The jury for the 2018 Oil & Gas and Refining & Petrochemicals Middle East Awards unveiled

Rebecca Liebert, president and CEO, Honeywell UOP

Rebecca Liebert is the president and CEO of Honeywell UOP since April 2016. Rebecca previously served as vice president and general manager of UOP’s catalysts, adsorbents and specialties business, where she achieved strong financial performance in a difficult industry environment. Prior to that, she was vice president and general manager of the company’s gas processing and hydrogen business, tripling sales in only three years to more than $1bn annually. Rebecca joined Honeywell UOP in 2012 from Honeywell’s electronic materials business, where she led the business into new markets, diversified the product portfolio, and drove new product development, steering the business through an industry downturn and positioning it for a strong recovery. She joined Honeywell in 2006 from Alcoa, where she was president of Reynolds Food Packaging. Prior to this, Rebecca served as business director for the solid polystyrene and high performance polystyrene business of Nova Chemicals. She began her career at Arco Chemical Company as a development engineer. Rebecca holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Kentucky, a doctorate in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Luciano Poli, president, India, Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, Dow

In November 2017, Dow appointed Luciano Poli as its president for India, Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. Poli took on the position, as he marked a successful career of nearly three decades at Dow, with a commitment to drive the region’s growth strategy, further enhance Dow’s leadership and strengthen key strategic partnerships across the region. He has been involved in Dow’s Middle East operations for the last 20 years. Previously, Poli was the global finance leader for joint ventures and area finance director for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Prior to that, he worked across diverse regions and held various treasury and finance positions in Switzerland, South Africa, Spain, China and Saudi Arabia. Poli’s career at Dow has showcased his expertise in mergers and acquisitions, mega project management and joint ventures. In an earlier role as chief financial officer of Sadara Chemical Company, the largest chemical complex ever built in the world in a single phase, with 26 integrated world-scale manufacturing plants, he was based in Saudi Arabia where he was involved in the successful financing and initial construction phase of this mega project. Poli is based at Dow’s regional headquarters in Dubai.

Vivek Chandra, CEO and founder, Texas LNG

Vivek Chandra is the CEO and founder of Texas LNG, a 4MTA LNG export project in South Texas, USA, to be built in two 2MTA phases on a 625-acre deepwater frontage site. The project has attracted funding from a major US investment fund and is expected to reach final investment decision in late 2018, and first production in 2022-2023. Chandra’s extensive 30+ years international global gas experience includes roles in both large and small energy companies, as well as government organisations. He has worked on commercial matters with LNG import and export, as well as gas pipeline export projects. Chandra is the author of ‘Fundamentals of Natural Gas: An International Perspective’, a best-selling hardcover book published by Pennwell. The second edition of the book was published in March 2017. He has taught the popular ‘Natural Gas Dynamics’ seminar, held over 30 times around the world and offered online, and has developed apps for the LNG industry. Chandra holds a BSc. degree in geophysical engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, an MSc. in petroleum energy management and policy from the University of Pennsylvania, a Diplome D’Ingenieur in petroleum economics from the French Petroleum Institute, and a masters in commercial law from Deakin University, Australia.

Nicholas Kjaer, general manager, Middle East, Churchill Drilling Tools

Nicholas Kjaer joined Churchill Drilling Tools in 2015 as general manager for the Middle East, tasked to start the region for the Aberdeen-headquartered company. Kjaer is a strong advocate of bringing innovative technologies to the oil and gas industry and since the inception in the region, Churchill Drilling Tools has expanded into numerous countries within the region, bringing new and disruptive technologies to the drilling industry. Initially, after earning his Bachelor of Engineering (chemical) and Master of Engineering (petroleum) degrees, Kjaer started his career in oilfield services giant Schlumberger, initially working as field engineer in drilling services for four years, before moving into management. He spent 10 years with Schlumberger in locations around the world, managing drilling operations. Later on Kjaer moved from upstream into midstream/downstream and has been holding senior leadership positions within the oil and gas and power sectors, at both major corporations and small start-ups. He has been residing in the Middle East region since 2001.

Ben Oudman, regional manager, DNV GL, oil and gas, Continental Europe, Eurasia, Middle East, India and Africa

Ben Oudman is regional manager for DNV GL, oil and gas, Continental Europe, Eurasia, Middle East, India and Africa region and part of the executive leadership team. The region consists of around 500 technical experts and advisors, located in 15 countries, and covering upstream, midstream and downstream segments of the oil and gas value chain as well as strategy, capex and opex asset lifecycles. Oudman has a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and a wealth of experience in managing teams of technical professionals in the fields of innovation, research and development, product and process quality management, and safety in the gas and consumer goods industries. He joined DNV GL in 2013 and has previously held senior positions in Phillips and Kiwa Technology. Oudman was previously the country manager, oil and gas, for the Netherlands, leading a team of around 100 technical professionals organised into six sections, covering technical advisory, technical assurance-verification and risk management advisory services across the gas value chain, LNG and pipeline segments.

Annabel Green, chief technology officer, Tendeka

Annabel Green is currently chief technology officer with independent global completions service company Tendeka and is responsible for a diverse technology portfolio, including sand control, inflow control and intelligent well management. Annabel has a passion for innovation, collaboration and the challenges of successfully implementing new technologies. She started her career with Schlumberger as an open-hole logging engineer in the North Sea where she gained invaluable experience in operations, conveyancing systems and the gathering and interpretation of petrophysical data. Via the acquisition of Petroline, a specialist intervention and completion company, Annabel then spent more than 14 years with Weatherford in numerous technical and R&D roles – both in Aberdeen and overseas. While there, she developed and commercialised several advanced completion technologies and worked with multiple disciplines on the integration of downhole technologies, including sand control, reservoir monitoring and production optimisation systems. Annabel joined Tendeka in 2012 as product line director, wirelines technologies, and was drawn by the company’s wireless intelligent completion development programme. She graduated from Leeds University with a degree in mechanical engineering and holds several patents. Annabel is the co-author of a number of sand control and completion related SPE papers. She is a firm believer that future technology should provide simplified solutions and improved compatibility with digital management.