21
Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani
Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, RAK Petroleum
Mossavar-Rahmani chairs the board of Dubai based RAK Petroleum, the largest private oil and gas company in the Middle East with indirect interests in 22 exploration and production blocks worldwide. With an impressive number of executive roles under his belt, Rahmani serves as the executive chairman of Norwegian oil company DNO, 40% owned by RAK.
Rahmani is the founder and first chief executive of Houston?based Apache International. He is also the co-founded Foxtrot International, a private exploration and production firm active in Côte d’Ivoire. Outside of the industry, Rahmani is involved in philanthropy, education and arts. He is also a member of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Visiting Committee.
22
Andrew Vaughan
Vice President, Shell, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait
Andrew Vaughan became the new vice president for Shell’s operations in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait in October 2013. With over 30 years in the oil and gas sector, Vaughan has occupied roles of increasing seniority across the company’s global operations.
He commenced his career with Shell in 1981 in Aberdeen and has since been heavily involved in the company’s operations in the Middle East and North Africa spanning from the GCC all the way to Egypt. Shell is one of the bidders to win a stake in Abu Dhabi’s 40-year concession but it is yet to be seen if the company would be able to meet the demanding contract requirements.
23
Yousuf Al-Ojaili
Head of Country and President BP Oman
Al-Ojaili joined BP Oman from Oman Gas Company, a subsidiary of Oman Oil Company, where he served as a chief executive for ten years. Al-Ojaili has more than 27 years of engineering and business experience under his belt, occupying distinguished roles in Petroleum Development Oman and Brunei Shell Petroleum.
Al-Ojaili assumed his role as CEO OF Oman at a crucial time for the company, which is tasked with the development of the Khazzan field- one of the Middle East’s largest tight gas accumulations, located in the Sultanate. BP recently said it is “on track” with the project and promised to deliver first gas by 2017.
24
Mohammed Al-Shatti
CEO, Kuwait Petroleum Corp.
Mohammed Al-Shatti is the chief executive officer of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and its various subsidiaries at home and abroad. With the support of the government, Al-Shatti has been leading the company into new horizons by starting a number of exploration projects overseas, one of them being offshore China in collaboration with CNOOC.
Despite being one of the smallest in-land countries in the GCC, Kuwait is the fifth largest exporter of crude oil. As well as investing in exploration and production abroad, the government has tried to attract foreign investment in its oil and natural gas sectors at home through multibillion dollar technical and service contracts.
25
Dr Abdul-Hussain Bin Ali Mirza
Minister of Oil and Gas, Bahrain
H.H. Dr Abdul-Hussain Bin Ali Mirza is Bahrain’s oil and gas Minister and Chairman of the National Oil and Gas Authority. With almost five decades of industry experience, the oil and gas veteran has for years held the reins of the small Gulf Arab state’s oil and gas sector.
Mirza also serves as member of BAPCO’s Executive Committee and has helped shape the company’s strategy for years to come. He is also a member of Bahrain’s Supreme Oil Council chaired by H.H. the Prime Minister.
Following the dip in oil prices, Mirza reassured his people that the volatility in the market is only temporary and will not affect Bahrain’s future projects.
26
Abdullah Al-Helal
President and CEO, Aramco Gulf Operations Company
Al-Helal joined Aramco as a young engineer in the late 1980s after graduating from King Fahad University for Petroleum and Minerals. Throughout the years he quickly moved up the ranks holding a number of senior roles, one of which was president and CEO for Saudi Aramco Lubrication Oil Refining Company at Jeddah and Yanbu.
He is a member in the Saudi Aramco Council of Engineers and the Saudi Aramco Council of Maintenance. He is also part of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), the Society of Chemical Engineering, and the Society of Chemists.
In 2011, Al-Helal was appointed president and CEO of Aramco’s Gulf Operations Company, which operates the 300,000 bopd Khafji oilfield alongside Kuwait Gulf Oil Company.
27
Stephane Michel
President, Middle East and North Africa, Total
Stephane Michel has headed Total’s exploration and production in MENA since January last year moving up from his role as a managing director of Total E&P Qatar. In his role as president for the Middle East and North Africa, Michel is determined to lead the company towards a planned regional expansion into Kurdistan and Egypt, where the French giant said it already made some discoveries.
Total is also planning to stay active in a number of oil and gas fields in the GCC, particularly in the UAE and Qatar. In January this year, the company won a 10% stake in ADNOC’s concession for 15 oilfields that has been signed for four decades ahead.
28
Saeed Mubarak Al-Hajeri
Chairman, TAQA
H.E. Saeed Mubarak Al-Hajeri was elected Chairman of the Board in 2014 and has served on the Board of TAQA as a member since 2011. A Chartered Financial Analyst, he has more than 19 years’ experience in international finance. He was elected by the World Economic Forum in 2007 as one of the top 250 Young Global Leaders for his contribution to the public and financial sectors in the United Arab Emirates.
Al-Hajeri sits on the board of the company at rather challenging times when tough decisions are needed to be made. Taqa posted negative financial results in 2014 on weaker oil prices but said it achieved record production and cashflows.
29
Bill Bullock
President Asia Pacific and Middle East, ConocoPhillips
Bill Bullock is Conoco’s newly appointed president of Asia Pacific and Middle East- arguably the two most important regions for the US energy giant. Having spent almost three decades working for Conoco, Bullock comes to the job at a time when plans to increase production from the two regions have recently been announced.
But the oil and gas veteran has long been an important decision maker in Conoco’s regional operations. Between 2007 and 2010, he served as president for the Middle East and North Africa, where he led the exploration and production in Qatar, Algeria, Libya, Abu Dhabi and Iraq. Conoco’s joint venture with Qatar Petroleum- Qatargas 3 is the company’s most crucial asset in the region to date.
30
Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Chairman, Dolphin Energy
Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ruler’s representative in the Western region in the UAE, is the Chairman of Dolphin Energy, which manages the first cross-border natural gas network in the GCC. Named after the project, the Dolphin pipeline transports gas from the North Field in Qatar, which gets processed and refined at the Ras Laffan plant, into the UAE.
Last year in September, Dolphin reached a production milestone of 5 trillion standard cubic feet (scf) since operations began in 2007. The regular supply of gas to the UAE has been critical to meeting rising energy demand in the country.
As demand continued to surge, Dolphin unveiled plans for expansion it said would begin in the first quarter of this year, but such plans have not materialised as of yet. Dolphin Energy is 51% owned by Abu Dhabi via Mubadala Development, with Total and Occidental owning over 20% each.
