European Biofuels Conference

Sinead took over the role of VP Low Carbon Fuels in November 2021 after 5 years as Shell UK Country Chair. She is a Trustee of the Shell Foundation and a Fellow of the Energy Institute.

Prior to joining Shell, Sinead worked at BG Group where, as EVP Safety and Sustainability, she was a member of the Executive Committee. Following the announcement of Shell’s offer to acquire BG Group in April 2015, Sinead led the BG side of a combined Integration Planning Team and post deal completion, was a member of the leadership team that integrated BG into Shell.

Sinead worked for BG since 1993, joining as a Geophysicist before moving from the technical field to senior roles in Economics, Commercial, Business Development and Asset Management. She has led businesses both in the UK and internationally.

Sinead is married with two young sons.

Annabel works for bp and is responsible for bio and low carbon regulatory strategy in Europe. Annabel started her career at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Energy in Brussels and at the Upstream Oil & Gas Producers’ Association. Follower her MBA at INSEAD Annabel joined bp on a rotational Leadership programme in 2013 and worked in several roles in the trading entity in London, at the refinery in Gelsenkirchen and at bp Germany’s headquarters in Bochum, where she recently managed the RED and FQD compliance for the North West European business.

Annabel holds a BA Hons. from the University of Oxford and a Masters from the College of Europe in Bruges. A French and British citizen, she has two young children (1,5 and 4 years old) and currently lives with her family in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Jon Scharingson is the Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives for Renewable Energy Group (REG), REG is the nation’s leading producer and marketer of biodiesel selling 649 million gallons of biodiesel, renewable diesel and blends in 2020.

As Executive Director, Strategic Initiatives Scharingson oversees the company’s sales business development activities and is responsible for collaborations and strategic alliances in new market segments.

Prior to joining REG, Mr. Scharingson spent 17 years in the seeds, crop protection and the agriculture biotechnology industries, having worked for Imperial Chemical Industries, AstraZeneca and Syngenta. He held several senior management roles in business strategy, business development and marketing.

Mr. Scharingson has a BBA in Management and an MBA in Marketing from Iowa State University.

CEO of GIDARA Energy; Wim van der Zande has international experience for more than 30 years in managing global organizations with companies in Europe, USA, Middle East India and China all in the EPC contracting and technology management for the oil & gas and chemical industry. He has performed miscellaneous executive and non-executive functions in major organizations like BASF, Chiyoda, M&G/Chemtex (CEO), Xodus and as CEO of Akerkvaerner Process.

Wim has his background in the engineering contracting business with specific attention to the development of chemical complexes: Technology developments (incl. R&D management), setting up of new companies, joint ventures, M&A and full project execution (Front end, Project Management, Contracting, Construction, and start-up and operation).

Wim has set up the technology/project development company GI Dynamics together with his son Chris. Wim has his bachelor’s degree in mechanical/process engineering and has completed his MBA at the Henley plus board management at Nyenrode.

Dario Giordano is Licensing Manager at Versalis.

Dario has been working at Versalis since November 2018 as Licensing Manager for Green Chemistry until January 2021 when he has taken over the responsibility for all licensing activities including both petrochemical and biotech technologies.

After graduating in Chemical Engineering at Turin Polytechnic, he joined Mossi and Ghisolfi (M&G) Group in 1990 and he had several management responsibility and covered several positions.

He has been VP R&D and Technology and member of the Executive Committee of M&G Group.

Since April 2015, Dario has served as Chief Executive Officer of Beta Renewables S.p.A, leading the licensing activities of proprietary technology (PROESA ®) for the production of second generation ethanol and conversion of biomass to sugar.

Dario joined Versalis following the acquisition by Versalis of M&G Bio Perimeter on November 2018

Dr Calliope Panoutsou is an agricultural engineer and holds a PhD on 'Socioeconomic aspects of bioenergy systems at regional level' from Aston University, UK.

She is an expert in biomass for the biobased economy and her research interests focus on supply, logistics & economics of biomass value chains, market & policy analyses as well as sustainability.

Through her research she has formed a multi-disciplinary background with skills and knowledge in agriculture, energy, environment, economics, social studies and modelling.

She has extensive research and project experience in biomass R&D throughout Europe and has coordinated several EU projects involving multi-disciplinary research. She is also the Chair for biomass supply within the European Biofuels Technology Platform (EBTP) www.biofuelstp.eu

Simona joined ePURE in October 2020 and is responsible for energy, environment and trade issues. She spent nearly a decade working on horizontal trade issues affecting the European ceramic industry and assumed the role of Trade Policy Director at the European Ceramic Industry Association (Cerame-Unie). From 2017 to 2020, she also represented the refractory sector as Secretary-General of the European Refractory Producers Federation (PRE) and the World Refractories Association (WRA). Simona holds a Master’s degree in Politics & International Relations from the University of Aberdeen and in EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies from the College of Europe. She speaks English, French, Slovak and Spanish.

Emanuele has 15 years of experience in the energy trading industry gathered across commodities (Oil, LNG, Coal, Power, Gas) and geographies (Italy, UK, Germany, UAE) in various roles, from Financial Risk Management, Project management, Planning and Operation and more recently into Business Development. In his current role, he’s responsible for the Commercial Optimization of Uniper’s Refinery in Fujairah and Storages. He’s also in charge of Business Development for Marine Fuels, including BioFuels, Green Ammonia and Green Methanol projects.

Karim works on the agriculture desk in London covering EMEA biofuels and was previously covering the Black Sea grains market. He worked as an investment analyst and an equity analyst covering Middle East-listed fertilizers and chemical companies. He holds a BA (Combined Hons) in Economics and International Development from the University of Liverpool, and an MSC (Hons) in Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He wrote his Masters’ dissertation on the impact of agricultural liberalization on the Egyptian wheat market and food security.

Leonidas Kanonis is the Director for Communications and Analysis at the European Waste-based & Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA) since January 2021. Leonidas has acquired extensive experience on the biofuels industry after his stint at Argus Media for 3,5 years, where he became deputy editor for the biofuels desk after covering the market for crop and waste feedstocks as a senior market reporter.

Niels A Anspach is the VP Biofuels Value Chain at BP. He is accountable for all bio related performance in Midstream in Europe and the Americas. Ensuring optimised commercial spent of capex into bp’s midstream and refining assets and coordinating all regulatory and advocacy themes to ensure to achieve bp’s aims of decarbonization from a midstream perspective.

Steven LE MOING is in charge, within Airbus Environmental Affairs team, of managing Sustainable Aviation Fuels for Airbus. Already dealing with environment and emissions, he started his career in Airbus thirteen years ago addressing aircraft noise in operations.

His actions are now focusing, through the pillar of Alternative Fuels, on fostering industry efforts in coping with internationally endorsed CO2 emissions targets. Steven started his career in Toulouse in 2003 in the aircraft performance domain with an Airbus subcontractor.

Steven was born in Brest in 1972 and graduated from Toulouse University with a PhD in physics.

André is an experienced Brussels lobbyist who has worked in European affairs for a decade. Having represented the EBB since 2016, he works on EU climate and energy, trade and sustainability policies. Before this, André worked for several years as a consultant and public affairs adviser for EU associations, focusing on the challenges facing the energy sector. He is a qualified lawyer who holds a law degree and a master’s degree in administrative law and procurement. Besides his native Portuguese, André speaks fluent English and Spanish, as well as some French.

Olivier (Olly) Macé is Owner and Principal at Broadmanor Consulting Limited, a company specializing in advising clients across the biofuels / renewable fuels value chain. He is also a Senior Associate of advisory firms Channoil Energy and US-based Stillwater Associates.

Olly previously worked in the Downstream Oil and Biofuels sectors for 31 years, holding a variety of roles in Refining, Trading, Supply & Logistics, Fuels and Lubricants Sales as well as Renewable Energy. From 2006 to 2013, Olly held various leadership positions in the global BP Biofuels organisation, aimed at developing a large-scale biofuels business based on advanced technologies and production assets. These included General Manager Europe & Africa and Global Head of Strategy, Regulatory Affairs & Communication. After leading BP’s Midstream business in the UK from 2014 to 2018, Olly became the European Biofuels Director for BP Fuels Supply & Midstream, responsible for the biofuels commercial performance in the entire region, a position he held until he retired from BP at the end of 2020.

Anselm Eisentraut joined Neste in 2015, and is currently Head of Market Intelligence in Neste’s Strategy unit. He is responsible for providing strategic market intelligence on renewable markets and alternative fuels. Prior to joining Neste, Anselm spent 6 years as Renewable Energy Analyst with the International Energy Agency in Paris. He holds a Master in Landscape Ecology. While Anselm is closely following developments in the renewable fuel markets around the world, he is keeping his own fuel consumption low by moving around Helsinki on his bicycle, all year round.

Caroline Midgley, PhD, is Director of Oleochemicals and Biofuels Research at LMC International, a firm providing economic, marketing, and consulting services for a broad range of industries related to agricultural commodities and their downstream derivatives. Based in Oxford and supported by LMC’s oilseeds, grains, sugar and starch teams, Dr. Midgley is responsible for LMC’s oleochemicals and biofuels research. This work includes investment appraisal projects for new plants, assessing the impact of changes in domestic policies, analysis of agricultural raw material, biomass and by-product markets and an analysis of the impact of technological developments.

Corey Lavinsky joined S&P Global Commodity Insights in 2009 and is responsible for analyzing world biofuels markets. He manages a global team of analysts and is an authority on biofuels law and policy. He testified as an expert before the US House Committee on Energy & Commerce on the topic of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard. He has also taught continuing legal education (CLE) classes on biofuels law.

Corey earned a J.D. from the University of Missouri, where he was a member of the Missouri Law Review.

Monika is a new addition to the Platts Biofuels Analytics team and is currently working as a Biofuels Analyst in the London office. She focusses on the market mechanisms and analytics that underpin the European biofuels industry. She is responsible for both the short and long-term biofuels supply demand outlooks for European Member States and trade in the European biofuels industry. 

Her experience in analytics is extensive, having worked as an Oil & Gas equity research analyst for Societe Generale and BofA-ML (via. CRISIL) for over ten years. Monika was the lead covering analyst on European Refiners including Neste, PKN Orlen, and Saras. Monika was ranked #61 within Oil & Gas analysts in the Institutional Investor (II) Survey in 2021.

She earned an MBA in Finance from Symbiosis International University and a Bachelor's in Physics from St. Stephens College. 

Robert is the Associate Pricing Director for EMEA Agriculture at S&P Global Commodity Insights. He joined S&P Global Commodity Insights in 2011 from London-based research house BMI, where he was responsible for downstream oil market research. Between 2011 and 2019, he covered the crude oil, residual fuel and Russian oil markets for Platts, becoming Managing Editor for crude oil in 2014 and Associate Director for crude oil and residual fuels in 2016. He joined the EMEA Agriculture pricing team in 2019 and he is now responsible for regional coverage of biofuels, sugar, grains, oilseeds and rice.

Patrícia Luís-Manso has +15 years’ experience in analytical and leadership roles in commodities, investment banking and network industries. In her current role at S&P Global Commodity Insights, Patricia is responsible for Agriculture and Metals Analytics, leading a global team of experts in Sugar, Grains, Oilseeds, Biofuels and Metals to generate essential data and intelligence for the Energy and commodities markets.

Prior to this role, Patrícia was Head of Sugar and Ethanol Research at Louis Dreyfus Commodities, where she managed a global team with focus on developing critical market analysis to design trading strategies. Patrícia has also worked at Kingsman SA, now part of S&P Global Platts, for 7 years  as Senior Analyst and Head of Research & Reports.

Patrícia holds a PhD in Regulatory Economics from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, in Switzerland. She also holds a Diploma in Organizational Leadership from Oxford University and a Msc. in Economics from Nova SBE in Portugal.

Andrea Martelli leads the overall Trading, Portfolio Optimization, Supply and Sustainability of biofuels activities (i.e. Biofeedstock, HVO, Biodiesel, mandate, new initiatives) within Eni.

He became Head of Biofuels Trading in Eni Trading and Shipping S.p.A. in 2019 (the London based trading arm of Eni in charge of the trading operations within the group, since January 2021 Eni Trade and Biofuels S.p.A.) with responsibility to enhance the biofuels trading activities. In 2020 he took over the role of Head of Supply for Eni. Since April 2021, he has been a Member of the Board of Directors of Eni Trading and Shipping inc (the Houston based trading arm of Eni).

With more than 15 years’ experience within the group he has covered different roles in several countries, he has been German and Austrian Branch Manager in Dusseldorf and Vienna with the responsibility to develop gas sales in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and also Head of Gas Sales in Paris, Milan and Brussels and Business Development Manager for gas and power and emissions.