21
Farouq Al-Zanki
Deputy Chairman & CEO
Kuwait Petroleum Company
Farouq Al-Zanki has been at the top of the KPC since October 2010 after a three-year stint as Managing Director for Refining and Chairman of Kuwait National Petroleum Company and a long career at the Kuwait Oil Company before that.
Al-Zanki has the weight of an expansive government fiscal program and some delayed projects to carry, at an uncertain time for global oil demand and prices.
In order to continue to meet its ambitious production capacity growth target and increasing domestic demand for electricity feedstock, KPC will need to shorten project approval times and build on the production boost spurred by OPEC’s meeting in June.
22
Mark Carne
Executive Vice President, UPSTREAM, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
Shell
Mark Carne has been Executive Vice President over Shell’s regional upstream assets since September 2010, a division that counts a supergiant field in Iraq and the recently signed gas capture project amongst its current projects.
Carne served as an Executive Vice President of BG Group since May 2005 and also its Managing Director of Europe & Central Asia since March 2006.
Carne served as Managing Director – North West Europe of BG Group since May 2005. He joined BG from Shell, where he served as Managing Director of Brunei Shell Petroleum and Country Chairman for Shell in Brunei until 2005. He has also managed the company’s assets in the North Sea.
23
Arnaud Breuillac
Regional Senior Vice President
(Exploration & Production)
Total
Arnaud Breuillac has been running Total’s upstream operation in the region since July 2010, and cut his teeth in the region, starting 27 years ago in Abu Dhabi, working in partnership with ADNOC as a young process engineer.
From 2004 to 2006, he was Vice President Middle East Iran. In December 2006, he became a member of the Management Committee of the Exploration & Production Division as Senior Vice-President, Continental Europe and Central Asia. On January 1st, 2011, he was appointed member of the Group Management Committee.
In the UAE, Breuillac manages the French supermajor’s long-standing projects with ADCO and ADMA-OPCO which are shortly up for renewal, and the GASCO associated gas company with which Total signed a new 20-year extension in 2008.
Total’s interests in Syria have been squeezed by international sanctions. The company is also coping with production losses in Yemen after frequent sabotage and security concerns have hampered the transport of crude to refineries and export terminals.
Total also has significant interests in Qatar, where it has been present since 1936. The company holds stakes in the Al Khalij field (100%), the NFB Block (20%) in the North Field, the Qatargas 1 liquefaction plant (10%), the Dolphin project (24.5%) and train 5 of Qatargas 2 (16.7%).
The Group’s production was 164 kboe/d in 2010, compared to 141 kboe/d in 2009 and 121 kboe/d in 2008, production substantially increased with the start-up of Qatargas 2.
24
Ahmed Rashid al-Arbeed
CEO
Dana Gas
After joining the board of Dana Gas on its incorporation in 2005, Al-Arbeed was appointed as CEO in 2009 as the company split the roles of Chairman and CEO.
Previously Executive Director, Upstream at Dana, al-Arbeed has stewarded Dana Gas’ move into Iraqi Kurdistan, while developing the company’s interests in the UAE and Egypt.
A passionate advocate of gas market liberalization, al-Arbeed has helped to deliver a dramatic increase in the electricity feedstock in Kurdistan, and a string of impressive financial results.
The company was named the Fastest-Growing Company of the Year in the Middle East and North Africa at the 8th International Business Awards, known as the Stevies.
Before joining Dana Gas, Al-Arbeed served as Chairman and Managing Director of Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), Board Member of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), Chairman and Managing Director of the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co.
(KUFPEC), Managing Director of the ‘Kuwait Project’ for re-introducing international oil companies to develop Kuwaiti oil fields, and Managing Director of the Privatization and research and development programmes of KPC.
25
David Cook
Executive Officer, Head of Oil & Gas
TAQA
David Cook joined TAQA in October 2010 following over 20 years’ experience in upstream and midstream businesses at Amoco, BP, and TNK-BP. Before joining TAQA, Cook was Vice President for BP Russia, responsible for BP’s non-TNK-BP E&P activities.
He has taken the reins at TAQA’s oil & gas division at an interesting time, as the company plows further investment into the North Sea and the acquisition of a $46 million stake in Western Zagros.
Speaking to Oil & Gas Middle East earlier this year, Cook said “in the last 18 months to two years we have been working really hard to get things on track for delivering the kind of business that we want this to be.”
26
Maurizio La Noce
Executive Director
Mubadala Energy, Oil & Gas
Maurizio La Noce is the Executive Director of Mubadala Energy and the CEO of Mubadala Oil & Gas, parts of the investment fund established in 2002 by the UAE capital to diversify its investments beyond its domestic oil and gas production.
His primary responsibilities are to oversee Mubadala’s operational and business development activities in the oil and gas, petroleum services and renewable energy sectors.
He is a Board member of Masdar, Global Foundries, EMAL, Pearl Energy, Spyker Cars, MPSC and SMN Barka Power Company SAOC.
Before joining Mubadala, Maurizio held various commercial and managerial positions with Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) and Enron International while on job assignments in Milan, London, Dallas and the United Arab Emirates.
Mubadala’s assets include a stake in Petrofac Emirates, exploration blocks in Oman, and Pearl Energy, a company with 24 licenses in South East Asia, and EPC firm PSN Emirates.
27
Sami Al Rushaid
Chairman and Managing Director
Kuwait Oil Company
Sami Al Rushaid has been pushing Kuwait’s notorious ‘queue and wait’ moniker with a recent surge in oil production to a decade-long high of 2.9 million barrels per day in October.
KOC has clearly risen to the challenge set by the gulf bloc in the wake of OPEC’s June meeting, when Saudi Arabia led a decision to boost production but left Kuwait and Abu Dhabi to do some of the extra lifting. The country now boasts production capacity of 3.5 million barrels per day.
28
Dmitry Timoshenko
Senior Vice President
Lukoil Overseas
Dmitry Timoshenko was the man who signed Lukoil’s West Qurna phase II field development contract in Iraq, the lowest-margin contract signed by any of the supermajors under the fee-per barrel arrangements mandated by Baghdad.
Lukoil took up the crown jewel in the second auction round on the basis of a fee of just $1.15 per barrel, which will be subject to tax at 35%.
Timoshenko has been at Lukoil since 1996, when he joined the firm’s legal division. Since 2001 he has held various positions in Lukoil Overseas, which manages the major’s assets outside Russia: head of the Moscow Representative Office/chief legal counsel, vice president/chief legal counsel, vice president for mergers, acquisitions and business development and, since 2008, vice president for strategy and development. In 2010 Timoshenko was appointed senior vice president of Lukoil Overseas.
29
Sheikh Faisal Al Thani
Deputy Managing Director
Maersk Oil Qatar
Dr. Faisal Al-Thani is the Deputy Managing Director for Maersk Oil Qatar, based in Doha. Prior to this, he held the position of Deputy General Manager seconded by Qatar Petroleum to Anadarko Qatar Energy, BP and ARCO.
His background is in Petroleum Engineering and Project Finance Management. Chairman of the Qatar Society of Petroleum Engineers and Board member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers Dallas USA.
Maersk Oil is in the final stages of implementing the 2005 Field Development Plan (FDP) for the giant Al Shaheen field. All facilities, including 15 new platforms, were installed and hooked up in 2010.
30
Khadem Al Qubaisi
Chairman
Aabar/IPIC
As the chairman of Aabar Investments, Khadem Al Qubaisi’s recent string of high-profile acquisitions have helped propelled Abu Dhabi onto the international map.
Aabar has been on the expansion trail since International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) — of which Al Qubaisi is also the chairman — took control of the firm in 2009. Under Qubaisi’s stewardship, Aabar purchased a 9.1 percent stake in Daimler, making it the largest shareholder in the German car manufacturer.
It also acquired a 32 percent stake in Virgin Galactic, Sir Richard Branson’s commercial space travel unit, in July. In addition, the firm has committed a further $100m to fund a satellite launch capability. Aabar was also part of a $183m deal to take a majority stake in Formula One team Brawn GP.
The International Petroleum Investment Company, founded in 1984 with a mandate to invest in a diverse portfolio of energy projects, has stakes in 14 leading energy companies, and is financing the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline from Habshan to Fujairah.
The company is also proceeding with a $3 billion investment in a refinery project in Fujairah, which is due to add 200,000 barrels per day of refining capacity by 2016.
