Speakers

Mr. Al Abbasi received a. B.S in petroleum engineering from The King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals (K.F.U.P.M), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, in January 1990. He is a member of SPE, and the Yemeni Engineers Society of Petroleum Companies.

Azmi Al-Said Khreisat was the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan until November of 2006. Under his leadership the comprehensive restructuring of the country's power sector was completed, the reform of the petroleum sector was designed and initiated, the natural gas supply agreement between Jordan and Egypt was concluded, and a 393 km pipeline was built on a BOOT basis.

Mr. Khreisat holds a B. Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, Russia (January 1982) and a M. Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Manchester, UK (December 1984). He is a UK Chartered Engineer and a Senior Member of the IEEE (USA). Between 1984 and 1996, he worked as transmission line and planning engineer at the National Electric Power Company of Jordan, as Head of its Technical Studies. From 1996 to 2001 he was the Director of the Industrial Energy Department of the Jordanian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and the Secretary General until 2003, the Jordan refinery manager then he became the Minister (October 2003-November 2006) Among others, he served in the following leadership positions in Jordan's energy sector during the dynamic restructuring and privatization process in recent years:

• Chairman of the Natural Resources Authority
• Member of Higher privatization committee
• Member of Royal Energy Committee headed by His Royal Hines . Princess Hamzah Bin Al-Hussein
• Vice Chairman of the Board of the National Electric Power Co.
• Vice Chairman of the Board of Irbid District Electricity Co.
• Board Member of the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Co.
• Chairman of the Electricity Sector Regulatory Commission
• Chairman of the Jordanian Nuclear Energy Commission
• Chairman of the National Energy Research Centre
• Chairman of the Rural Electrification Project Board
• Chairman of the Higher Steering Committee for Electricity Privatization
• Chairman of the Higher Steering Committee for the Petroleum Sector Restructuring and Privatization

Ben is Head of the Energy Group at Clyde & Co, with particular expertise in the oil and gas sector.  He has extensive litigation experience both in the High Court and in international arbitration, including at the LCIA, ICC, LME and LMAA. He also represents clients in relation to regulatory issues, at the FSA and LME.  On the general litigation side, Ben advises on contractual disputes and specialises in trade and commodity litigation and international arbitration. He has particular experience enforcing judgments and awards in difficult jurisdictions.

Ben has worked extensively in Yemen over several years, most recently advising Yemeni ministries and private companies on major energy and infrastructure projects as well as providing representation for international commercial disputes in arbitration.

Clyde & Co is a full service international law firm of 180 partners and over 700 lawyers, with 24 offices around the globe.  The firm regularly undertakes oil and gas work across all practice areas including corporate, finance and litigation.

Mustafa As-Saruri, obtained his M.Sc. (1975) in geology from the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald (Germany), worked for the Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration Department in Aden (1975-1980) and Geological survey and Mineral Resources Board in Aden and San’a until 2000. Ph.D. degree awarded in 1984 from the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald (Germany) and awarded his DSc. Degree in December 2000 (Dr. rer. nat. habil.) from the same university. Fulbright Scholarship, scientific research concerning sedimentary basins of Yemen and their hydrocarbon potential at the Energy and Geoscience Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA (2003/2004). Join the Petroleum Exploration and Production Authority in 2000 and since 2004 he is the General Manger of Studies and Research, as well as the Chairman of the Yemen Stratigraphic Commission, Ministry of Oil and Minerals (2000 to present). He edited Lithostratigraphy of the Tertiary Sediments of the Republic of Yemen (1999) and co-edited the International Lexicon of Stratigraphy of Yemen (1998). He has published several papers on the Turingian basin in Germany and important papers on sedimentary basins, subdivision of lithostratigraphic units of the sedimentary cover, first discoveries of fruits and seeds, and basement geology of Yemen. He is member of Yemen Geological Society, AAPG, GSA and SPE and member of the national committee of the planet.

Ammar Ali Mahdi is a Staff Reservoir Engineer with the Heijah Asset Team at Canadian Nexen Petroleum Yemen.  He has been working as an engineer in Heijah field since 2007 and was directly involved in all aspects of the review of the waterflooding application in the S1A reservoir.  Ammar was a Nexen scholarship student and graduated from Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary, Canada, with a Bachelor Degree in Applied Petroleum Engineering Technology.  Upon completing his education, he worked for Nexen Inc in the Heavy Oil Department on the VAPEX enhanced oil recovery project for Winter Field in Lloydminster, Canada. Before returning to Yemen in 2007, Ammar was also employed as a Pipeline Integrity Analyst.

Abdulla Al-Qadi is one of the most distinctive UAE locals in the oil and gas industry in the UAE. He started his career with Abu Dhabi National Petroleum Company (ADNOC) immediately after graduating in 1990 from NMT in New Mexico, USA with a Bachelors degree in petroleum engineering. Mr. Al-Qadi continued to work in the ADNOC Group of companies for more than sixteen years of moving into number technical and managerial positions in various sectors. The last of its functions, Drilling Manager in the parent company ADNOC where he oversaw all activities of drilling for more than 36 rigs working for ADNOC in Abu Dhabi. He also represented his company in numerous conferences and official meetings in many countries in the world. In 2006 Mr. Al-Qadi moved to Crescent Petroleum in Sharjah where he is working as the E&P Director managing the all the company upstream projects in the country as well as in other locations in ME&NA. He also manages New Business Development. Mr. Al-Qadi is a member of number of local and international associations where he actively participates in their regular meetings

یعتبر المھندس عبدالله القاضي أحد الكفاءات الإماراتیة المتمیزة في قطاع صناعة النفط والغاز في دولة
الإمارات حیث بدأ حیاتھ العملیة متدربًا مع شركة أبوظبي الوطنیة للبترول) أدنوك (فور حصولھ على شھادة
. البكالریوس في ھندسة النفط من جامعة نیومكسیكو للنفط والتعدین في الولایات المتحدة الأمریكیة سنة 1990
إستمر السید القاضي في العمل في مجموعة شركات أدنوك لمدة تجاوزت ستة عشر عامًا تنقل خلالھا في
العدید من المناصب الفنیة والإداریة في شتى القطاعات ,وكانت اخر وظائفھ مدیر عام الحفر في الشركة الأم
أدنوك حیث أشرف على كافة نشاطات الحفر لما یزید عن 36 حفارة في كافة الشركات العاملة لأدنوك في
أبوظبي .شارك السید القاضي في العدید من المؤتمرات والندوات في العدید من دول العالم ممثلاً لشركتھ ,
وترأس وفد شركة أدنوك كذلك للإجتماعات الرئیسیة في العدید من المناسبات .إنتقل السید القاضي للعمل مع
شركة نفط الھلال في نوفمبر من عام 2006 كمدیر لقطاع الإستكشاف والإنتاج ومشرفًا عامًا على كافة
النشاطات الفنیة والعملیة لكافة مشاریع الشركة داخل الدولة أو خارجھا .وإضافةً الى تلك المھام فإنھ یتولى
مسئولیة تطویر الأعمال الجدیدة للشركة في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفریقیا .تعتبر مشاریع الشركة في
العراق من أھم المشاریع التي یقوم السید القاضي بمتابعتھا والإشراف المباشر علیھا.

Albertus Retnanto is a Principal Engineer and Stimulation Domain Manager, with Schlumberger Oilfield Services, presently posted to Doha, Qatar. He is also a Visiting Associate Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University at Qatar. He has more than 13 years experience with Schlumberger in production optimization and enhancement.  Within Schlumberger, he has worked in various assignments and lead positions in Indonesia, Venezuela, Brazil, Libya, and, United Kingdom. Currently, his main technical focus is on carbonate reservoir and unconventional gas stimulation.

He is an active SPE member and received A Peer Part Award. He was a review chairman for SPE Drilling and Completion Journal and Steering Committee of several SPE ATW’s. Currently he serves as Cedric K. Ferguson Medal Award Committee and technical editor for SPE Drilling and Completion Journal.

He holds a BS degree from the Bandung Inst. of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia, and Master of Engineering and Ph.D degrees from Texas A&M University, all in petroleum engineering.