Argus Bitumen & Asphalt Europe Conference

Dr. Taylor has more than 30 years of construction materials experience, having worked as a Materials Engineer on many major civil engineering projects (motorways, tunnels, airfields, ports) and later specializing in research and technical development of construction materials. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree (First Class with Honours) and in 2007 graduated with a Ph.D from the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Nottingham. He currently holds the role of Global Technology Development Manager for Shell Specialities and is responsible for the commercialization of new technologies and materials. Richard is a Fellow of The Institute of Asphalt Technology, a Member of the Institute Environmental Management and Assessment of and was honoured to receive the Howard Medal from the Institution of Civil Engineers, London as co-author and part of a project team focused on increasing recycling and sustainability in surface course materials. Read less

Simon is responsible for the commercial activities of Nynas on a global basis, including the sales and marketing of bitumen, fuel and naphthenic specialty base oils. He has worked in the oil industry for more than 30 years, the last 25 at Nynas, and has extensive experience in senior leadership positions in downstream activities. Simon has a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from University College London, and an MBA from Henley Management College. Read less

Ana is a seasoned business leader with over 23 years' experience leading commercial teams in both Sales and Procurement, across different businesses and channels. Ana joined Shell in 1998 after successfully completing her Economics & Business Studies degree from The University of Edinburgh with 1st Class Honours. She has enjoyed an international career in commercial and marketing roles across different businesses in the Chemicals, Lubricants and Bitumen industries, and Contracting & Procurement (C&P). Ana is currently the General Manager for the Construction & Road Sector in EUAF, enabling customers and partners in the sector decarbonize through integrated offers. Prior to this role, as the General Manager of Shell’s Global Key Accounts organization, she managed relationships with strategic customers and OEMs in Industrial (Power, Mining, General Engineering) and Off-highway (Agriculture & Construction) Sectors. Ana is passionate about leading effective teams to success and creating deep and sustainable business partnerships with strategic customers and suppliers. Originally from Lisbon, Portugal, Ana speaks four languages fluently and completed her Executive MBA at the Rotterdam School of Management in The Netherlands in 2008. Read less

Bitumen Supply Manager for all NWE & Central Europe affiliates of TotalEnergies’ Marketing & Services, since more than 3 years now. She has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in Refining, Petrochemicals & Polymers. She has 18 years working background in Business and technical positions in Refining, Petrochemical and Trading branches of TotalEnergies Read less

Nile Elam is the Vice President, Government Affairs for the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) in Washington D.C., which is the only national trade association that exclusively represents the interests of asphalt pavement producers and paving contractors with Congress, the Administration, relevant government agencies, and other national trade and business organizations. In this role, Nile oversees all advocacy efforts pertaining to the efficient operation and growth of the asphalt industry, including federal funding for surface transportation projects, permitting, environmental stewardship, and workforce. Prior to joining NAPA, Nile was the Director of Government Affairs at the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA), tackling infrastructure policies on behalf of aggregate producers, and his most recent role was the Senior Director of Energy & Resources Policy at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), leading chemical, permitting and critical mineral policy initiatives. Nile lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and daughter. Read less

Andrew Isichei is a technically astute business executive, turnaround specialist, and visionary leader with over 40 years of experience across multiple public and private sector organizations. He is the founder and CEO of ACI Holdings, a group of companies in the Energy, Logistics, Agriculture, Construction and Professional Services, including Cybernetics International Services Limited, Multifreight Nigeria Limited, Isichei Farms and many others. He is also known for his impressive work as the CEO of the National Clearing & Forwarding Agency (NACFA) where he revived the moribund organization by growing it’s assets by 873% within a three-year period earning a national presidential commendation. Andrew has also been recognized for his work in setting up the Oil & Gas Free Trade Zone, Onne. The first of its kind in West Africa. He has garnered several professional qualifications and certifications from Harvard University, Kellogg’s, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK etc. Andy is a Chartered Accountant and a leader with a commitment to his community working with non-profits like Cybernetics Academy to improve quality of Education in underserved areas. Read less

Bennie Greyling is Managing Director of AECI Much Asphalt, the largest hot mix asphalt producer in southern Africa. Bennie obtained a Higher Diploma in Mechanical Engineering in 1988 and has dedicated his career to AECI Much Asphalt and the road construction industry for the past 35 years. Bennie’s first position at AECI Much Asphalt was as a Trainee on a major road surfacing contract in Namibia. His career path has included various positions within the company covering all aspects of the business. During this period AECI Much Asphalt has expanded from five branches in 1990 to 20 and its footprint is expanding further afield in Africa. The group further acquired a modified binder and bituminous emulsion business in 2015 with three branches located in South Africa. Bennie has played a leading role in many major highway construction projects and several high-profile airport runway contracts. He has been and continues to be the driving force behind the expansion of the company’s products and innovation within the asphalt industry. Read less

Claude is a Chemical Engineer and has a master’s degree in quality management from Paris’ Arts et Métiers engineering school. He has worked in road construction for 22 years at companies including Générale Routière, MeadWestVaco and now Eiffage, which he joined in May 2014. His current duties include developing and marketing new products, technical assistance and representing the company at institutions such as SFERB and EAPA. Read less

Graduate in chemistry and MBA, currently one of the principals investigators of the MIT project Mastering Asphalt performance Javier is part of Ferrovial being Managing Director of Ditecpesa Asphalt Products, which is one of the most important bitumen sellers and manufacturers of polymer modified bitumen and bitumen emulsions in Spain. He began his career in Ditecpesa’s technical department in 1997, and subsequently worked in the company’s industrial, financial and commercial departments before taking on his current role. Javier has also helped manage the purchase of asphalt products for Ditecpesa’s parent company Ferrovial for projects throughout the world, focusing on the technological development of pavements and associated environmental concerns. Javier has outstanding knowledge of the construction and operation facilities of asphalt products including bitumen terminals, polymer modified bitumen and emulsion plants. He is also a specialist in climate change, content strategy and industrial health and safety. Recently has led the development of the first smart asphalt pavement for Steering in Self-Driving Cars. Read less

Arnaud Waché has 22 years of experience in the Oil and Gas industry. After performing in various management position within Shell, Petroineos, LBC Tank Terminals and Lyondellbasell, Arnaud joined Continental Bitumen in June 2020. He is in charge of business development. Continental Bitumen is a COLAS subsidiary in charge of supply of bitumen for Europe, Africa and the Middle East Read less

Jan-Erik Lundmark is a civil engineer at Luleå Technical University in Sweden. He has worked with road maintenance for 12 years as a contractor and 8 years in department of maintenance, Swedish Transport Administration. He is responsible for strategic questions include planning and maintaining 80 000 km of paved roads, road markings and road network measurements. Read less

Frederik Norrman has 20 years of experience as a Global Procurement Officer. He has spent the past 10 years at Skanska, covering asphalt. Frederik started at the company as an Area Purchasing Manager, having previously worked in the international defence industry. Frederik leads a team that is developing the Nordic market and Skanska, enabling multiple bitumen supply. He was a finalist in Sweden’s best negotiator award for 2013, the Swedish procurement award for all branches and categories. Read less

Jeroen Besamusca received his MSc Chemistry at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands, in 1988. He started his work career in cable industry. That was the first time he “glued” to bitumen. Underground high-energy cables coated with bitumen prevent water penetration. After that, he worked at galvanising industry and was responsible for product development at an emulsion factory before starting at Q8 Research company. He started in Kuwait Petroleum R&T Europoort, the Netherlands, in 2003 in Bitumen department. For more than ten years, he was member of the Technical Committee of Eurobitume. He is Dutch representative in the European Standardisation committee TC336 for bitumen test methods and product specifications. He is a guest teacher at the TU Delft in the Civil Engineering course on infra structures. He is a member of the international research group RILEM working on new bitumen and asphalt characterization methods. After the sale of the European Q8 refineries, the bitumen laboratory now support the Q8 refineries outside Europe and operates as an independent bitumen laboratory for third parties. Read less

Charles Misseghers is Commercial Manager at Alkion Terminals, part of Koole Terminals since 2022. He has over 15 years of experience in port related activities with a demonstrated history of working in the maritime industry, from shipyard management to business development for the liquid bulk industry. Read less

Jon has worked in the bitumen industry for nearly 10 years. He started off establishing supply and logistics operations in the region of west Africa, and now at TEC as an equipment and solutions provider, helping customers to overcome challenges in Africa, southeast Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. TEC has since become the market leader in bitumen container supply, especially following the success of the BitutainerTM range. Read less

Eivind has a master’s degree in civil engineering from the Norwegian Technical University, where he started his career in 1990 at the Department of Road and Railway Engineering. He quickly moved on into research/development where asphalt mixtures and later bitumen became specialties. Moved on to an 8-year employment as technical manager for Shell Bitumen in the Nordic region. From 2008- 2023 worked for the Norwegian construction company Veidekke Industry in both commercial and technical roles, roles such as Regional Director, Technical Director and Bitumen Manager. Eivind has pushed technologies such as warm mix asphalt for more than 20 years and has gradually focused more and more on sustainability measures for the asphalt industry. EAPA Board member 2020-2022. Now at an age of 58 years old, Eivind has decided to start a consultancy business which now is in the process of finding its form Read less

Keyvan joined Argus in June 2007 as part of the company’s European oil products team, reporting on naphtha, jet fuel and distillate markets before switching to coverage of the fuel oil market and subsequently vacuum gasoil. He has been reporting on European and African bitumen and asphalt markets since 2009, editing the Europe/Africa section of the weekly Argus Asphalt Report, and subsequently Argus Bitumen, and helping to enhance the publication. Before joining Argus, Keyvan spent 10 years as a Senior Energy Correspondent with Reuters news agency in London before it was merged to form Thomson Reuters. At Reuters, Keyvan reported on physical and swaps markets for the full spectrum of oil products and led a team of products reporters. He previously reported on the petrochemicals and oil products markets at the London office of Dow Jones. Read less

Jonathan Weston is the editor of the Argus Bitumen Report, which was launched in January 2015 to cover bitumen markets in Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Mideast Gulf. Jonathan also manages the speciality products team at Argus, which covers bitumen, base oils, bunker fuels and waxes. Jonathan previously covered crude oil markets for Argus and before that worked as a stockbroker and newspaper journalist. 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