michael Cohen is Chief US Economist and Head of Oil and Refining in bp’s Economic and Energy Insights team. In this role, he is responsible for short, medium, and long term oil market analysis and North American energy policy related analysis in bp’s Statistical Review of World Energy and Energy Outlook. The team helps inform decision making for bp’s board and executive team as well as for the Upstream, Downstream, Government Affairs, Trading, and Fuels/Marketing businesses. Prior to joining bp in May 2019, Mr. Cohen was Barclays’ Global Head of Commodities Research and was responsible for preparing and delivering differentiated research on commodities markets to Barclays’ global corporate and institutional investor client base. He worked for a decade in the public sector as an Economist with the US Energy Information Administration, the Department of Energy’s Office of Policy and International Affairs, as well as two years in Paris as a senior member of the Oil Markets Division at the International Energy Agency. Prior to government service, Mr. Cohen worked on electricity market design for LECG (now Navigant) and as a trading desk analyst for American Electric Power. Michael also serves as a non-resident fellow at the Colorado School of Mines and frequently lectures on energy, oil markets, and geopolitics at several universities. He graduated with a BSBA in Business Economics and a BA in Political Science from The Ohio State University and a Masters in International Economics from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Read less

As Special Advisor to the IEA, Joel works with the teams in the Energy Markets and Security Directorate. Previously, as Group Chief Energy Economist at TOTAL SA, Joel coordinated the cross-branch dialogue within TOTAL on the world macroeconomic and energy outlook as well as the economic assumptions for the long-term plan. Until October 2017, he was VP for Market Analysis in the Trading & Shipping Division of TOTAL (TOTSA), managing a team providing analysis and technical support for TOTAL’s oil trading activity. The work was also used by the planning, the upstream and the downstream divisions of TOTAL. Joel has worked in the oil industry since joining Elf Trading in September 1992, and was appointed to the Trading & Shipping Management Committee in 2009. He holds a B.Eng from McMaster University (Ontario, Canada) and a MS in Energy Economics from Université de Grenoble (France). Following his studies, he worked on radio-isotope production in Canada and subsequently, in France, on long-term energy studies for EDF, for DRI, and for the International Energy Agency. Read less

Laszlo Varro, who has worked at the IEA since 2011, became the Agency’s Chief Economist at the start of 2016, succeeding Fatih Birol, who took over as IEA Executive Director on 1 September 2015. As Chief Economist, Mr. Varro leads the Economics and Investment Office (EIO), a newly created group within the IEA that aims to offer sound and consistent energy economics and methodological support for the Agency’s work. EIO also provides strategic support for the Executive Director’s agenda. Prior to assuming his new role, Mr Varro served as IEA Head of Gas, Coal and Power Markets. In this post he was responsible for gas market and supply security analysis, LNG markets, gas market reforms and infrastructure policy. He led the Electricity Security Action Plan, the IEA work programme that provides comprehensive coverage of the policy, market design, infrastructure regulation and investment aspects of maintaining electricity security during the transition to a low-carbon power system. Before joining the IEA, Mr Varro was the Director for Strategy Development at MOL Group. From 2000 to 2005, he worked as the Head of Price Regulation at the Hungarian Energy Office. A Hungarian national, Mr Varro started his career at the National Bank of Hungary after completing his graduate degree at the University of Cambridge and the Corvinus University of Budapest. Read less

Doctor Fairy Wang Pei is Head of Research and Strategy at Unipec, the trading arm of Sinopec. She has a wealth of experience in oil marketing, oil trading and oil industry analysis. Based at the firm’s Beijing office since 2010, Dr Fairy has been working as a senior analyst, mainly covering oil fundamentals and corporate strategy. Dr Fairy has written many professional articles — she and her team also published China’s first Petroleum Blue Book. Dr Fairy has a PhD in Economics from the Chinese Academy of Social Science in Beijing. Read less

Rajaraman J. heads up physical trading vertical for the petroleum refining arm of Reliance Industries in Mumbai, India. He co-ordinates the procurement of all crude oil and other feedstocks, the export of all liquid products from the refinery complex, as well as associated commercial ship chartering and cargo operations. He has worked in the refining business at Reliance for over 25 years. Before that, he worked in the marketing division at the Indian Oil Corporation. 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

Pedro Manrique was appointed as the Commercial and Marketing Vice President of the Ecopetrol Group in April of 2017. He is also a member of Cartagena refinery, Cenit and Invercolsa board of directors. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Industrial University of Santander, holds a Master’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Florida in the United States where he was a Fulbright Scholar and an MBA from the IE Business School in Madrid, Spain. He has 29 years of experience in the oil and gas industry and previously he spent 15 years in the upstream business with Chevron Petroleum Company in different locations and his last assignment was as the Commercial and Business Planning Manager for Chevron Latin America where he also served as a member of the Leadership Team for Chevron Latin America. During his career he also worked with Enron Energy Services as a Risk Manager and as a Business Development Manager at Enron International based in Houston, Texas. Read less

Antonio Lopez is head of the Energy Transition and Climate Change department in the Sustainability Division at Repsol. He is devoted to reducing GHG emissions in deep collaboration with all Company Business, as well as to develop the carbon strategy and the climate change position of the company. Antonio is also vice chair of the Climate Change Group of IPIECA (Oil & Gas association on environmental and social issues), and the Repsol’s alternate representative in the OGCI Executive Committee (Oil & Gas Climate Initiative). Between 1991 and 2012 Mr. Lopez held several leadership positions at the Repsol Technology Center always focused on modeling, simulation and process optimization. Antonio holds a PhD in Chemical Physics from the Complutense University of Madrid. Read less

Alessandro Liberati, a trading professional with more than 30 years of experience in the oil industry, is the Global Head of Crude Oil Trading for the BB Energy Group. BB Energy is trading house with a global reach, which has shown a remarkable growth in the recent years. Read less

Ragnar Bulie has been the Head of Crude Oil Trading for Equinor Asia-Pacific since November 2017. Prior to this he held various roles in the renewable energy and mining business in Australia. Prior to leaving Equinor — then known as Statoil — in 2013 after 20 years, Ragnar held products trading roles and subsequently trading manager roles in the UK, Norway, Singapore and the US. Ragnar was also responsible for Statoil’s Investor Relations, based in Stavanger Norway, from 2004-06. Read less

Giovanni Serio in Global Head of Research at Vitol. Giovanni has 20 years of research, modelling and analysis experience. Prior to joining Vitol in August 2016, Giovanni was Head of Market Analysis at Noble, at BP and senior analyst at Goldman Sachs. Giovanni started his career as an economist at the Research Department of Italy’s Central Bank and then as a Consultant at the Development Economic Research Group of the World Bank. Giovanni holds a PhD in Economics from New York University. Read less

Mr Kawaguchi has 27 years of experience in Crude/Petroleum Product trading and marketing at Japanese refiner, Cosmo Oil Co.,Ltd. He joined the Tokyo branch in 1993 as a Marketing staff , and his previous roles include Assistant Manager at Aviation Fuel Marketing in Cosmo Tokyo HQ 1996-2000, Manager of derivative trading at Cosmo Oil of USA (New York office) 2003-2006. Following this he was in charge of developing petroleum products marketing network in the states of California, USA as Chief Operation Officer of Cosmo Oil of USA 2006-2010. Following this, he was Group manager at the Products Trading Department, in Cosmo Tokyo HQ 2010-2014, Vice President of Cosmo Oil International Pte. Ltd 2014-2017, before being appointed to his current role since 2017. He has graduated Tsukuba University with a Linguistics major in 1990, followed by spending a year at the Beijing Foreign Language Institute with a Chinese Language major 1991, before acquiring his B.A in Language Education on 1993. 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. Adi also taught economics at Surrey University for several years: Energy Economics as well as Resource and Environmental Economics. He has written a number of papers and articles on the topic of oil and gas prices, benchmarks and energy security. He has an honours degree (B.Sc.) in Economics and a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in Energy Economics from Surrey University. He is also a Fulbright Scholar and he studied at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University. Read less

Marshall Adkins joined Raymond James in 1995 and serves as the head of the firm’s Energy Investment Banking practice. Prior to this role, Mr. Adkins served as the director of Energy Research for 25 years and focused on oilfield services and products. Prior to Raymond James, he spent 10 years in the oilfield services industry as a project manager, financial analyst and engineer. He holds a B.S. degree in petroleum engineering and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. Read less

Jonathan’s responsibilities include oil product marketing and sales policy, e-commence, and customer relationship management. He started out as a process engineer at Sinopec and his 27-year career has taken in investment, sales and marketing roles at Exxon Chemical Singapore, technology licensing, strategy and business development at Shell, commercial and investment roles at Vopak, and trading and origination at BP. Jonathan joined Rongsheng in 2015 and helped facilitate the commercial organisation of Ningbo Zhongjin Aromatic. He is mainly responsible for business development and commercial activity, including preparing the launch of the Zhejiang Petroleum and Chemical refining and petrochemicals project. Read less

Clay is Managing Director of Vortexa’s business in the Americas. He brings 20 years of experience in the oil and gas industry with a specialization in oil market intelligence. Before joining Vortexa, Clay led the oil businesses at Genscape, monitoring oil storage, transportation and refining. He has previously held positions at DigitalGlobe, IHS Markit, Enron and the US Department of Energy. Clay is a member of the Houston Committee on Foreign Relations, the US Association of Energy Economics, the World Affairs Council of Greater Houston and the Houston Energy Finance Committee. His market analysis has been featured on CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Clay holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from the University of Texas and a Master of Arts degree in International Relations and Economics from The Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Read less

Alexandre Leite has joined Petrobras since April 2020. He has more than 25-year experience in the commodities, trading and logistics in leadership positions at Cargill and Coperscuar in Brazil, The US, Netherlands and Switzerland. Prior to Petrobras, Alexandre held the position of Managing Director for Tereos Sugar & Ethanol Trading in Geneva, Switzerland. Read less

Sean has over 30 years of experience in the global transportation and energy sectors in both public administration and the private sector, holding senior leadership roles in business & corporate development, large infrastructure development, capital structuring, operations, and public/private partnerships. In his role as the Chief Executive Officer of the Port of Corpus Christi, Sean leads the third largest port in the United States total waterway tonnage, and the largest gateway for U.S. produced energy exports. With over $1 billion in assets under management, Sean has assembled a high-performance executive team to manage the meteoric growth Port Corpus Christi has experienced with a doubling in tonnage and revenues over his tenure as CEO, positioning the Port of Corpus Christi on the world stage as a leading infrastructure development organization. A veteran of world-class organizations such as the Port of Long Beach, Ports America Group, Oxbow Energy, and Sea-Land Service, Inc., Sean has written extensively on the evolving marine terminal and trade flow paradigms and has been globally recognized for his industry knowledge and large network of professional relationships. Sean is an active member of the South Texas Coastal Bend community and sits on a number of Boards including the United Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors, South Texas Military Task Force Board, the Art Museum of South Texas, the American Heart Association of the Coastal Bend, as well as the Buccaneer Commission and the USS Lexington Board of Directors. Sean was recently appointed to chair the Education Task Force for the Texas Railroad Commission. Sean holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from Arizona State University. He has lived abroad and has conducted business in over 40 countries. Read less

Jim Mitchell is a commodity market expert who partners with Energy Companies and participants to refine their understanding of the linkages within markets. With over 26 years working in every aspect of the industry, Jim has a passion and proven track record in the intricacies of the physical, financial, and non-linear trading arena. He is the Co-Creator and Co-Host of Refinitiv’s popular podcast, The Rundown Tank: Americas Oil and the Head of America's Oil Analysts. Read less

Mike Wittner is Head of Oil Market Research for Intercontinental Exchange. Mike joined ICE in 2019. He leads a robust research effort to continuously analyze and anticipate changes in oil market structure and fundamentals. Mike and his team support oil sales and business development at ICE in creating new contracts and evolving existing contracts, in order to meet the hedging, trading, and investment needs of its customers around the world. With more than 25 years of experience in oil market analysis and, before that, 8 years of experience in the geosciences, Mike has extensive knowledge of the global and regional crude oil and refined product markets, geopolitics, and non-fundamental oil market drivers. From 2007-2019, Mike was the Global Head of Oil Research for Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking, where he was a Managing Director. He was directly responsible for short-term and long-term global oil market analysis and forecasting. Mike was ranked in the top 4 for oil market research in 2009-2019, according to Risk and Energy Risk magazines, including 7 consecutive years at #1 in 2013-2019. Before that, he held a similar position at Crédit Agricole, as well as senior analytical roles at Koch Supply & Trading, the International Energy Agency, and PIRA Energy Group (now part of S&P Global Platts). Before getting his MBA, Mike worked as a geologist and project manager for an engineering firm and as an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. Mike holds a BS in Geology from Cornell University and a MBA in International Business from George Washington University. Mike is a regular speaker at industry conferences and seminars. His commentaries on oil market developments have been frequently quoted in the international media and he has appeared regularly on broadcast news. Media interviews have included CNBC, Bloomberg TV, CNN, BBC, CBC, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Economist, Bloomberg Business Week, the wire services, and the energy trade press. Read less

Dr Michal Meidan is Director of the China Energy Programme at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Before joining OIES in July 2019, she headed cross-commodity China research at Energy Aspects. Prior to that, she headed China Matters, an independent research consultancy providing analysis on the politics of energy in China. Michal also held senior analytical roles at Eurasia Group in New York and London, and at Asia Centre-Sciences Po, Paris. She taught undergraduate courses on China’s political economy at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and has authored numerous academic articles. Michal also regularly provides comments for a wide variety of media outlets and is featured as a speaker at industry conferences. Michal holds a PhD in Political Science and East Asian studies from Sciences Po, Paris. She is fluent in Mandarin and French. Read less

Alex gained more than 11 years experience as an oil analyst at major commodities firms BP and Citigroup before moving to Kpler over two years ago. He now leads Kpler’s Research team with the mission of providing clients and the broader media community with analysis and insights based on Kpler’s unique universe of real-time data. Read less

Chet Thompson is president and CEO of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), the trade association representing over 300 member companies that encompass virtually all U.S. refining and petrochemical manufacturing capacity. He became AFPM’s president and CEO in 2015. Prior to joining AFPM, Thompson was a partner at Crowell & Moring LLP, where he was chairman of the Environment & Natural Resources Group. He previously served as deputy general counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the George W. Bush Administration. Before joining EPA in 2004, he spent 10 years at Collier Shannon Scott PLLC. In October 2015, The Hill named him as one of Washington’s Top Lobbyists. He has also been recognized as one of the leading lawyers in the United States by Chambers & Partners. Thompson holds a B.A. in Political Science from Boston College and a J.D. from the Catholic University Columbus School of Law. Read less

BIMCO’s chief shipping market analyst has in depth knowledge about the three main shipping sectors: tankers, dry bulk and container shipping. He connects the dots between global economics and the shipping industry and is a frequent source in financial and shipping media across the world. He follows the Trade War between the United States and China closely, and frequently dives deep into specific issues, such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the shipping market, Chinese iron ore imports or the soya bean market. Peter Sand has been with BIMCO since 2009, building BIMCO’s shipping market analysis team from scratch. Prior to joining BIMCO he worked as an analyst at the dry bulk and product tanker shipowner D/S Norden. He is an experienced expert speaker at shipping conferences. He holds a master’s degree in economics from Copenhagen University. Read less

Brett Hunter is a Vice President for Magellan Midstream Partners, with a focus on the commercial crude oil business. Prior to his current role, Brett held several management and individual contributor roles in Magellan’s crude oil and marine business units. Brett holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Oklahoma State University and a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tulsa. Read less

Andrew Lipow is the President of Lipow Oil Associates, a consulting firm which he founded in May 2004. Lipow Oil Associates specializes in refinery operations, bulk liquid storage terminals and provides expertise in crude oil and petroleum product trading opportunities. Mr. Lipow is also familiar with the blending of ethanol and biodiesel and its limitations and can provide guidance on the Renewable Fuel Standard. Mr. Lipow has also provided consulting services for entities involved in the acquisition of refining and midstream assets. Prior to that, for seven years Mr. Lipow traded crude oil, gasoline, jet fuel and distillate at Vitol, a privately held trading company. In addition, he traded oil based commodities at Basis Petroleum and J. Aron. He also has supply and refining experience from his 16 year tenure at Amoco Oil Company and Amoco Corporation. Mr. Lipow has a Master of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Mr. Lipow is a frequent guest on Fox Business News and CNBC, and has appeared on the nightly newscasts of the major networks. Mr Lipow has written articles for trade magazines and is regularly quoted by Platts, OPIS and Argus has participated in industry forums sponsored by these trade organizations. Mr. Lipow is frequently cited by The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and Reuters for comments regarding recent news events. Read less

Schreiner has been working for Rystad Energy for several years in the capacity of Vice President with a focus in Latin America based in Mexico City. After graduating with honors from the University of Texas with a Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish and Portuguese, Schreiner spent a number of years working for a top U.K. based oil and gas research and consulting firm in their Rio de Janeiro office. Current and previous responsibilities include working with the national oil companies on the continent as well as developing relationships with governments, financial institutions and smaller independent E&P firms in the region. In 2015 Schreiner receivied a Master’s Degree in International Oil and Gas Management from the Gradute Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. Read less

Randy Giveans is the Senior Analyst and Group Head of the Energy Maritime Shipping Equity Research Group and a Senior Vice President at Jefferies. He currently covers 30 energy maritime shipping companies that transport crude oil, refined petroleum products, LNG, LPG, dry bulk commodities, and containers. In both 2019 and 2020, he was named to Institutional Investor's (I.I.) All-America Research Team, and in 2018, he was named an Institutional Investor All-America Research "Rising Star" and was ranked as the #1 Stock Picker for Shipping in the Thomson Reuters Analyst Awards. Randy has appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg TV, and Yahoo Finance, and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fox Business, CNN, and Bloomberg. Prior to joining Jefferies in 2011, Randy worked as a Senior Financial Analyst in the Corporate Finance department at Continental/United Airlines. Mr. Giveans received a Bachelor of Science in Finance/Economics from Spring Hill College and an MBA in Finance with an Energy Specialization from the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. Read less

Charles Chasty has been the lead oil and tanker analyst at Affinity Research since 2015.  Charles advises clients globally of the latest developments in both the crude and product tanker markets with the aim of aiding in strategy, both in chartering and investment decisions. Read less

Phil was appointed to lead our Business Development department in June 2020 with accountability for LP-wide growth. Phil joined Enbridge January 2019 as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, heading our USGC Growth Strategy. Phil was previously at Andeavor Corporation where he was one of the company’s most senior officers having served in a variety of executive capacities over his 20 years with the organization. From 2010 to 2017 Phil served as President for Tesoro Logistics LP (TLLP), which at the time was an $8 billion enterprise value, NYSE-listed midstream master limited partnership. Phil led the formation and the initial public offering of TLLP and over his tenure as President annual earnings grew from $50 million in 2010 to over $1 billion in 2017.  Phil holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Texas and holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Southern Methodist University. Read less

Mary’s practice spans a wide array of debt financing transactions, including the representation of private equity funds, hedge funds, mezzanine funds and private and public companies. Mary has successfully handled complex financings in connection with leveraged buyouts, public offerings, reserve-based financings and refinancings, and restructurings (including in-court and out-of-court restructurings, debtor-in-possession financings, and exit financings). Known for her unique ability to calmly and masterfully advocate for clients in high stakes negotiations, Mary is a “go to” attorney for complex transactions. With clients ranging from EIG Global Energy Partners and Sanchez Energy Corporation to Apollo Global Management and LINN Energy, Mary has been involved in some of the most high profile recent acquisition-related financings and restructurings in the energy industry. Read less

Eugene Lindell has been with JBC Energy for well over a decade and headed both the Downstream and Upstream research teams at different points in his career. He is currently taking a more active role in consulting and business development. Mr. Lindell has been using his vast knowledge of energy markets to advise national and international oil and gas companies as well as government-related agencies around the world for many years. Prior to his work at JBC Energy, Mr. Lindell spent several years working in an intelligence cell at NATO regional headquarters in Brunssum, the Netherlands. Read less

Andy has worked in the oil industry for over 30 years. Based in Dubai since early 2006, he has held roles as Vice President for BP’s Integrated Supply & Trading business in the Middle East, Vice President Upstream Services Cyrus Group, Managing Director Bomin Oil DMCC and Senior Partner Energy Consulting Ltd. Andy has a broad experience including upstream, technical, commercial, refinery optimisation, crude and product sales and trading, business development and project management. He has lived in Papua New Guinea, the North Sea, South Africa, Venezuela, Alaska, London, Aberdeen, and Dubai and worked on every continent except Antarctica. His current focus with the Sahara Group is the African market, specifically products supply in East and Central Africa, as well as expanding the company’s business in the broader Middle East region. Read less

Dr. Philip K. Verleger, Jr., has studied and written about energy markets since 1971. His earliest research, published in 1973, addressed the determinants of gasoline demand. It is still cited today. Since 1971, he has published two books and numerous articles and papers on the evolution of energy markets. Many of these have influenced the thinking about and development of these markets, especially his papers on how energy went from being a monopolized good to a real commodity and the transformation’s consequences. Dr. Verleger played a critical role in creating the oil futures markets. His most recent research has shown that the crude oil price collapse that began in 2014 shares many characteristics with the subprime housing debacle that precipitated Lehman Brothers’ failure and the Great Recession of 2009. This new research suggests the oil price decline will have very long-lasting and negative implications for much of the energy sector, even if prices rebound periodically. Dr. Verleger earned his Ph.D. in Economics from MIT in 1971. He began his work on energy as a consultant to the Ford Foundation Energy Policy Project in 1972. He then served as a Senior Staff Economist on President Ford’s Council of Economic Advisers and Director of the Office of Energy Policy at the US Treasury in President Carter’s administration Dr. Verleger has been a Senior Research Scholar and Lecturer at the School of Organization and Management at Yale University and a Vice President in the Commodities Division at Drexel Burnham Lambert. He is now Owner and President of PKVerleger LLC. From 2008 to 2010, Dr. Verleger served as the David E. Mitchell/EnCana Professor of Management at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business. From 1985 to 2012, he was affiliated with the Peterson Institute for International Economics, most recently as a Senior Fellow. Read less

Shelly Abraham currently leads the Crude procurement team at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), India. He has almost 30 years’ experience in oil and gas, including refinery operations, technical services, scheduling and planning, and project evaluation and design. Since May 2019, he has been responsible for procurement of term and spot crude supplies for all BPCL refineries, including vessel chartering. Read less

Chris Lafakis is a director at Moody's Analytics. He oversees Moody’s Analytics’ climate risk initiative, and is responsible for climate modeling and scenario creation. He also has expertise is in macroeconomics, energy economics, model development and model validation. Based in West Chester PA, he also contributes to Economic View. Mr. Lafakis has been quoted by media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Bloomberg, and National Public Radio and often speaks at economic conferences and events. Mr. Lafakis received his bachelor's degree in economics from the Georgia Institute of Technology and his master's degree in economics from the University of Alabama. 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

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

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

Jeff leads Argus business development in crude oil and NGL markets in North America. He opened Argus’ office in Calgary in 2010, and oversaw the expansion of crude oil and NGL price indices in Canada through the beginning of 2013. Previously, Jeff served as Argus’ news editor for the Americas. A graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point, Jeff served 5 years as an aviation officer. He holds a master of arts degree from Baylor University. 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

Vanessa Viola is the Senior Vice-President of Latin America at Argus. She rejoined Argus in 2011 as our Brazil Country Manager and is now working to expand the company’s business across Latin America. Vanessa initially joined Argus in 2001, working as Deputy Editor of the Argus European Products report and Editor of the Argus International LPG report before leaving in 2005 to work as an LPG broker with Gibson in London. Prior to her assignments in the UK, Vanessa worked as a political and financial correspondent for Reuters (Brasilia, Sao Paulo), as a financial reporter for Brazil’s leading news agency Agencia Estado and as a press relations officer with energy engineering company Asea Brown Boveri, also based in Sao Paulo. A graduate from Brazil’s Casper Libero University with a BA in social communications, Vanessa has a master’s degree in international journalism from London’s City University. In addition to Portuguese and English, she is fluent in Spanish. Read less

Alejandro Barbajosa joined the Argus London headquarters in April 2007 where he specialized in Opec, IEA and Atlantic basin crude markets before taking his current business development responsibilities in Singapore in 2011 with a focus on Asian crude. Alejandro completed a masters in Politics of the World Economy at the London School of Economics, before returning to his native Mexico to join PMI, the international trading unit of state oil company Pemex. Read less

Karl Kleemeier is based in Singapore and shares the Head of Argus Asia role with Alan Bannister. Karl heads up business development for the Asian oil sectors with responsibility for crude oil, oil products, biofuels and LPG. Prior to joining Argus in October 2020, Karl spent nearly 20 years with Saudi Aramco in Dhahran, where he headed Aramco’s crude oil pricing team. Karl has a degree in chemical engineering, as well as an MBA, and has an extensive background in oil refining and marketing. 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

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Parash Jain joined HSBC in 2006 and is the Global Head of Shipping and Ports Equity Research and the Head of Transport Research, Asia Pacific. Based in Hong Kong, Parash has been directly covering the Asia marine sector (including logistics) since 2009 and is responsible for developing regional and global products in conjunction with other transport analysts. In his time at HSBC, he has also covered Asia small and mid-cap companies. He is registered with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and has a bachelor's degree in commerce. Read less

David Ivanovich is Argus Media’s Washington bureau chief. Ivanovich has covered the intersection of energy and politics in Washington for more than 23 years. He joined Argus in January 2009, following stints at the Houston Chronicle and the Cincinnati Post. He holds a BS in journalism and a BA in English from Ohio University. Read less

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