MPGC 

Mark Thomas is currently the Group Chief Executive Officer at Bapco Energies, previously known as the Oil and Gas Holding Company "nogaholding". As a Group CEO, he has accountability for managing the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain's investments in energy sector. Mark Thomas is a veteran operating executive with a record of transformative leadership and value creation across the globe. Over his 38-year career with BP, Mark developmed a deep knowledge o board and execuive processes, strategic transactions, commercial optimization, front-line operations, and Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance. He has a strong appreciation for the nuance of global business, having lived and worked in nine countries and conducted business in 20 others.

Mark Eramo is co-President of S&P Global Commodity Insights and a member of S&P Global’s Executive Leadership Team. Most recently, Mr. Eramo was Head of Fuels, Chemicals & Resource Solutions business line for S&P Global Commodity Insights. In that role, he had P&L responsibility and managed a global team of 450 research colleagues, located in all major regions delivering information, insights, and forecasts regarding crude oil, refined products, NGLs and chemical feedstocks, chemicals, agriculture commodities, and freight and commodity shipping analytics.  Prior to that, Mr. Eramo served in various roles over the past 20+ years overseeing downstream industry research and business development teams for IHS Markit and predecessor companies. Before entering the consulting and analysis business, he worked for more than twelve years in the chemicals production industry. 

Dr Fereidun Fesharaki is the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of FGE. His work is well recognized worldwide for pioneering oil and gas market analysis and studies of the Asia Pacific/Middle East energy markets since the early 1980s. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Surrey in England and then completed a Visiting Fellowship at Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies. He joined the East-West Center in 1979 and led the energy program as a Director and Senior Fellow till 2013. In 1989, Dr Fesharaki was elected a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Since 1991, a member of the International Advisory Board of ENEOS Holdings (and its predecessor companies). He was the 1993 President of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE). In 1995, he was elected a Senior Fellow of the US Association for Energy Economics for distinguished services in the field of energy economics. In 2002, appointed a Senior Associate of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He received the Outstanding Contributions to the IAEE Award in 2012. He was a member of the Advisory Board of VOPAK LNG from 2013 to 2015. In 2014, appointed as Honorary Advisor by CNPC Research Institute of Economics and Technologies in Beijing. Dr. Fesharaki is the recipient of the 2016 Adelman-Frankel Award from the US Association for Energy Economics (USAEE) for his unique and innovative contribution to the field of energy economics. In March 2017, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) appointed him as a Director of the Dubai Mercantile Exchange Limited (DME). Since 2009, he has been a member of the DME Board of Directors. Dr. Fesharaki has been appointed to the National Petroleum Council beginning in 2008 and most recently re-appointed by the US Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm in April 2022.

John Roper is a Senior Energy Executive with 40 years’ experience in the energy industry working for independent energy and utility companies. John has a strong management and technical background and has spent the last 30 years in Regional Company Management and Business Development focused on the Middle East. John has a clear, proven track record of supervising and delivering material projects to international organizations including upstream oil and gas, infrastructure, and energy commodity deals. John possesses strong personal relationships throughout the Arabian Gulf and International community and has held a number of senior positions in the International Upstream, Trading, LNG and Hydrogen businesses. John has held Non-Executive Director positions and served as Chairman of Remuneration Committees and Member of the Audit and Risk Committees of private Oil and Gas companies in the UK. In addition, he has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of other offshore companies in the Middle East, North Africa and the Caspian. John is currently CEO Middle East, at Uniper Global Commodities SE’s in Dubai, where he is responsible for furthering the development of Uniper’s commodities and corporate portfolio in the Middle East, with a focus on the energy transition. 

Noura Al Nuaimi is the Vice President of Retail Aviation Sales for ADNOC. In this role, Noura is responsible for ADNOC’s commercial retail aviation portfolio, focusing on the UAE domestic market and contributing to the development of sustainable aviation fuels. Noura has over 19 years of experience within the oil and gas industry at ADNOC, handling various roles within the organization in research, data analytics, statistics, stakeholder management, procurement, and commercial sales.

Musaab M. AlMulla is currently the Vice President of Energy & Economic Insights in Strategy & Market Analysis. The role includes the oversight of the modelling and analysing of the global as well as domestic economic and energy markets and publishing the Company’s global & domestic energy outlook and pricing. In addition, the role entails the oversight of the corporate centralized sustainability and ESG Strategy including the publication of the Corporate Sustainability Report. Musaab is also a Director on the Board of Saudi Aramco Power Company. Musaab has held his current position after the successful completion of the one-year executive MBA of MIT Sloan Fellows Program in Cambridge, MA, USA. Prior to that Musaab was heading the Origination Department in New Business Development responsible for origination and evaluating new business ideas through various business models for the Company in the energy sector and its adjacencies. Throughout his career, Musaab held various roles associated with the integrated energy planning mainly in the power and water sector for Saudi Arabia as well as mega Project Management Lead. In addition to the highlighted Bachelor and Master degrees obtained as well as the graduation from the Company’s Engineering Specialist Program. Musaab has attended and participated in several conferences and seminars presenting several papers in recognized conferences. Musaab, additionally participated in the Company Corporate Assessments as well as the six weeks Stanford Executive Program in Stanford, California, USA and the two weeks Oxford Energy Seminar at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, United Kingdom. This is in addition to several in-house Management and Leadership programs and courses.

Alexander van Veldhoven is the Chief Strategy Officer at Bapco Energies, where he leads the Company’s strategic initiatives and drives the implementation of Bahrain's National Energy Strategy. With nearly 25 years of experience in the global energy industry, he is an expert in strategy development, portfolio management, and navigating complex capital-intensive projects. His focus on innovation and sustainability positions him at the forefront of the energy transition. Prior to Bapco Energies, Alexander held senior leadership roles at ExxonMobil, where he led multi-billion-dollar acquisitions. He has a proven track record of delivering value through strategic decision-making, risk management, and building high-performing teams. Alexander is recognized for his ability to bring stakeholders together and inspire action through clear communication and visionary leadership.

Firdaus Panthaki is General Manager – Marketing, Sales & Supply for Bapco Refining where he is responsible for developing and implementing commercial strategies to support consistent business growth and to maximize profitability of Bapco through the supply and sale of crude oil and petroleum products. Firdaus has extensive oil industry experience gained through senior global roles in sales & marketing and supply & logistics in BP’s downstream businesses and in energy risk management in BP’s trading division. These roles entailed close collaboration with BP’s refining and oil products trading businesses to maximize the integrated value across the supply chain.

Bob Maguire is a Managing Director and Co-Head of Carlyle International Energy Partners, focusing on further developing and growing Carlyle’s international energy platform. He is based in London. Mr. Maguire was a Partner at Perella Weinberg Partners. Prior to that, he worked as an Investment Banker for more than 21 years at Morgan Stanley and was involved in many of the largest transactions within the sector. He holds an AB from Princeton University, an MA from Oxford University and a JD from University of Virginia School of Law.

Edward Bell is the Acting Chief Economist and Group Head of Research at Emirates NBD, leading a team of economists and analysts delivering market intelligence and macroeconomic insights for the MENAT region. Previously, Edward served as Head of Market Economics at Emirates NBD, specializing in commodities, currencies, and interest rates. He has a background as a commodities analyst and Middle East-focused economist, with degrees from the University of London and the University of Toronto. Based in Dubai, he is a regular commentator on economic trends in global media and industry events.

Gabriel Ho is a pioneering voice in the decarbonisation of aviation and heavy transport, sectors ranked among the world’s most challenging to abate. Drawing on more than two decades in the energy and chemicals industry—including engineering and leadership posts with ExxonMobil, Shell, Infineum, Ecolab, and BASF—Gabriel blends deep technical expertise with strategic foresight to translate sustainability ambitions into investable projects and policy action. Today he fulfils twin entrepreneurial and advocacy roles. As Founder & Chief Sustainability Officer of the Asia Sustainable Aviation Fuel Association (ASAFA), he steers a multi‑stakeholder platform that convenes airlines, fuel producers, financiers, and regulators to accelerate sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) deployment across the region. In parallel, Gabriel is Founder & CEO of Energy Constructs, an advisory firm that has delivered some of Asia‑Pacific’s first-of-its-kind SAF and low‑carbon fuel feasibility studies. Gabriel’s international presence is underscored by an intense speaking schedule: since October 2023 he has chaired, moderated, or spoken at more than 15 flagship conferences and executive seminars across Asia Pacific. Highlights include Argus Biofuels & Feedstocks Asia, Commodity Trading Week, the ISCC PLUS & SAF Conference, Boeing’s ASEAN SAF Seminar, Sustainable Aviation Futures APAC, and Future Energy Asia. At each forum, he translates fuel policy, techno-commercial assessments, and feedstock dynamics into actionable strategies—bridging financial models with real-world decarbonisation goals to help policymakers and industry leaders align with commercial realities. Committed to talent development and public service, Gabriel mentors emerging professionals through the National University of Singapore, Singapore Polytechnic, and the Singapore Leaders Network Fellowship Programme, sharing pragmatic guidance on sustainability careers and systems thinking. He also serves as an Honorary Advisor to the UK‑based Global ESG Leadership Organization, contributing to strategic ESG case reviews that influence board‑room choices worldwide. 

Iman Nasseri, Managing Director - Middle East at FGE, is based in Dubai. He holds a PhD in Economics with a focus on energy economics, earned in 2013 from the U.S. Iman specializes in downstream oil and NGLs, overseeing Middle East oil research and collaborating with the refining team, contributing to FGE's Annual World Refining Outlook since 2014. Since January 2018, he has led FGE's Middle East analysis for oil, NGLs, and power. Iman also holds a Master’s in Energy Systems Engineering from Sharif University and previously worked at Iran's Institute for International Energy Studies.

Haitham Qudah is MENA Partnership Manager with GE Vernova. He is a results-driven leader with over 15 years of experience in power generation projects and decarbonization across the Middle East and Africa. Currently managing strategic partnerships and decarbonization initiatives, helping customers achieve their sustainability goals. Haitham has proven track record in delivering high operational performance, driving cost efficiencies, and leading cross-functional teams. Skilled in project execution, reliability strategies, and stakeholders’ collaboration.

Mohamed AlMansoori has a diverse and extensive background in Flight Operations at Gulf Air, having held critical roles in Crew Control, Flight Dispatch, and Fuel Optimization. His experience has provided him with a comprehensive understanding of managing flight schedules, ensuring efficient dispatch processes, and optimizing fuel usage, all vital for enhancing airline operations. Recently focusing on Fuel Optimization, he has become an expert in current fuel market dynamics and implements strategies that reduce fuel consumption while complying with environmental regulations aimed at lowering carbon emissions. AlMansoori is well-versed in various sustainability initiatives, including CORSIA, ReFuel EU, EU ETS, and UK ETS, and actively contributes to minimizing the aviation industry's environmental impact while ensuring operational efficiency.

Mike Wittner is Global Head of Oil Market Research for Intercontinental Exchange. Mike joined ICE in 2019. He leads a robust research effort to continuously analyze and anticipate changes in oil market structure and fundamentals. Mike and his team support oil sales and business development at ICE in creating new contracts and evolving existing contracts, in order to meet the hedging, trading, and investment needs of its customers around the world. With more than 30 years of experience in oil market analysis, Mike has extensive knowledge of the global and regional crude oil and refined product markets, geopolitics, and non-fundamental oil market drivers.

Ali Al-Riyami is an independen consultant in the oil and gas sector, former Director General for Oil & Gas with Oman Ministry of Energy and Minerals. He has over 30 years of expreice in creating commercial opportunities and tapping into new markets and customers in the industry. Ali also sat in a number of Boards Committees include OPEC+, GECF, International Energy Forum, Petroleum Development Oman, Oman LNG, Daleel Petroleum, OQ, CCED, ARA, PetroTel, and HCF.

Naheed Memon has had an illustrious career spanning public service and private sector in Pakistan and the UK. She is currently the CEO of Oracle Power, a natural resource and power developer listed on the London stock market, developing significant projects in Pakistan and Australia. Naheed serves as the Advisor to the President of Suriname, advising him on investments and special projects. She also advises a Toronto listed blue carbon vehicle, working on mangrove projects and large scale agriculture. Naheed also serves as a Member of the Board of the Privatization Commission of Pakistan. She is also a Director in her family-owned textile business, Kings Apparel Industries, one of the largest garment exporters in Pakistan, overseeing its extensive growth. Naheed has worked in Private Banking for Merrill Lynch, managing clients in the MENA region. Naheed served as the Chairman of the Sindh Board of Investment, Government of Sindh, for a number of years. In this position she played a pivotal role in setting up SEZs, mobilizing CPEC projects in multiple sectors, arranging FDI in multiple sectors and improving the World Bank’s Doing Business Ranking as the province’s focal person. Naheed is also an adjunct faculty of Economics and Strategy at Pakistan’s largest public sector business school, IBA, Karachi. She also sits as an independent director on the boards of public and private companies in Pakistan and Australia.

The CEO of OQ8, David Bird epitomizes leadership within the regional and global energy sector. With over two decades in the oil and gas sectors, he has led large organizations across the energy value chain, encompassing operations, manufacturing, LNG, refining, petrochemicals, and logistics. Previously, he served as SVP of production operations and supply chain at Santos Ltd. At Shell, as vice president of Prelude FLNG, he led the world’s first floating LNG facility and chaired Shell Australia’s RAP Board. He was also head of operations at Pulau Bukom in Singapore, Shell’s largest refinery. He is a fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and holds an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Taghi TAGHI-ZADA leads global trading teams across both physical commodities and financial instruments. As Chief Trading Officer, Taghi plays a pivotal role in developing the organization’s third-party crude oil, products, natural gas, LNG, carbon, derivatives, shipping and other desks. He is responsible for identifying new opportunities worldwide and shaping a cohesive commercial and business development strategy. A recipient of the prestigious TOTAL scholarship, in 2009 he graduated with honors the International Master’s in Management program at Audencia Nantes Business School in France. He also earned a Diploma in Advanced Studies (DAS) in Commodities Trading from the University of Geneva in 2016, and completed the Executive MBA program at IMD Lausanne in 2023. In addition to his role at SOCAR Trading, Taghi is a Committee Member of the Commodity Trading Association (CTA) in Geneva, Ambassador of the Commodity Trading Club (CTC) and holds seats on several advisory boards.

Ammar Al-Qudah is an electrical engineer and energy projects developer at Sumitomo Corporation Middle East Limited FZE, where he specializes in advancing the decarbonization of industries across the Middle East and Africa. With a strong technical background and a focus on sustainable energy solutions, he drives the development of cutting-edge projects in low-carbon hydrogen, ammonia, eFuels, and biomass—key pillars of the global energy transition. Committed to bridging engineering excellence with environmental impact, Ammar collaborates with stakeholders and partners to design and implement strategies that reduce carbon emissions while fostering economic growth. His work reflects a passion for innovation and a vision for a cleaner, more sustainable energy future.

Abdulrahim A.Hameed Ahmed is Director, Sustainable Finance AME at Standard Chartered. He is an experienced banking professional with more than 12 years of diverse experience across various disciplines in banking. Before joining SCB, Abdulrahim fulfilled various corporate investment-related roles within the National Bank of Bahrain (“NBB”), covering credit analysis and later transitioning to corporate finance, debt advisory and origination, and Sustainable Finance, all of which enabled him to develop insights and skillsets to provide bespoke solutions to his client base. Abdulrahim spearheaded the Sustainable Finance initiatives at NBB, with the scope of advising clients on Sustainability-related financing solutions, and he was a member of NBB’s Sustainability Committee since 2021.

Jean-Pascal is currently Senior Vice President Strategy and Markets of TotalEnergies. Jean-Pascal has started his career in 1995 in Gabon for the French Oil Independent Perenco before joining Shell in 1997 in Scotland as a Petroleum Engineer. In 2002, he joined TotalEnergies where he held different positions in Exploration & Production in Paris, Dubai, Congo-Brazzaville, Cairo, and Algiers where he was lately Algeria Country Chair and E&P Managing Director until April 2021. Jean-Pascal holds a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Chemical School of Nancy, a Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering from the IFP School Paris and a Master of Business Administration from HEC Paris.

Patrick Dugas, Vice President LNG Trading in TotalEnergies Gas & Power Limited (TEGP), is based in Geneva and is currently managing the worldwide Trading LNG Portfolio of TotalEnergies with the offices of Geneva, Singapore and Houston. This covers different aspects of the LNG portfolio management, including but not limited to the spot physical trading, the financial trading, the commercial operations, the optimisation of the flows of the portfolio long term contracts (Supply and Purchase Agreements) and the Risk Management of the price exposure. He is also working in coordination with the LNG Shipping division and the Business Development of the global LNG activities of TotalEnergies. He has been involved in LNG industry for more than 15 years with past experience in power, emission & natural gas trading. He also previously run the West African Trading desk of TotalEnergies Trading SA in Geneva dealing with refined products as LPG, kerosene, gasoline, gasoil, fuel and bitumen. He has over 20 years of global experience in the energy industry with a particular focus on Risk Management

Nicolas Thevenot, Chief Banking Officer,Corporate Banking Division that includes financial advisory, project and asset-based finance as well as trade and commodity finance. Nicolas joined APICORP’s Project & Trade Finance Department in 2000 having worked previously for 8 years with Credit Agricole Indosuez, Paris as Economist and then Structured Finance Manager in the Asset based and Project Finance Department. At APICORP, Nicolas is a member of the Credit & Investment Committee that reviews and approves the credits as well as the direct investments of the Corporation, as well as a member of the Executive Management Committee and of the Risk and Assets and Liabilities Committee. Nicolas has had the overall responsibility for APICORP’s Corporate Finance activities since September 2004 and he has since then coordinated the financing and advisory assignments in which APICORP has been instrumental all over the Arab region and beyond.

Erik Ringvold serves as the Chief Business Development Officer at VCM, overseeing the organization’s Investments, Advisory, and Business Development functions. In this capacity, Erik drives strategic initiatives, fosters partnerships, and leads efforts to expand VCM's impact across the global carbon market landscape. A seasoned executive specializing in carbon markets, Erik brings extensive experience across the full carbon market value chain. Before joining VCM, he spent over a decade at McKinsey & Company, where he advised a diverse range of stakeholders, including project developers, traders, banks, investors, carbon credit buyers, and standard setters. A recognized thought leader in the field, Erik has published extensively on carbon markets and carbon accounting, authoring several of the most widely cited reports in the industry.

Tom Baker is Managing Director of Vitol Bahrain; the base for much of the company’s Middle East and South and East African trading business and operations. Tom has over 20 years’ experience in commodities having joined Vitol in 2012 after over a decade at Goldman Sachs. Most recently, Tom was global head of naphtha at Vitol. He led Vitol’s acquisition of its Rotterdam refinery, VPR and its subsequent acquisition of WPU, a plastics upcycling company based in Denmark.  Tom has a degree in Modern History from the University of Oxford.

Kevin Birn is responsible for Carbon and emissions research at S&P Global Commodity Insights. This includes carbon markets, carbon management, emissions modelling, insight and analytics. Kevin’s responsibilities also include leading The Center of Emissions Excellence, which is a special research area dedicated to accelerating, ensuring consistency, connecting and promoting the emissions quantification capabilities across Commodity Insights business lines. Kevin has over a decade of experience engaging in and advising governments, companies and industry on emission accounting estimation as well as decarbonization strategies. Kevin is currently a board member at Emissions Reduction Alberta, a fellow at the Canadian Global Affair Institute, and an advisor at Avatar Innovations. He holds an undergraduate degree in business and a graduate degree in economics from the University of Alberta.

Jim Burkhard, Global Head Crude Oil & Mobility Research S&P Global, is recognized as one of the world’s top analysts on global oil markets, scenarios, and on the future of energy and transportation. Jim has over 25 years of experience in energy market research and analysis. He is responsible for the development and coordination of S&P Global (previously IHS Markit) research, insights and messages for global and regional crude oil markets and energy scenarios. His expertise covers geopolitics, industry dynamics, global energy demand and supply, and mobility trends. Jim is a principal leader in the creation and development of global energy scenarios that bring together the entirety of the firm’s energy research to form an integrated global outlook for the future of energy.

Carlos Pascual leads the integration of geopolitics, energy, climate change and markets for S&P Global Commodity Insights. He works with clients globally on the geopolitical challenges and opportunities that drive energy security, sustainability and affordability. Mr. Pascual also leads S&P Global Commodity Insights businesses in Latin America. Mr. Pascual was previously US Ambassador to both Mexico and Ukraine and was Special Assistant to the US president for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia on the National Security Council. As the former US Energy Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs at the State Department, Mr. Pascual established and directed the Energy Resources Bureau and served as the Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State on energy issues. Earlier, Mr. Pascual created the position of Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization in the State Department, establishing the first civilian response capacity to conflicts. Mr. Pascual is also a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council. 

Spencer Welch leads S&P Global's Oil-Markets Midstream & Downstream consulting team globally. He has more than 30 years downstream industry experience, and previously worked for BP and Petroplus in downstream/oil refining/project positions.

Mohanraj Subramanian, Consulting Director, S&P Global Commodity Insights team in Dubai, has offered consulting services to clients in the oil markets, midstream, and downstream sectors of the industry. He has gained distinct techno-functional expertise through 23 years of work experience in market-leading research and consulting firms and operating companies in the energy industry. Mohan advises public and private downstream clients across the Middle East and South Asia regions and has led multi-million-dollar consulting engagements spanning strategy, market analysis, technical-economic studies, and building various models for downstream industry . He is also responsible for end-to-end management of consulting projects starting from lead generation to proposal building to project execution to client management and satisfaction Prior to S&P Global, Mohan worked with ADNOC Refining Supply Chain Division for a period of 5 years advising the refinery on economics, planning and scheduling processes, and operational optimization. Prior to ADNOC, Mohan worked with SAMREF (Exxon Mobil and Saudi Aramco JV) as a senior Business planning engineer, at Essar Energy, India as a Manager in Economic planning and scheduling division.