Programme

More economies making environmental and energy security priority considerations in their energy policies have set in motion a trend towards reducing dependence on hydrocarbons. Russia enjoys immense hydrocarbon reserves, which are accessible, competitively priced, and for which there is broad demand. How – and most importantly how quickly – will global decarbonization policies progress and what technology and trends will speed up this process? Should we expect a ‘demand peak’ for oil? What can be done today to ensure maximum appraisal of hydrocarbon reserves and would it be practical to speed up their monetization? How can we use the successful experience of countries that have diversified their economies by making broader use of natural resources? Considering macroeconomic trends in the oil and gas sector, can market equilibrium be achieved through cooperation between major oil exporters, even if in the short term?

Moderator:
Elena Cherney , Chief, The Wall Street Journal Canada Bureau; Global Resources Editor, The Wall Street Journal

Elena Cherney

Chief, The Wall Street Journal Canada Bureau; Global Resources Editor, The Wall Street Journal

Elena Cherney is the Canada Bureau Chief and Global Resources Editor for the Wall Street Journal. She was previously Managing Editor at The Globe and Mail, and editor of the paper’s Report on Business. As a reporter, she worked for the Wall Street Journal as a Canada correspondent for seven years, from 2000 to 2007, and before that, reported for papers including the Peterborough Examiner and The Gazette in Montreal. Ms. Cherney grew up in Montreal and was educated at Yale University, where she studied English and History.

Panellists
Khalid A. Al-Falih , Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Chairman of the Board of Directors, Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco)
Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo , Secretary General, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
Ben van Beurden , Chief Executive Officer, Royal Dutch Shell Plc
Robert Dudley , Group Chief Executive, BP
Kirill Dmitriev , Chief Executive Officer, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF)
Daniel Yergin , Vice Chairman, IHS Markit
Alexander Novak , Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation
Patrick Pouyanne , Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board, Total

Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo

Secretary General, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

His Excellency Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo of Nigeria began his tenure as Secretary General of the OPEC on 1 August 2016. Over the years he also worked in several key roles at OPEC. In 1986, he was appointed to Nigeria’s delegation to OPEC, and from 1993 to 2008, served as Nigeria’s National Representative on the Organization’s Economic Commission Board. In 2006, he was Acting OPEC Secretary General, and represented Nigeria on OPEC’s Board of Governors from 2009 to 2010. From 2009 to 2010, he was Group Managing Director and CEO of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Previous to that, he served as Deputy Managing Director of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas. Earlier in his career, he was Special Assistant to former Minister of Petroleum Resources and OPEC Secretary General, HE Dr Rilwanu Lukman KBE. Mr. Barkindo has also been leader of Nigeria’s technical delegation to the UN climate change negotiations since 1991. He served as Chair of the Group of 77 and China at the UNFCCC and was elected to serve three terms as Vice President of the Conference of the Parties – COP13 (Bali, Indonesia), COP14 (Poznan, Poland) and COP15 (Copenhagen, Denmark), where he chaired the opening session.

Ben van Beurden

Chief Executive Officer, Royal Dutch Shell Plc

Ben joined Shell in 1983, after graduating with a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. Ben’s career in Shell spans both Upstream and Downstream activities. He has held a number of operational and commercial roles, including some 10 years in the LNG business, and a variety of positions in Downstream. In January 2005, Ben became Vice President, Manufacturing Excellence, based in Houston, USA. In this role he was responsible for standards in operational excellence and high-performance initiatives in refining and chemicals manufacturing. In December 2006, he was appointed Executive Vice President, Chemicals, based in London, UK. During his tenure in the role, Ben was appointed to the boards of a number of leading industry associations including the International Council of Chemicals Associations and the European Chemical Industry Council. From January to October 2013, Ben was Downstream Director and had regional responsibility for Europe and Turkey. Since January 2013, he has been a member of Shell’s Executive Committee. Ben, a Dutch citizen is married to Stacey and has three daughters and a son. He enjoys reading, running and travelling with his family.

Robert Dudley

Group Chief Executive, BP

Robert (Bob) Dudley is BP’s group chief executive. He was appointed an executive director of BP on 6 April 2009. Bob joined Amoco Corporation in 1979, working in a variety of engineering and commercial posts. Between 1994 and 1997, he worked on corporate development in Russia. In 1997, he became general manager for strategy for Amoco and in 1999, following the merger between BP and Amoco, was appointed to a similar role in BP. Between 1999 and 2000, he was executive assistant to the group CEO, subsequently becoming group vice president for BP’s Renewables and Alternative Energy activities. In 2002, he became group vice president responsible for BP’s upstream businesses in Russia, the Caspian Region, Angola, Algeria and Egypt. From 2003 to 2008 he was president and CEO of TNK-BP in Moscow. On his return to BP in 2009 he was appointed to the BP board and oversaw the group’s activities in the Americas and Asia. Between 23 June and 30 September 2010, he served as the president and CEO of BP’s Gulf Coast Restoration Organization in the US. He became group chief executive on 1 October 2010. Bob Dudley holds a Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois, a Masters in International Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management, and an MBA from SMU.

Kirill Dmitriev

Chief Executive Officer, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF)

Prior to becoming CEO of RDIF in 2011, Kirill Dmitriev headed a number of large private equity funds and completed a series of landmark transactions, including the sale of Delta Bank to General Electric, Delta Credit Bank to Société Générale, STS Media to Fidelity Investments, etc. At the beginning of his career he worked at Goldman Sachs and McKinsey & Company. He is Deputy Chairman of the Investment Council under the Chairman of the State Duma of Russia, Vice President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and was appointed by the President of Russia as a member of the BRICS and the APEC business councils; he also was selected as ‘Young Global Leader’ by the World Economic Forum. He serves as a member of the boards of directors of Rostelecom, Gazprombank, MDMG, Russian Railways and a member of the boards of trustees of the Mariinsky Theatre and Moscow State University. In 2011 he was the only Russian representative in the list of ‘100 most influential private equity professionals of the decade’ (Private Equity International). He holds a BA in Economics with Honors and Distinction from Stanford University and an MBA with High Distinction (Baker Scholar) from the Harvard Business School.

Daniel Yergin

Vice Chairman, IHS Markit

Daniel Yergin is a highly respected authority on energy, international politics, and economics. He is Vice Chairman of IHS, one of the world’s leading research and advisory firms, and Founder of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates. Dr. Yergin is the Pulitzer Prize-winner for The Prize: the Epic Quest for Oil Money and Power, which has been translated into 20 languages. He is the author of the new bestseller The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World. In 2014, the Prime Minister of India presented Dr. Yergin with “Lifetime Achievement Award” and the U.S. Department of Energy awarded him the first “James Schlesinger Medal for Energy Security.” In 2015, the University of Pennsylvania presented him with the first Carnot Prize for “distinguished contributions to energy policy.” Dr. Yergin was awarded the United States Energy Award for “lifelong achievements in energy and the promotion of international understanding.” Dr. Yergin is a director of the Council on Foreign Relations and a trustee of the Brookings Institution. He is a member of the National Petroleum Council, and on the advisory boards of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative and Singapore’s International Energy Advisory Board. He is a “Wise Man” of the International Gas Union and became an Adjunct Professor at the China University of Petroleum in Beijing.

Alexander Novak

Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation

Mr Alexander Novak, born August 23rd , 1971 in Donetsk region of Ukranian SSR, is currently serving as Russia's Minister of Energy. From 2000 to 2002 he was Deputy Mayor of Norilsk on financial and economic issues and First Deputy Mayor of Norilsk. In 2002-2007 was Vice Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Krai, Head of the Main Financial Directorate of the Krasnoyarsk Krai administration. From July 2007 to September 2008 he was the First Vice Governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai and from July to September 2008 he was also the Chairman of the government of Krasnoyarsk Krai. From September 2008 he was the Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation and from October 2008, a member of the board of the Ministry of Finance of Russia. He is a graduated from the Norilsk Industrial Institute and the Moscow Lomonosov State University.

Patrick Pouyanne

Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board, Total

Born on June 24, 1963. A graduate of École Polytechnique and an Engineer of the French Corps des Mines. From 1989 to 1996, Patrick Pouyanné held various positions in the French Industry Ministry and in ministerial offices, including Environment and Industry Technical Advisor to the Prime Minister from 1993 to 1995 and Chief of Staff to the Information Technology and Space Minister from 1995 to 1996. He joined Total in January 1997, as Chief Administrative Officer of Total E&P Angola and became Group Representative in Qatar and CEO of Total E&P Qatar in 1999. In August 2002, he was named Senior Vice President, Finance, Economics and Information Systems in Exploration & Production. In January 2006, he became Senior Vice President, Strategy, Business Development and R&D in Exploration & Production. Patrick Pouyanné has been a member of Total’s Management Committee since May 2006. In March 2011, he was appointed Senior Vice President, Chemicals and Senior Vice President, Petrochemicals. In January 2012, Patrick Pouyanné was appointed President, Refining & Chemicals and member of the Executive Committee. On October 22, 2014 Patrick Pouyanné was appointed Total Chief Executive Officer and President of the Executive Committee. Since December 2015 he is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Group.

George Kobulia , Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company
Peter Parry , Partner and Global Head of Oil and Gas Practice, Bain & Company

George Kobulia

Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company

A leader of McKinsey’s Eastern European Petroleum practice and a co-leader of McKinsey’s Global Oil & Gas Practice. Leads projects on strategy development, organization modeling, operations improvement, and capital productivity improvement. Active in work focused on state regulation. A member of McKinsey’s Moscow office since 2001. George serves clients in the oil and gas, mining, and metallurgy sectors. Focuses on strategy development, organizational transformation, operations improvement, procurement system enhancement, and improvement of major CapEx project implementation systems for Russian and international private and public companies in these sectors. Education: Emory University (USA), MBA; Tbilisi State Medical University.

Peter Parry

Partner and Global Head of Oil and Gas Practice, Bain & Company

Peter Parry has over thirty years of extensive experience in the energy industry. He joined Bain & Company in 2008, where he is a Partner and the Global Head of the Oil and Gas Practice. Assignments prior to Bain include: Managing Director, Arthur D Little UK, consulting and R&D business; Manager, Energy Corporate Finance team, UK Merchant Bank; Technical Specialist, Scott Pickford and Associates; Head, Global Upstream Energy Practice, Booz Allen Hamilton. Peter Parry’s expertise spans strategy development, technology management, operations and commercial negotiation, working with the energy industry’s leading players in the oil majors and national oil companies, developing and implementing growth strategies. He is a member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators. He holds a BA in Economics and Geography from Lancaster University.