Advisory Board

General Manager – Lukoil International Upstream West

H. Daniel Hogan

Mr. Daniel Hogan brings over 35 years of operational and executive experience. His professional life began in South Texas with Exxon where he grew his international career in various supervisory, operational and executive roles. He worked for two years with ENI/Agip in the Gulf of Mexico as Operations Manager and VP of Well Operations, nine years with Devon Energy Corporation as the International Operations Manager and VP of International Well Engineering and one year with HRT America as VP of Drilling. Mr. Hogan brings a reputation for successful international leadership in the oil and gas industry.

Mr. Hogan was one of the founding Executives of Houston-based PanAtlantic E x plor at ion C ompa ny, which had operations in Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and Colombia. In early 2012, he had been appointed Senior Vice President for Operations with responsibility for global drilling, completion and production activity, HSE, contracts, procurement and operations geology.

Vice President – Africa, ION

Folarin Lajumoke

Folarin is currently Vice President Africa at ION. ION is a service company, which focuses on providing powerful data-driven solutions to the oil and gas industry. He has approximately 20 years work experience spanning both oil and gas and investment banking. More recently and in his current role he has acted as commercial lead, negotiator and project developer for multiple upstream projects across Africa covering Mauritania, Morocco, Ghana, Mozambique, Kenya, Angola and Nigeria to name a few. In addition to being pivotal to African new business development and strategy for his firm he has been involved over the years in various forms in structuring new deals and advising companies on their exploration and A&D strategy at ION as well as Polarcus and TGS.

His previous roles include an Associate role at investment bank Goldman Sachs as well as technical roles as a geophysicist at CGG and Shell. His broad skill sets and knowledge in energy, African business and diplomacy in addition to his unique experience within financial services gas developed him into an all rounded professional with unique technical acumen and business skills. He holds an MSc with a Distinction in Taught Course in Marine Geoscience from the University of Wales, a Post Graduate Degree in Global Business from Said Business School and a BSc in Applied Geophysics.

Folarin is a Fellow of the distinguished Royal Geological Society of London and an Executive Committee member of the Nigeria Associate of Petroleum Explorationists. He is also an Associate of the Chartered Securities and Investments Institute and Jesus College, Oxford.

Principal Geologist, Samara Geosciences, LLC

Mark Romanchock

Mark Romanchock graduated with a B.S. Degree in Geology from the University of Pittsburgh and has managed geological operations groups for over 15 years at PanAtlantic Exploration, Hess and Oxy where he was involved in exploration projects in most of the worlds largest petroleum basins with a focus on West Africa and North Africa. Mr. Romanchock also is highly experienced in business development, negotiation of joint venture agreements and portfolio management.

Partner and Executive Director – Upstream, Cayo Energy LP

Robert Erlich

Bob Erlich began his career with Amoco in New Orleans in 1980, working on domestic US and Latin American projects as a junior geologist. He moved to Amoco’s Houston International office in 1987 as a senior geologist and progressed through positions as a senior field geologist, technical team leader, and as Regional Geologist for northern Latin America and the Caribbean. Bob joined Burlington Resources in 1999 and was named General Manager for Peru, where he led technical and operational programs that resulted in the discovery of several major oil and gas fields.

He returned to BP in 2006 to head their New Ventures exploration efforts in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in 2008, was named Corporate Vice President of Exploration for Petrolifera Petroleum Limited, a Canadian independent with operations in Peru, Colombia, and Argentina. In 2011 he moved to Hess Corporation as a senior advisor to the Senior Vice President of Exploration, and in 2012 moved to PanAtlantic Exploration Company, where he served as President and CEO from 2014 until his retirement in 2016.

In January 2019, Bob was elected to the Board of Directors of Colombian junior oil Selva Energy. Bob is currently a partner and Executive Director, Upstream for Cayo Energy L.P., an oil and gas consulting service specializing in the assessment and evaluation of upstream and midstream projects and investments. During his career, Bob has worked assignments in a number of countries, including the US, Trinidad and Tobago, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, the United Kingdom, and the People’s Republic of China. Bob received his BS degree in Geology from the University of Miami, his MS degree in Sedimentology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his PhD in Paleoceanography from Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He has published extensively on the geology of Latin America and the Caribbean, and has significant experience exploring Cretaceous depositional systems of the Equatorial Atlantic margins.

President & CEO, ERHC Energy

Peter Ntephe

Highly qualified oil and gas lawyer, company director and executive, corporate trainer and academic with 20+ years of progressive international leadership experience leading the turnaround of oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) operations. Well-educated E&P contract negotiator, draftsman and problem solver with expertise in upstream contracts (including PSCs, JVs, JOAs, unitization agreements, etc.) and the regulatory interface. 6 degrees from top schools including a Ph.D. and LLM from the University of London and Master of Science from Oxford University. Strategic and visionary leader with innate ability to identify potential challenges and establish innovative organizational strategies adapting to diverse business cultures including American, European, and African. Effective communicator with success conveying company’s story to investors, shareholders, clients, and potential partners.

President, Kearney Africa

Jude Kearney

Jude Kearney is a lawyer whose primary areas of practice are petroleum and electric power project development and broad-based infrastructure finance. In particular, he specializes in the development and financing of energy and petroleum projects throughout the African continent and has advised public and private sector clients on a range of complex corporate investment and capital funding transactions on that continent. He has worked almost exclusively in Africa for the past 25 years, with occasional, narrowly focused work in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America. He has lived on the African continent twice in his career: he resided for a year in Nigeria very early in his career and later resided in Johannesburg South Africa for six years as the Managing Partner of an international law firm specializing in Energy projects.

He was previously a Clinton Administration political appointee, serving as a senior U.S. Commerce Dept. official in its International Trade Administration. At the Department of Commerce, he was a chief assistant to his close friend, the late Secretary Ron Brown. Jude spearheaded that Department’s international market access initiatives, particularly in Asia and Africa.

Jude is a graduate of Harvard University (BA) and Stanford University Law School (JD). He is admitted to the Bars in New York and Washington DC. He resides in the Washington DC area.

CEO, Azimuth Energy Investments LLC

Reginal Spiller

Reginal Spiller is a world class energy expert that has successfully worked and invested in oil and gas projects in over 60 countries around the world. He has taken two companies public on the US and London Exchanges and brought millions of investment dollars to projects in the US, Africa, South America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He is recognized by his peers as one of the world’s foremost geoscientist , and is a Senior Affiliate Scientist and Head of African Relations at the University of Utah. He has executed exploration and development projects in some of the world’s most prolific basins often situated in challenging locations. His key skill is his ability to translate the geoscience and engineering aspects of energy projects into value that that can be understood by the capital markets .

In addition he has a unique ability to identify, mentor and utilize local indigenous talent for both commercial and physical execution of the projects. Mr. Spiller has a distinguished public service career and served as The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Oil and Gas at the US Department of Energy where some of his principle accomplishments were in designing the Deep Water Royalty Relief Act, and creating joint R and D projects between the USG and the Oil and Gas industry. In his capacity he also provided millions of research dollars to Universities across the country. He continued his public service as the Honorary Consul General for the country of Sierra Leone, a State Department sanctioned position . He has been an active board member of the National Research Council/ National Academy of Science and has served on numerous University Boards.

Key Accomplishments;

• Successful   IPO of a  Eastern Europe/ Central Asia  focused  Oil and Gas company in the London  AIM Market
• Ramp up of oil production from 2,800 barrels per day to 6,000 bbls per day in on shore fields located in Azerbaijan over a  16 month period.
• Successfully brought on stream 22,000 barrels of oil per day at  the 1^st deep water oil and gas  field owned by an indigenous African company in Nigeria
• Third party certified over $500mm worth of oil and gas reserves in fields located in Peru
• Discovery of the Surubi Oil field in Bolivia
• Identified $100mm of NPV in a distressed  US Gulf Coast Asset
• Acquired 25,000  acres of US  Utica/ Marcellus properties
• The first Petroleum Geologist   to ever  hold  the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary at DOE
• Successfully deployed and managed  an  environmental friendly  geochemical  exploration survey  in a UN protected Biosphere in off shore West Africa.
• Legacy development   of  the  one of the  oldest  USG  National lab  summer internships  that target women and minorities in the STEMS  field ( Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship)
• Completed a congressionally mandated study focused on the “Future of the Engineering and Geoscience Workforce in America”  at the National Academy of Science
• Received the  distinguished  geoscience  award   “Bromery Award  for Minorities “ from the Geologic Society of America
• A recipient of The  Pennsylvania  State University   “Distinguished Alumni Award”

Work Experience

• 2009-Present- Mr. Spiller is currently the President and CEO of Azimuth Energy Investments LLC a global energy advisory and project management company headquartered in Houston Texas that specializes in Upstream Oil and Gas evaluation and management with technical and financial expertise. With over 20 years of international and domestic energy capital market experience, he has successfully assisted companies gain access to public and private market capital. He leads an experienced team that has a strong background in , HSE, geology, geophysics , engineering, operations , economics, risk analysis and business planning. The company offers practical business and technical solutions to projects on a worldwide basis in both conventional and unconventional reservoirs.

  In this capacity he has assisted domestic and international companies with their technical and financial programs. Azimuth Energy has assets for development in the USA which are located in the Utica / Marcellus Shale reservoirs in Pennsylvania and is currently acquiring conventional producing oil and gas properties in the Gulf Coast and Permian Basin regions. He is currently a Senior Affiliate Scientist and Head of African Relations for the Energy Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah.

• 2009-2010- Chief Operating Officer for Allied Energy- Mr. Spiller operated under contract from Azimuth as the COO to Allied, a privately held company headquartered in Houston, Texas. Allied conducted international exploration and production activity primarily in West Africa. During this time he brought “Oyo Field” on stream 22,000 bbls per day using an FPSO from the 1st deep water oil and gas field that was owned by the indigenous company. They along with their partner Eni , began producing commercial hydrocarbons from the field which is expected to contain over 50 million barrels of oil.
• 1996-2009- Executive Vice President Exploration and Production and Co-founder of Frontera Resources, Frontera was initially a startup private company that he led the successful effort to list on the London Exchange (FRR) and OTC. He was responsible for taking the company public and attracting investment of over 200 million dollars. Developed with a strong HSE emphasis and focus he successfully redeveloped old Russian Oil and Gas fields with new western technology. He managed all technical aspects of upstream exploration and production as well as downstream activities for the company, including involvement in the sale and marketing of crude.

  He was charged with the responsibility of the startup and day to day operations, PSA and JV partner activity, seismic acquisition, drilling and reservoir evaluation in the Republic of Georgia and Azerbaijan and increased existing production from 2800 bbls per day to over 6000 bbls per day in 16 months. He conducted hundreds of man days “in the field” with a team of geoscientist that remapped the geology of the region and conducted the first basin wide hydrogeological base line study in support of the company’s HSE program. The company operated the 1.3 million acre “Block 12” concession in Georgia where it was developing existing oil and gas fields. He formally retired from this position after serving successfully for over 13 years.

• 1993-1996- Deputy Assistant Secretary for Gas and Petroleum Technologies at the U. S. Department of Energy. His entry was distinguished by his being the highest-ranking geologist in the administration and the first petroleum geologist ever to hold the position, taking office on December 14, 1993 and completing his term on March 22nd 1996. This office was part of the Department’s Fossil Energy Program responsible for the development and demonstration of advanced technologiesfor natural gas, petroleum exploration, production and delivery. He managed a $400 million dollar R &D budget that supported gas and oil research conducted at the US National Labs as well as from the DOE energy centers. Effective industry and government partnerships were a key by-product of his efforts.

  During this time he was the co-founder of the Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship program which was focused on the development of women and minorities in the earth and engineering sciences. He was one of the authors of the “Deep Water Royalty Relief Act” which help propel deep water exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.

• 1988-1993- Worldwide International Exploration Manager, Maxus Energy Corp. During his five years with Maxus, he was responsible for identifying opportunities and developing oil and gas exploration and production projects in Africa, Europe, South America, Middle and Far East. His most significant accomplishment was the discovery of one of Bolivia’s largest Oil field ( Surubi) and the discovery of the only Co2 Field in Tunisia . He captured acreage, acquired seismic , and drilled wells for the company in Algeria, Indonesia, Denmark, Bulgaria, Egypt, Morocco, Gabon, Angola Madagascar, Ethiopia, Slovakia, Australia, Tunisia, Columbia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
• 1987-1988- Offshore Exploration Manager, Primary Fuels Corp, a subsidiary of Houston Industries. Primary Fuels was an independent oil and gas company with production interests in the Permian Basin and in several countries overseas. He managed existing oil and gas production as well as promising exploration acreage in the Gulf of Mexico. Primary Fuels recruited Mr. Spiller to initiate and supervise all exploration and production activities in the Gulf of Mexico. He provided geologic and geophysical support to other projects developed by the company where it was operating the Salt Pond field in Ghana and several development projects in the Neuquén basin Argentina.
• 1984-1987- Manager for the Southern District, Elf Aquitaine- He was responsible for prospect analysis in the Gulf of Mexico, the Louisiana and Texas Shelf, and deep-water tracts. He joined Elf in 1984 as a project leader and responsible for development of an integrated geologic, geophysical, engineering, regional study that focused the company in prospective areas of the Gulf in preparation for the first area wide lease sales.

  He was involved with some of the early bio stratigraphic / geophysical facies analysis and understanding of the deep water as it related to salt movement in various parts of the basin. He lead a technical team that integrated with its French counterpart at the company’s R and D center located in Pau France that wasdemonstrating the structural similarities between the Gulf of Mexico and other salt related basins of the world.

• 1979-1984– Sr. Geologist Exxon USA . During his tenure with Exxon, he worked both on shore and off shore, serving as a Reservoir Staff Geologist, a Senior Operations Geologist, and an Exploration Geologist. As Senior Operations Geologist, he was responsible for exploration well planning and drilling and the evaluation of Federal waters gaining extensive experience in abnormal pressure detection and drilling. In addition he worked in many of the companies large East Texas division assets including the following fields; Katy, Conroe, Raccoon Bend, Tomball, Hastings, Dickinson, Friendswood, and Talco.

Advisory Boards :

• The National Academy of Science, National Research Council
• The Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Science
• The Penn State Geoscience Advisory Board
• The University of Arkansas Geoscience Advisory Board
• The University of Utah Energy Geoscience Institute
• The National Association of Black Geoscientist
• The Palmer Drug Abuse Program
• The African Energy Chamber
• Education and Associations
• M.S. in Geology Penn State University (‘79)
• B.A.S.S. in Geology The State University of New York (‘ 74)
• American Association of Petroleum Geologist
• Society of Petroleum Engineers
• Geologic Society of America
• The Houston Geologic Society
• The Washington Geologic Society
• National Association of Black Geoscientist

Founder and CEO, Fortesa

Rogers Beall

Mr Beall is a 46-year veteran of the Upstream Oil sector.

He founded of Fortesa in 1997 and since early 2005 has acted as the Project Country Manager
of Fortesa’s 125 employee onshore E&P project in Senegal, West Africa. Fortesa is currently
Senegal’s only hydrocarbon producing company, and with drilling and pipeline divisions Africa
Fortesa Corporation is a completely vertical Entity directly performing all functions needed to
cost effectively conduct onshore E&P in Senegal. Fortesa’s Senegalese project was
commenced as a high domestic content Gas-to-Power project, and remains true to the principle
of Senegalese domestic capability in all elements of oilfield operations.

Focused initially in the American domestic seismic data licensing, acquisition, processing sectors, Mr Beall expanded the Company since 1990 into International GeoScientific projects and promotions in areas that ranged from the Caspian to West Africa to South America. Mr Beall then further by expanded into E&P itself in 1997 focused on the MSGBC Basin through AFRICA FORTESA Corporation, where Fortesa remains the MSGBC’s only producing, drilling and pipeline company, having now also made first recoveries of light Early Jurassic Lacustrine Sourced Oil in multiple wells. Mr. Beall holds a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from Ohio’s Baldwin Wallace College and became a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) during his 4 years in public accounting starting (1969) with Arthur Andersen & Co. Prior to entering the Oil and Gas
industry focusing on the scientific side, Mr. Beall held a key-man position for some years
serving NASA’s Main Computer Center for Rocket testing and design (during the Apollo &
SkyLab Programs) in Louisiana.

General Manager – Africa, Pioneer Energy

Ann Norman

Ann Norman, a business executive with years of experience working in the energy and oil and gas sectors in across Africa. She currently lives in Nigeria, where she works with oil and gas producers across the continent to drive greater penetration of gas to market. As General Manager for Africa at Pioneer Energy, her primary goal was to assist oil and gas companies eliminate and monetize their associated gas flares through the advent and introduction of Midstream on Demand to African markets. The lack of midstream options for offtake of products lead her to found Midstream Africa.

Additionally, Ms. Norman has significant experience directing investments into Sub-Saharan African economies across various sectors which include not only oil and gas (midstream and upstream), but agriculture, infrastructure, banking, hotels, the airline industry and renewable energy.

Ms. Norman is a veteran of Wall Street Investor Relations (IR). She was a Vice President at Coltrin & Associates, an international IR firm based in NYC. Her focus was on merger and acquisitions, IPOs, Leveraged Buyouts and private placement fundraises. Projects she lead include GE Healthcare’s acquisition of Intermountain Health Care’s Electronic Medical Records (the first ever EMR to be developed), the IPO of Burger King, Cosmedicine’s startup and launch to the international luxury beauty market through backing by LVMH, and a $200 million private sector placement to finance the for-profit UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) Sub Saharan Africa Microfinance Initiative.

Prior to her time in the oil and gas space, Ms. Norman worked at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in post-conflict Sierra Leone, where she was seconded to the Head of State’s Office, President Tejan Kabbah. She held positions as the Deputy Minister of Information, Spokesperson to the President, and she served as a technical advisor from the Office of the President, who hired Anadarko to do the first ever explorations for oil in the offshore waters of Sierra Leone, which proved fruitful in December 2006.

Early on in her career, she was a founding member of ONEWORLD Software Solutions, a software consulting firm. She headed up investor relations and the development of the company culture. ONEWORLD built technology solutions for clients in the emerging Fin Tech space, and their market spanned the globe. The company was acquired by Microsoft in 2002. This experience and the lessons learned were invaluable for Ms. Norman, and the lessons learned have been a defining and driving force throughout her career.

Ms. Norman is a graduate of Utah State University, with a Bachelor of Arts in History. She has lived and worked in France, Jordan, China, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, The United States and Nigeria. She is fluent in French.

CEO, Energy & Natural Resource Security, Inc

C. Derek Campbell

C. Derek Campbell is the Chief Executive Officer of Energy & Natural Resource Security, Inc., an international security company providing “best-in-class” physical and cyber risk mitigation solutions for Critical Energy Infrastructure and Natural Resource assets. In this role, he leads the strategic engagements of the company and directs the development of all market entry strategies.

As an energy and extractive industry professional, Derek developed a niche expertise in the energy security space, where he leads ENRS’s efforts to raise awareness regarding the growing need for increased security and risk mitigation measures for critical energy infrastructure assets – ultimately ensuring greater energy resiliency and maintaining continuity of operations for ENRS’s clients.

Derek has enjoyed a distinguished career in the public and private sectors, with focus on the energy, extractive industry, and security/defense fields. In the private sector, Derek has traveled extensively throughout Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. From early 2007 to mid-2012, Derek was the Managing Director of Accession International, Inc. where he guided his team in developing business for multinational extractive industry and infrastructure development firms throughout Western and Central Africa/the Gulf of Guinea, with particular focus in Nigeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, and Gabon. From mid-2012 to late-2018, Derek served as the Chief Executive Officer of TransGenerational (TransGen) Energy, Inc. (www.transgen-energy.com), where he led all strategic engagements of the company and managed all strategic corporate activity until the corporation was sold in late 2018. In addition to leading ENRS, in early 2019 Derek became the Executive Chairman of AlphaSierra Advisory (www.alphasierra.co), a bespoke advisory firm in London, with a presence in Dubai, whose experienced team works with investors and executives seeking growth in emerging and frontier markets – with expertise across Africa.

In the public sector, during 2016, Derek served as a Special Security Advisor for the U.S. Special Envoy’s Office on South Sudan, where he lead the South Sudanese Ministry of Interior in the development and implementation of the Joint Operations Center (JOC) which is charged with de-militarizing and establishing police primacy for security in the capital city of Juba, South Sudan. As a United States Marine Officer, Derek served as the Marine Liaison Officer to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) where he oversaw all Marine Corps Counter-Threat initiatives: Counter-Drone/Counter-UAS, Counter-IED, Counter-Tunnel and the like from 2016 to 2019. From 2014 to 2015, Derek served as the Chief of Military Plans for the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) – a Chapter VII Peace Enforcement Mission. He also served his country in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, with distinction – earning the Bronze Star in Afghanistan. From 2004-2006, Derek served as the U.S. Marine & Naval Attaché to Nigeria, where he developed deep cooperative relationships with multi- national corporations and captains of industry, as well as a keen understanding of the region and its diplomatic and commercial sensitivities. Chief among those were the maritime and port security around the Niger Delta, where he was primary portfolio manager and point of contact for all U.S. maritime and oil and gas security initiatives during that period.

Derek is a regular on the international Oil & Gas/Energy speaking circuit speaking as an authority on topics such as Energy Security and the Extractive Industry geo-political and market dynamics in Africa. He is currently a Colonel in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. Derek holds a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Technology & Management from the University of Maryland and a Master of Strategic Studies (M.S.S.) from the U.S. Army War College, with an elective concentration in Energy & National Security.

CEO, Shoreline Energy International

Kola Karim

Kola Karim is the Group Managing Director/CEO of Shoreline Energy International (Shoreline) , a leading industrial group focused on energy and power investments in Sub Saharan Africa. Mr. Karim has built shoreline over the past 20 years into a leading integrated energy company with operating assets in the upstream, midstream and downstream business.

Over the last few years Shoreline’s energy focused business -Shoreline Natural Resources – has grown its upstream business through the acquisition of OML 30 a world class asset from Shell in 2010. OML 30 is Onshore Nigeria, located less than 50 kilometers east of Warri. The Lease covers 1,097 square kilometers with eight producing fields. OML30 has 2P reserves of 1.2billion barrels of oil and 2tcf of gas reserves. Current production averages 70,00bopd with potential to significantly increase to c.300,000 bopd in the long term. The field has a combined field infrastructure capacity of c. 395,000 bpd. OML 30 owns and operates the 850,000 bpd capacity Trans Forcados Pipeline to the export terminal. Additionally, Shoreline Natural Resources SPV in partnership with Canadian Overseas Petroleum recently completed the acquisition of 80% of OPL 226 from Essar, a field with 2P reserves of over 200m barrels.

Midstream the focus had been in building capacity in gas distribution through the acquisition for a 75% stake in Gasland a joint venture company with Shell. Gasland enjoys one of only two licenses to supply gas to Lagos, a city of over 20m inhabitants and commercial heartland of Nigeria. In Partnership with Shell, the company will install a 175km gas transmission and distribution pipeline network with associated facilities for purposes of supplying natural gas to industrial, Commercial and domestic consumers in Lagos.

Mr Karim balances his business interests with a passion for contributing to development and education across the continent. He has championed a pan African agenda at the Harvard Centre for African Studies where he sits on the advisory board with a specific focus on building a Pan African resource centre with an initial center already launched in South Africa. Mr Karim Serves on the Africa Advisory board of the London Stock Exchange and is a Young Global Leader Award Honoree (2008), a pioneer and an active member of the Global Agenda Council on Emerging Multinationals of the World Economic Forum. He has delivered opinion and position papers at international conferences, investment forums, business schools and universities. Mr Karim holds an LLM Masters of Laws – International Business Law.

Chairman and CEO, Genesis Energy Group

Akinwole Omoboriowo II

Akinwole Omoboriowo II (AOII) is the Chairman, Board of Directors of Genesis Energy Holding, a company with subsidiary project enterprises owning one of the largest licensed Commercial Off-Grid Power operations in Sub Sahara Africa.

He is a strategic and innovative thinker with broad expertise in conceptualising and managing the complexities of building new businesses, as evidenced by a few enterprises he has successfully built in the Oil & Gas and Power Sectors in Africa over the past 20 years.
AOII works effectively both as a team member, and a leader driving initiative, as well as implementing the goals and objectives of the organisation. He has good interpersonal, communication, organisational, and customer-oriented skills. He is efficient under pressure, and works to ensure targets are met at set deadlines. The Vision of Genesis which is ‘Lighting up Africa …One community at a time’ has been put in motion by AOII through the various market defining projects he has led Genesis develop across Africa in the Power & Gas Sector and Oil Sectors.

AOII holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Economics from the University of Jos-Nigeria, a post graduate diploma in Strategy and Innovation from the Oxford University Saïd Business School, a certificate in Electricity Pricing and Modelling from the London Business School in the United Kingdom, and a certificate in International Oil Trading and Shipping from the Oxford-Princeton College in the United Kingdom.
AOII was listed amongst top 10 Most Influential Figures in the African Power Sectors for three years consecutively in 2014, 2015, and 2016, he was also nominated for a
Lifetime Achievement Award in the Power Sector of Africa at the African Utility Industry Awards in South Africa in 2016.

He serves on several globally recognized organizations including as Expert Advisor to the Oxford University SAID Business School’s Entrepreneurship Centre, as Advisory Board Member of the Global Thinkers Forum (UK), and he previously served on the Advisory Board of Shell Foundation (UK). He is invested with Honoris Causa Fellowship of the Certified Board of Administrators of Nigeria.

Managing Director for Africa, Millennium Challenge Corporation

Alicia Robinson-Morgan

As Managing Director for Africa at the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) Department of Compact Operations, Alicia Robinson-Morgan is responsible for oversight of a multi-country Africa portfolio. In this role, Ms. Robinson-Morgan provides oversight and guidance for the development and implementation of nearly $3 billion worth of programs focused on capital investments and policy reforms to ensure achievement of program objectives and adherence to MCC principles of partnership, focus on results and policy improvements. Prior to joining MCC, Ms. Robinson-Morgan was Senior Principal Trade and Investment Coordinator for the Africa Bureau at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Previously she was Deputy Director and Acting Director for the Office of Africa at the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) managing programs involving U.S.-Africa economic issues. Also at Commerce, she was a Senior International Economist focused on U.S.-South African trade relations and began her career as a Presidential Management Fellow covering West Africa. She holds a B.A. in International Relations from Brown University, spending a year abroad at the Institute of Political Studies in Lyon, France, and an M.A. in International Economics and International Relations from The Johns Hopkins University – School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Chief Economist, American Petroleum Institute

Dean Foreman

Dr. Dean Foreman was named Chief Economist for the American Petroleum Institute in December of 2017. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Florida and brings more than 20 years of industry experience in corporate strategic planning, forecasting, risk management, and finance.

Before joining API, Dr. Foreman was the lead economist for ExxonMobil Corporate Planning between 2002 and 2008. From 2009 to 2013, he was a member of the executive team at Canadian-based exploration and production company Talisman Energy, where he focused on corporate planning, hedging/marketing, and business development.

In 2013 to 2015, he directed the risk management function in North America for South African energy and petrochemical conglomerate Sasol, where he helped drive business cases for $25 billion in U.S. mega projects, including the $11 billion ethane cracker and derivatives complex in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Most recently, he was with Saudi Aramco Strategy & Market Analysis in Dhahran, where he managed short-term market monitoring and the long-term oil demand outlook. Dr. Foreman has continued to publish in peer-reviewed journals and has presented at the World Energy Congress, International Economic Forum of the Americas, and WorldEconomic Forum.

CEO, Shoreline Energy International

Kola Karim

Kola Karim is the Group Managing Director/CEO of Shoreline Energy International (Shoreline) , a leading industrial group focused on energy and power investments in Sub Saharan Africa. Mr. Karim has built shoreline over the past 20 years into a leading integrated energy company with operating assets in the upstream, midstream and downstream business.

Over the last few years Shoreline’s energy focused business -Shoreline Natural Resources – has grown its upstream business through the acquisition of OML 30 a world class asset from Shell in 2010. OML 30 is Onshore Nigeria, located less than 50 kilometers east of Warri. The Lease covers 1,097 square kilometers with eight producing fields. OML30 has 2P reserves of 1.2billion barrels of oil and 2tcf of gas reserves. Current production averages 70,00bopd with potential to significantly increase to c.300,000 bopd in the long term. The field has a combined field infrastructure capacity of c. 395,000 bpd. OML 30 owns and operates the 850,000 bpd capacity Trans Forcados Pipeline to the export terminal. Additionally, Shoreline Natural Resources SPV in partnership with Canadian Overseas Petroleum recently completed the acquisition of 80% of OPL 226 from Essar, a field with 2P reserves of over 200m barrels.

Midstream the focus had been in building capacity in gas distribution through the acquisition for a 75% stake in Gasland a joint venture company with Shell. Gasland enjoys one of only two licenses to supply gas to Lagos, a city of over 20m inhabitants and commercial heartland of Nigeria. In Partnership with Shell, the company will install a 175km gas transmission and distribution pipeline network with associated facilities for purposes of supplying natural gas to industrial, Commercial and domestic consumers in Lagos.

Mr Karim balances his business interests with a passion for contributing to development and education across the continent. He has championed a pan African agenda at the Harvard Centre for African Studies where he sits on the advisory board with a specific focus on building a Pan African resource centre with an initial center already launched in South Africa. Mr Karim Serves on the Africa Advisory board of the London Stock Exchange and is a Young Global Leader Award Honoree (2008), a pioneer and an active member of the Global Agenda Council on Emerging Multinationals of the World Economic Forum. He has delivered opinion and position papers at international conferences, investment forums, business schools and universities. Mr Karim holds an LLM Masters of Laws – International Business Law.

Managing Director, Saipem Contracting Nigeria Ltd.

Walter Peviani

Walter has been Managing Director of Saipem Contracting Nigeria since mid-2019, following a decade of working across Saipem’s various commercial branches and departments in Europe and Africa. Walter brings considerable commercial, sales and business development experience across the energy value chain, and a strong understanding of local content dynamics in West Africa. Walter has a Master Degree in Chemical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano.

MD/CEO, Ocean Deep Drilling ESV Nigeria Limited (ODENL)

Chijioke Akwukwuma

Chijioke Akwukwuma is one of the founders and the pioneering Managing Director / CEO of Ocean Deep Drilling ESV Nigeria Limited (ODENL), the largest deepwater driller in Nigeria.

He has over two decades of diverse leadership experience in drilling rig operations, engineering, project management, strategic planning and business development in ten countries across Europe, Africa and Asia, working for several blue-chip companies.

Earlier in his career, Chijioke was the first African to manage an ultra deepwater 5th generation drillship and was the driving force in getting the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) established in Nigeria.

Under Chijioke’s leadership, ODENL has gone from being a concept to the largest Nigerian deepwater driller, with a reputation for excellent service delivery.

He is non-executive director on the Board of several companies and a member of many professional organisations.
Chijioke holds a B.Eng in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from University of Benin, and an MBA in General Management from Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh. He is a registered professional engineer and an alumnus of Cambridge University.

Country Manager, SpringRock Group

Ogutu Okudo

Recognised in 2020 by Forbes Africa as part of their 30 Under 30 for her extensive work changing the narrative in the male dominated energy and extractive sectors in Africa through the work of Women in Energy and Extractives Africa (WEX Africa). Founded in 2012, WEX Africa is a social enterprise, bridging the gender gaps in the oil, gas, mining and alternative energy sectors. Building effective and efficient solutions by partnering and advising companies, international aid organisations and governments on creating shared value in their social objectives, ensuring they are sustainable, impactful and gender inclusive.

Ogutu serves as a Consultant for the Kenya State Department for Petroleum on the Kenya Petroleum Technical Assistance Project (KEPTAP) funded by the World Bank. The objective of the project is to strengthen the
capacity of Kenya to manage its petroleum sector. She is the Country Manager for SpringRock Energy Kenya. An integrated upstream oilfield management services company specialising in oilfield exploration and production. Her experience spans across numerous of projects in East and West Africa. Notably, well construction project
management, field development planning and first oil project management. Ogutu sits on the board of Bboxx Kenya, the off-grid power utility.

President, Kearney Africa

Jude Kearney

Jude Kearney is a lawyer whose primary areas of practice are petroleum and electric power project development and broad-based infrastructure finance. In particular, he specializes in the development and financing of energy and petroleum projects throughout the African continent and has advised public and private sector clients on a range of complex corporate investment and capital funding transactions on that continent. He has worked almost exclusively in Africa for the past 25 years, with occasional, narrowly focused work in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America. He has lived on the African continent twice in his career: he resided for a year in Nigeria very early in his career and later resided in Johannesburg South Africa for six years as the Managing Partner of an international law firm specializing in Energy projects.

He was previously a Clinton Administration political appointee, serving as a senior U.S. Commerce Dept. official in its International Trade Administration. At the Department of Commerce, he was a chief assistant to his close friend, the late Secretary Ron Brown. Jude spearheaded that Department’s international market access initiatives, particularly in Asia and Africa.

Jude is a graduate of Harvard University (BA) and Stanford University Law School (JD). He is admitted to the Bars in New York and Washington DC. He resides in the Washington DC area.

Principal Consultant & President, Royal Triangle Energy Solutions

Eric.A Williams

A geoscientist and former Minister for Energy in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (2002–2005), Eric Anthony Williams has over 30 years experience in the petroleum and minerals exploration industries. As a skilled international negotiator with considerable executive management experience, Mr. Williams heads Royal Triangle Energy Solutions Limited as its Principal Consultant and President.

Williams started his energy career at the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries (where he would later return as Minister) and later at the Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago where he was involved in prospect generation, regional velocity, and geophysical studies and technical support. Graduating to the post of Processing Centre Manager for the then Western Geophysical Division of Baker Hughes, Trinidad Office, he managed a team of data processing professionals and trained local seismic data processors and technicians.

Before branching out into the international world of energy, Williams put his skill and knowledge to the ultimate test. He became the Chief Executive Officer of his own seismic data brokerage and seismic data interpretation firm from 1999–2002. Within this period he provided consultancy services for domestic and international oil companies operating within Trinidad and Tobago.

During his tenure as Energy Minister (2002–2006), Mr. Williams successfully led the restart of the negotiations of the Treaty Agreement for the exploration of cross border maritime petroleum reserves with Venezuela. He also championed a Local Content Committee to develop the country’s first Local Content Policy. This policy guided strategies to encourage the adoption of local content initiatives by international oil companies operating in Trinidad & Tobago. He also oversaw the power generation activities in the country.

His ministerial stewardship also saw the following accomplishments:

Increased industrial natural gas consumption from 1855 million standard cubic feet per day (mmcfd) to more than 4000 mmcfd.
The expansion of the LNG industry from three trains with a capacity of 9.6 million tonnes per annum to four trains collectively producing 15.2 million tonnes per annum.
An increase in investment in the natural gas downstream sector with the coming on stream of two ammonia and three methanol plants.
From 2009–2011, Williams served as Country Manager at a publicly listed (FTSE) independent exploration and production oil company, African Energy Resources Company Limited (AFREN) in Nigeria. A modest-sized company boasting a production of approximately 20,000 barrels of oil per day. 
From 2011–2013, Williams served as the Vice President West Africa Operations and later as President for the Africa Division of Prospectiuni S.A. There, he was largely responsible for business development and the management of mineral exploration in seven licensed areas in Senegal. 
Throughout his career as an energy expert, Williams has presented several papers, served on panels and delivered keynote addresses at several international oil and gas summits. Some of these meetings include the IBC 5th Annual Caribbean Conference in Trinidad and Tobago in 2005, Global Education and Training for Energy (GETENERGY) Houston, Texas, USA in 2005, Energy and Security in Abuja Nigeria 2005, LNG Leadership Conference Houston, Texas USA 2005, Corporate Council on Africa 8th Biennial US-Africa Business Summit Washington D.C. USA 2011, and the CWC Group Mozambique Gas Summit, Maputo Mozambique 2013. 
He offers in-depth insights into the Trinidad and Tobago Model of petroleum development and is also passionate about sharing with others how these learnings could be adapted and applied to leverage their own natural resources for increased shareholder value and sustainable socio-economic growth. 
In short, Williams is a critical thinker who is passionate about how countries can use their natural petroleum and mineral resources as a growth catalyst for increased shareholder value and nationwide sustainable development.

Managing Director, Jagal Energy

Jorg Kohnert

Jorg worked for Shell International EP for 23 years across Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Subsequently, he held positions as General Manager in Glencore, Cameroon; Managing Director of Addax, Gabon; Chief Operating Officer and President of Green Dragon Gas Limited, China and several interim roles as Managing Director or COO in recent years.

Jorg trained as a Petroleum Engineer, is multi-lingual, with a solid technical/commercial background and first hand experience in differing cultural environments, particularly in West Africa and Nigeria. He is currently Managing Director of Jagal Energy and Nigerdock, based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Jorg is married with 2 sons.

Operations Director and President of the Executive Board, IFP Training

Rémi Mouchel

Rémi Mouchel, 54 years old, received degrees in Geology from The Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Géologie in Nancy and in Geophysics from IFP School. He spent more than 25 years with Beicip-Franlab starting as software developer when the Company entered the E&P software market. His copybook career brought him to various commercial and management positions where he gained an international experience in key countries for Beicip-Franlab (Brazil, Libya, Malaysia, Russia, USA, and Venezuela). He became Director of E&P Software activity in October 2004, Consulting and Software Commercial Director in 2015 and was member of the Executive Committee until 2017.
He joined IFP Training, the IFP Group branch for life-long professional training, in 2017 as Director E&P. Since July 2019, he has been appointed as Director of Operations and Chairman of the Executive Board.

CEO, Grupo Memba

Pablo Memba

Pablo Memba is CEO of GML, an energy and infrastructure consulting firm that has a successful track record of brokering and executing more than 30 public/private joint venture and investment projects valued at over US$5 billion. During Mr. Memba’s 25-plus years providing management consulting, negotiation, business development and strategic business services to the oil and gas, power, and construction sectors, he has advised international firms, multinationals and start-up ventures on all phases of project development.

Additionally, Mr. Memba has served as a key expert and advisor to ministries in Equatorial Guinea and Angola on oil and gas sector reform, and has led their programs to increase foreign investment and competition. He is recognized for successfully developing joint ventures with several oil services companies in Equatorial Guinea, and implementing renewable energy and gas projects in China and Trinidad and Tobago. Having lived and
worked in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the U.S. and the Caribbean, Mr. Memba is fluent in Spanish, English, French and Chinese (Mandarin).

Mr. Memba holds a Masters Degree in Structural Engineering from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Southeast University in Nanjing, People’s Republic of China. He has worked in both the public and private sectors and served on the board of several nonprofit organizations. In addition, he is a board member of several oil and gas service companies. A seasoned speaker, Mr. Memba is a sought-after expert on local content and doing business in Africa.

Former Oil Executive and Energy Consultant

Abongwa Ndumu

Executive Chairman and Founder, Raise Africa Investments

Nosizwe Nokwe-Macamo

Nosizwe is an accomplished and result driven Business Leader with success in leading strategy and directing substantial operations and projects. She has an in depth understanding of global oil and gas markets. With her strong focus on economic empowerment she uses her technical and commercial acumen to influence change and to drive local content solutions within the industry.

Nosizwe is the Founding Owner of Raise Africa Investments a business which focuses on Investment in niche manufacturing companies with growth potential. She also provides Strategic Advisory services, adding value to companies in the Oil and Gas Industry on the African continent.

Passionate about the development of businesses, skills and capacity in the Oil Industry, Nosizwe has established partnerships with international companies to collaborate in the capacitation of skills in the Petroleum industry on the continent.

Nosizwe, one of the first African female Petrochemical Engineers in South Africa, has worked for more than 2 decades in the Oil and Gas Industry. Her experience and expertise in the petroleum and energy industry spans across several countries on the African continent during which she has been in the leadership of numerous key portfolios , projects and operations across the petroleum value chain: upstream, midstream and downstream in major oil and gas companies.

Her Corporate Governance knowledge has seen her serve both as Non-Executive Director and as an Executive Director on the boards of Oil , Gas , DFIs and other major companies ,bringing in depth understanding, value and transformation to each of those organisations on whose Board she has served.

Her experience in multilateral stakeholder engagements including international activities has seen her being engaged with the United Nations Commission for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on a very pivotal project for natural resource management on the African continent.

She was invited by United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) to participate in the Expert Group Meeting on Petrochemical Clusters for IGAD member states.

An eloquent influencer, she has been a participant in various oil and gas thought leadership fora. Her papers are always themed on Growth of the petroleum industry on the African continent for the benefit of the continent.

Nosizwe is an award winning and well accomplished business authority. .Her passion for development and building enterprises has earned her the accolade of “Excellence in Business” – Women in Energy in Africa.

She was the recipient of the “Female Business Personality “Award in 2013.
In 2009 she was a finalist in South Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government Award in the government category. She was also was the recipient of the Top Female Leader of Tomorrow Award in 2005.

Nosizwe is an Alumni of Moscow State University of Oil and Gas Russia (MSc Petrochemical Engineering 1990),
Baku Oil and Gas Academy Azerbaijan (Diploma Oil and Gas Refining 1984),
INSEAD (International Management Certificate – 2003), GIBS (Global Executive Development Programme – 2004) and WITS(Certificate in Finance and Accounting-2004)

Founder & President, Energy Generation

Astria Fataki

Astria Fataki is a 28-year-old Franco-Congolese entrepreneur passionate about energy development in Africa. On a macro-economic level, she has been working since 2013 as a consultant on public-private partnerships to construct photovoltaic solar power plants. On a micro-economic level, she founded the pan-African Energy Generation organization in 2016 to develop business initiatives by young Africans in the energy industry. Astria has a Master’s degree in international public-sector management from Sciences Po Paris.

Partner, Asafo & Co (London)

Nicolas Bonnefoy

Dual-citizen and dual-qualified (France and England), Nicolas is an oil & gas and mining project lawyer with an exclusive focus on Africa.

His experience includes acting for oil & gas and mining companies in securing the award of exploration and production rights as well as structuring, negotiating and implementing acquisitions and disposals throughout Africa.

His experience also includes acting for States and national oil companies in Africa in designing legislation, regulations and model production sharing contracts governing hydrocarbons exploration and exploitation activities. In this context, he led a significant review of legal and contractual regimes governing hydrocarbons activities in the member States of the African Petroleum Organisation. The mission was aimed at incorporating the main principles, best practices and latest trends into a model production sharing agreement.

Nicolas has worked in more than 25 African jurisdictions over the past 20 years. Although he is based in London, he lived in Libreville and Malabo for several years and travelled extensively throughout Africa over the past twenty years. He also lived in Calgary, Dallas, and Paris.

President and CEO, WTD Resources LLC

Bill Drennen

William T. Drennen has a long, successful and impactful history spanning his 44-year career commercializing over a billion barrels of oil. His geoscience background consists of experience in exploration, production, corporate planning and research.

Since beginning his career in 1976 at Exxon in New Orleans as an exploration geoscientist, this proven oil finder has held a variety of professional and managerial positions of increasing responsibility in the US and internationally, in exploration, production and research.  Key assignments have included District Geologist Onshore Texas & Exploration Manager for ExxonMobil over the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea Norwegian sector as well as VP Geoscience for Exxon Mobil’s World Wide Upstream Research Company and VP Exploration for North and South America, with focus on the Barnett Shale, Texas.

In addition to his technical and managerial background, Bill has attended and taught at Thunderbird Business School, the Kellogg Business School at Northwestern University, IMD in Switzerland and various Harvard Business School programs.

MD/CEO, Ocean Deep Drilling ESV Nigeria Limited (ODENL)

Chijioke Akwukwuma

Chijioke Akwukwuma is one of the founders and the pioneering Managing Director / CEO of Ocean Deep Drilling ESV Nigeria Limited (ODENL), the largest deepwater driller in Nigeria.
He has over two decades of diverse leadership experience in drilling rig operations, engineering, project management, strategic planning and business development in ten countries across Europe, Africa and Asia, working for several blue-chip companies.

Earlier in his career, Chijioke was the first African to manage an ultra deepwater 5th generation drillship and was the driving force in getting the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) established in Nigeria.

Under Chijioke’s leadership, ODENL has gone from being a concept to the largest Nigerian deepwater driller, with a reputation for excellent service delivery.
He is non-executive director on the Board of several companies and a member of many professional organisations.

Chijioke holds a B.Eng in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from University of Benin, and an MBA in General Management from Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh. He is a registered professional engineer and an alumnus of Cambridge University.

Associate Attorney, Centurion Law Group

Oneyka Cindy Ojobgo

Oneyka Ojogbo is an Associate Attorney at Centurion’s Equatorial Guinea and South Africa offices
with significant experience in banking, energy, infrastructure and projects financing.
She has advised clients on capital market and cross-border M&A transactions across Africa and
Europe. Oneyka has valuable experience working extensively in research, negotiation, advisory and
document preparation and review capacities on projects, corporate, finance and investment
transactions of varying complexities and across multiple sectors of the economy.
Prior to joining Centurion, she worked as an Associate in Olaniwun Ajayi, a leading Nigerian firm and
played a pivotal role in advising investors and sponsors on landmark power and infrastructure
transactions.

She also worked with the Columbia Centre for Sustainable Investment based in New York where
she advised on the peculiar provisions/terms in exploration and production contracts relating to the
extractive industries in different countries around the world with the aim of helping governments,
international investors and other stakeholders better understand the prevalent extractive industry
investment framework.

Oneyka has an LL.M. from the Columbia Law School, a B.L. from the Nigerian Law School and an
LL.B. From the University of Ibadan.

Regional CTO, Strategy & Innovation, Microsoft

Jovita Nsoh

With over 22 years of experience in the energy industry software,
Jovita has a deep business and technical expertise in complex
technology deployments, digital transformation for Oil and Gas
upstream, midstream and downstream value-chain, with special
emphasis in robotic process automation (RPO), artificial
intelligence (AI), predictive analytics, operations optimization, and
regulatory compliance. Jovita is obsessed about energy
transitions and in helping energy companies digitally transform
their operations to achieve competitive advantages in an ever
evolving, highly competitive, and highly regulated environment
that’s compounded by several market shocks and stresses.

Jovita holds an MBA, a Post Graduate Diploma from MIT and is
currently pursuing a PhD in computer science. Jovita is a member
of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), The
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and The
International Society of Automation (ISA). and holds several
industry certifications. Jovita is currently a Regional CTO for
Strategy & Innovation at Microsoft.

Upstream Advisory and Consulting

Bruce Falkenstein

Bruce is an experienced oil professional and geoscientist bringing years of experience working for the world’s leading international and independent exploration & production companies. Bruce started his career by working for twenty years at Amoco in Texas before becoming Vice President at Transmeridan Exploration between 2000 and 2009 and Revelar Resources in 2009. Most recent accomplishments include two years at Vanco Exploration as Joint Operations Manager, and seven years at LUKOIL International Upstream West as Manager – License Management, Compliance and Joint Operations. Bruce holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in Chemical Physics from the University of Calgary.

Founder and Chairman, APO Group

Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard

Franco-Gabonese self-made entrepreneur Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard is the Founder, chairman and 100% owner of APO Group, the leading pan-African communications and business consultancy firm.
 
Nicolas is a member of the Advisory Board of the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF), the premier hotel investment conference in Africa. He is also member of the Advisory Board of the EurAfrican
Forum, an action-oriented platform that aims to foster stronger collaboration between Europe and Africa.
 
He was a speaker at the Bloomberg Africa Business Media Innovators forum 2019, at the Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) 2019, and he is a moderator at all the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF and FIHA) events.
 
Nicolas’ success story has been featured on CNN, in Forbes , in Forbes Africa, and on CNBC Africa, only to name a few.
 
More information: www.pompigne-mognard.com

Chairman and CEO, Genesis Energy Group

Akinwole Omoboriowo II

Akinwole Omoboriowo II (AOII) is the Chairman, Board of Directors of Genesis Energy Holding, a company with subsidiary project enterprises owning one of the largest licensed Commercial Off-Grid Power operations in Sub Sahara Africa.

He is a strategic and innovative thinker with broad expertise in conceptualising and managing the complexities of building new businesses, as evidenced by a few enterprises he has successfully built in the Oil & Gas and Power Sectors in Africa over the past 20 years.

AOII works effectively both as a team member, and a leader driving initiative, as well as implementing the goals and objectives of the organisation. He has good interpersonal, communication, organisational, and customer-oriented skills. He is efficient under pressure, and works to ensure targets are met at set deadlines. The Vision of Genesis which is ‘Lighting up Africa …One community at a time’ has been put in motion by AOII through the various market defining projects he has led Genesis develop across Africa in the Power & Gas Sector and Oil Sectors.

AOII holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Economics from the University of Jos-Nigeria, a post graduate diploma in Strategy and Innovation from the Oxford University Saïd Business School, a certificate in Electricity Pricing and Modelling from the London Business School in the United Kingdom, and a certificate in International Oil Trading and Shipping from the Oxford-Princeton College in the United Kingdom.
AOII was listed amongst top 10 Most Influential Figures in the African Power Sectors for three years consecutively in 2014, 2015, and 2016, he was also nominated for a
Lifetime Achievement Award in the Power Sector of Africa at the African Utility Industry Awards in South Africa in 2016.

He serves on several globally recognized organizations including as Expert Advisor to the Oxford University SAID Business School’s Entrepreneurship Centre, as Advisory Board Member of the Global Thinkers Forum (UK), and he previously served on the Advisory Board of Shell Foundation (UK). He is invested with Honoris Causa Fellowship of the Certified Board of Administrators of Nigeria

Managing Director, Saipem Contracting Nigeria Ltd.

Walter Peviani

Walter has been Managing Director of Saipem Contracting Nigeria since mid-2019, following a decade of working across Saipem’s various commercial branches and departments in Europe and Africa. Walter brings considerable commercial, sales and business development experience across the energy value chain, and a strong understanding of local content dynamics in West Africa. Walter has a Master Degree in Chemical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano.

Operations Director and President of the Executive Board, IFP Training

Rémi Mouchel

Rémi Mouchel, 54 years old, received degrees in Geology from The Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Géologie in Nancy and in Geophysics from IFP School. He spent more than 25 years with Beicip-Franlab starting as software developer when the Company entered the E&P software market. His copybook career brought him to various commercial and management positions where he gained an international experience in key countries for Beicip-Franlab (Brazil, Libya, Malaysia, Russia, USA, and Venezuela). He became Director of E&P Software activity in October 2004, Consulting and Software Commercial Director in 2015 and was member of the Executive Committee until 2017.

He joined IFP Training, the IFP Group branch for life-long professional training, in 2017 as Director E&P. Since July 2019, he has been appointed as Director of Operations and Chairman of the Executive Board.

Regional CTO, Strategy & Innovation

Jovita Nsoh

With over 22 years of experience in the energy industry software,
Jovita has a deep business and technical expertise in complex
technology deployments, digital transformation for Oil and Gas
upstream, midstream and downstream value-chain, with special
emphasis in robotic process automation (RPO), artificial
intelligence (AI), predictive analytics, operations optimization, and
regulatory compliance. Jovita is obsessed about energy
transitions and in helping energy companies digitally transform
their operations to achieve competitive advantages in an ever
evolving, highly competitive, and highly regulated environment
that’s compounded by several market shocks and stresses.

Jovita holds an MBA, a Post Graduate Diploma from MIT and is
currently pursuing a PhD in computer science. Jovita is a member
of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), The
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and The
International Society of Automation (ISA). and holds several
industry certifications. Jovita is currently a Regional CTO for
Strategy & Innovation at Microsoft.

Founder & President, Energy Generation

Astria Fataki

Astria Fataki is a 28-year-old Franco-Congolese entrepreneur passionate about energy development in Africa. On a macro-economic level, she has been working since 2013 as a consultant on public-private partnerships to construct photovoltaic solar power plants. On a micro-economic level, she founded the pan-African Energy Generation organization in 2016 to develop business initiatives by young Africans in the energy industry. Astria has a Master’s degree in international public-sector management from Sciences Po Paris.

Global Head, Client Relations, Afreximbank

René Awambeng

Mr. Awambeng joined the African Export-Import Bank in December 2016 as Director Client Relations. He is an experienced international banker, with a successful track record in all aspects of structured trade, commercial and investment banking. He has considerable expertise in structured trade and commodity finance, cross border trade flows, risk management, sales, marketing, customer relationship, project finance, as well as general banking management in both Francophone, Anglophone and Lusophone Africa. He is a regular commentator on current trends in Commodity Trade Finance, Regional business, African Trade and Infrastructure Development at international banking conferences and seminars.

Prior to joining Afreximbank, Mr. Awambeng worked for 4 years as the Group Head of Global Corporates, Regional Corporates, and Commodity Finance, Corporate & Investment Bank, Ecobank Transnational Inc. based in Paris, France and Lagos, Nigeria and London. Prior to this, he was Executive Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Ecobank Rwanda for 2 years and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Ecobank Democratic Republic of Congo for 2 years.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts from University of Yaoundé, Cameroon and an MBA from University of Nottingham Business School, Nottingham, UK. He is a member of The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), London, UK.

Former Oil Executive and Energy Consultant

Abongwa Ndumu

Partner and Executive Director – Upstream, Cayo Energy LP

Robert Erlich

Bob Erlich began his career with Amoco in New Orleans in 1980, working on domestic US and Latin American projects as a junior geologist. He moved to Amoco’s Houston International office in 1987 as a senior geologist and progressed through positions as a senior field geologist, technical team leader, and as Regional Geologist for northern Latin America and the Caribbean. Bob joined Burlington Resources in 1999 and was named General Manager for Peru, where he led technical and operational programs that resulted in the discovery of several major oil and gas fields. He returned to BP in 2006 to head their New Ventures exploration efforts in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in 2008, was named Corporate Vice President of Exploration for Petrolifera Petroleum Limited, a Canadian independent with operations in Peru, Colombia, and Argentina. In 2011 he moved to Hess Corporation as a senior advisor to the Senior Vice President of Exploration, and in 2012 moved to PanAtlantic Exploration Company, where he served as President and CEO from 2014 until his retirement in 2016. In January 2019, Bob was elected to the Board of Directors of Colombian junior oil Selva Energy. Bob is currently a partner and Executive Director, Upstream for Cayo Energy L.P., an oil and gas consulting service specializing in the assessment and evaluation of upstream and midstream projects and investments. During his career, Bob has worked assignments in a number of countries, including the US, Trinidad and Tobago, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, the United Kingdom, and the People’s Republic of China. Bob received his BS degree in Geology from the University of Miami, his MS degree in Sedimentology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his PhD in Paleoceanography from Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He has published extensively on the geology of Latin America and the Caribbean, and has significant experience exploring Cretaceous depositional systems of the Equatorial Atlantic margins.

Vice President – Africa, ION

Folarin Lajumoke

Folarin is currently Vice President Africa at ION. ION is a service company, which focuses on providing powerful data-driven solutions to the oil and gas industry. He has approximately 20 years work experience spanning both oil and gas and investment banking. More recently and in his current role he has acted as commercial lead, negotiator and project developer for multiple upstream projects across Africa covering Mauritania, Morocco, Ghana, Mozambique, Kenya, Angola and Nigeria to name a few. In addition to being pivotal to African new business development and strategy for his firm he has been involved over the years in various forms in structuring new deals and advising companies on their exploration and A&D strategy at ION as well as Polarcus and TGS.

His previous roles include an Associate role at investment bank Goldman Sachs as well as technical roles as a geophysicist at CGG and Shell. His broad skill sets and knowledge in energy, African business and diplomacy in addition to his unique experience within financial services gas developed him into an all rounded professional with unique technical acumen and business skills. He holds an MSc with a Distinction in Taught Course in Marine Geoscience from the University of Wales, a Post Graduate Degree in Global Business from Said Business School and a BSc in Applied Geophysics.

Folarin is a Fellow of the distinguished Royal Geological Society of London and an Executive Committee member of the Nigeria Associate of Petroleum Explorationists. He is also an Associate of the Chartered Securities and Investments Institute and Jesus College, Oxford.

Executive Chairman & Founder, Raise Africa Investments

Nosizwe Nokwe-Macamo

Nosizwe is an accomplished and result driven Business Leader with success in leading strategy and directing substantial operations and projects. She has an in depth understanding of global oil and gas markets. With her strong focus on economic empowerment she uses her technical and commercial acumen to influence change and to drive local content solutions within the industry.

Nosizwe is the Founding Owner of Raise Africa Investments a business which focuses on Investment in niche manufacturing companies with growth potential. She also provides Strategic Advisory services, adding value to companies in the Oil and Gas Industry on the African continent.

Passionate about the development of businesses, skills and capacity in the Oil Industry, Nosizwe has established partnerships with international companies to collaborate in the capacitation of skills in the Petroleum industry on the continent.

Nosizwe, one of the first African female Petrochemical Engineers in South Africa, has worked for more than 2 decades in the Oil and Gas Industry. Her experience and expertise in the petroleum and energy industry spans across several countries on the African continent during which she has been in the leadership of numerous key portfolios , projects and operations across the petroleum value chain: upstream, midstream and downstream in major oil and gas companies.

Her Corporate Governance knowledge has seen her serve both as Non-Executive Director and as an Executive Director on the boards of Oil , Gas , DFIs and other major companies ,bringing in depth understanding, value and transformation to each of those organisations on whose Board she has served.

Her experience in multilateral stakeholder engagements including international activities has seen her being engaged with the United Nations Commission for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on a very pivotal project for natural resource management on the African continent.

She was invited by United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) to participate in the Expert Group Meeting on Petrochemical Clusters for IGAD member states.

An eloquent influencer, she has been a participant in various oil and gas thought leadership fora. Her papers are always themed on Growth of the petroleum industry on the African continent for the benefit of the continent.

Nosizwe is an award winning and well accomplished business authority. .Her passion for development and building enterprises has earned her the accolade of “Excellence in Business” – Women in Energy in Africa.

She was the recipient of the “Female Business Personality “Award in 2013.
In 2009 she was a finalist in South Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government Award in the government category. She was also was the recipient of the Top Female Leader of Tomorrow Award in 2005.

Nosizwe is an Alumni of Moscow State University of Oil and Gas Russia (MSc Petrochemical Engineering 1990),
Baku Oil and Gas Academy Azerbaijan (Diploma Oil and Gas Refining 1984),
INSEAD (International Management Certificate – 2003), GIBS (Global Executive Development Programme – 2004) and WITS(Certificate in Finance and Accounting-2004)

CEO, Afara Solutions

Rachelle Yayi

Mrs. YAYI is a dedicated social activist, a devoted agent of change and an esteemed businesswoman. Rachelle Yayi began her career as an analyst with Morgan Stanley before pursuing her career as an auditor with Ernst & Young LLP. After cumulating a decade of experience in IT auditing and compliance with multinational companies in various sectors (Citibank, Canon, Fujitsu, Agropur, etc.), Rachelle YAYI returned to Benin to devote herself to the development of her home country in 2012 and launched Afara Solutions.

From 2013 to 2016, Rachelle worked as a special assistant and advisor to the former President of the Republic of Benin, H.E. Boni YAYI. During her time in the President’s cabinet, Rachelle focused on the political communication on social media as well as identifying and securing opportunities to accomplish the President’s vision, mission and strategic agenda. She handled special and sensitive projects as assigned by the President and worked closely with him in support of issues like women and youth empowerment in Benin and across Africa.

Ms. YAYI holds an Associate degree in Computer Information Systems, a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baruch College, a Master of Sciences in Information Technology Management from HEC Montréal and is currently working on her Doctorate of Business Administration at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom. She is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) as well as Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC). Rachelle also graduated from the Emerging Leaders program at Harvard University (Harvard Kennedy School).

Rachelle Yayi is also the co-founder of the firm Strategies & Solutions Consulting specialized in strategy management and the resolution of complex organizational problems in Côte d’Ivoire (West Africa).

Rachelle YAYI is a Chevalier of the National Order of Benin and a proud mother of three children.

Managing Director, Jagal Energy.

Jorg Kohnert

Jorg worked for Shell International EP for 23 years across Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Subsequently, he held positions as General Manager in Glencore, Cameroon; Managing Director of Addax, Gabon; Chief Operating Officer and President of Green Dragon Gas Limited, China and several interim roles as Managing Director or COO in recent years.

Jorg trained as a Petroleum Engineer, is multi-lingual, with a solid technical/commercial background and first hand experience in differing cultural environments, particularly in West Africa and Nigeria. He is currently Managing Director of Jagal Energy and Nigerdock, based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Jorg is married with 2 sons.

Executive Chairman &; Founder, Raise Africa Investments (Pty) Ltd

Nosizwe Nokwe-Macamo

Nosizwe is an accomplished and result driven Business Leader with success in leading strategy and directing substantial operations and projects. She has an in depth understanding of global oil and gas markets. With her strong focus on economic empowerment she uses her technical and commercial acumen to influence change and to drive local content solutions within the industry.

Nosizwe is the Founding Owner of Raise Africa Investments a business which focuses on Investment in niche manufacturing companies with growth potential. She also provides Strategic Advisory services, adding value to companies in the Oil and Gas Industry on the African continent.

Passionate about the development of businesses, skills and capacity in the Oil Industry, Nosizwe has established partnerships with international companies to collaborate in the capacitation of skills in the Petroleum industry on the continent.

Nosizwe, one of the first African female Petrochemical Engineers in South Africa, has worked for more than 2 decades in the Oil and Gas Industry. Her experience and expertise in the petroleum and energy industry spans across several countries on the African continent during which she has been in the leadership of numerous key portfolios , projects and operations across the petroleum value chain: upstream, midstream and downstream in major oil and gas companies.

Her Corporate Governance knowledge has seen her serve both as Non-Executive Director and as an Executive Director on the boards of Oil , Gas , DFIs and other major companies ,bringing in depth understanding, value and transformation to each of those organisations on whose Board she has served.

Her experience in multilateral stakeholder engagements including international activities has seen her being engaged with the United Nations Commission for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on a very pivotal project for natural resource management on the African continent.

She was invited by United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) to participate in the Expert Group Meeting on Petrochemical Clusters for IGAD member states.

An eloquent influencer, she has been a participant in various oil and gas thought leadership fora. Her papers are always themed on Growth of the petroleum industry on the African continent for the benefit of the continent.

Nosizwe is an award winning and well accomplished business authority. .Her passion for development and building enterprises has earned her the accolade of “Excellence in Business” – Women in Energy in Africa.

She was the recipient of the “Female Business Personality “Award in 2013.
In 2009 she was a finalist in South Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government Award in the government category. She was also was the recipient of the Top Female Leader of Tomorrow Award in 2005.

Nosizwe is an Alumni of Moscow State University of Oil and Gas Russia (MSc Petrochemical Engineering 1990),
Baku Oil and Gas Academy Azerbaijan (Diploma Oil and Gas Refining 1984),
INSEAD (International Management Certificate – 2003), GIBS (Global Executive Development Programme – 2004) and WITS(Certificate in Finance and Accounting-2004)

President, Royal Triangle Energy Solutions.

Eric.A Williams

A geoscientist and former Minister for Energy in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (2002–2005), Eric Anthony Williams has over 30 years experience in the petroleum and minerals exploration industries. As a skilled international negotiator with considerable executive management experience, Mr. Williams heads Royal Triangle Energy Solutions Limited as its Principal Consultant and President.

Williams started his energy career at the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries (where he would later return as Minister) and later at the Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago where he was involved in prospect generation, regional velocity, and geophysical studies and technical support. Graduating to the post of Processing Centre Manager for the then Western Geophysical Division of Baker Hughes, Trinidad Office, he managed a team of data processing professionals and trained local seismic data processors and technicians.

Before branching out into the international world of energy, Williams put his skill and knowledge to the ultimate test. He became the Chief Executive Officer of his own seismic data brokerage and seismic data interpretation firm from 1999–2002. Within this period he provided consultancy services for domestic and international oil companies operating within Trinidad and Tobago.

During his tenure as Energy Minister (2002–2006), Mr. Williams successfully led the restart of the negotiations of the Treaty Agreement for the exploration of cross border maritime petroleum reserves with Venezuela. He also championed a Local Content Committee to develop the country’s first Local Content Policy. This policy guided strategies to encourage the adoption of local content initiatives by international oil companies operating in Trinidad & Tobago. He also oversaw the power generation activities in the country.

His ministerial stewardship also saw the following accomplishments:

Increased industrial natural gas consumption from 1855 million standard cubic feet per day (mmcfd) to more than 4000 mmcfd.
The expansion of the LNG industry from three trains with a capacity of 9.6 million tonnes per annum to four trains collectively producing 15.2 million tonnes per annum.
An increase in investment in the natural gas downstream sector with the coming on stream of two ammonia and three methanol plants.
From 2009–2011, Williams served as Country Manager at a publicly listed (FTSE) independent exploration and production oil company, African Energy Resources Company Limited (AFREN) in Nigeria. A modest-sized company boasting a production of approximately 20,000 barrels of oil per day. 
From 2011–2013, Williams served as the Vice President West Africa Operations and later as President for the Africa Division of Prospectiuni S.A. There, he was largely responsible for business development and the management of mineral exploration in seven licensed areas in Senegal. 
Throughout his career as an energy expert, Williams has presented several papers, served on panels and delivered keynote addresses at several international oil and gas summits. Some of these meetings include the IBC 5th Annual Caribbean Conference in Trinidad and Tobago in 2005, Global Education and Training for Energy (GETENERGY) Houston, Texas, USA in 2005, Energy and Security in Abuja Nigeria 2005, LNG Leadership Conference Houston, Texas USA 2005, Corporate Council on Africa 8th Biennial US-Africa Business Summit Washington D.C. USA 2011, and the CWC Group Mozambique Gas Summit, Maputo Mozambique 2013. 
He offers in-depth insights into the Trinidad and Tobago Model of petroleum development and is also passionate about sharing with others how these learnings could be adapted and applied to leverage their own natural resources for increased shareholder value and sustainable socio-economic growth. 
In short, Williams is a critical thinker who is passionate about how countries can use their natural petroleum and mineral resources as a growth catalyst for increased shareholder value and nationwide sustainable development.

General Manager – Africa, Pioneer Energy

Ann Norman

Ann Norman, a business executive with years of experience working in the energy and oil and gas sectors in across Africa. She currently lives in Nigeria, where she works with oil and gas producers across the continent to drive greater penetration of gas to market. As General Manager for Africa at Pioneer Energy, her primary goal was to assist oil and gas companies eliminate and monetize their associated gas flares through the advent and introduction of Midstream on Demand to African markets. The lack of midstream options for offtake of products lead her to found Midstream Africa.

Additionally, Ms. Norman has significant experience directing investments into Sub-Saharan African economies across various sectors which include not only oil and gas (midstream and upstream), but agriculture, infrastructure, banking, hotels, the airline industry and renewable energy.

Ms. Norman is a veteran of Wall Street Investor Relations (IR). She was a Vice President at Coltrin & Associates, an international IR firm based in NYC. Her focus was on merger and acquisitions, IPOs, Leveraged Buyouts and private placement fundraises. Projects she lead include GE Healthcare’s acquisition of Intermountain Health Care’s Electronic Medical Records (the first ever EMR to be developed), the IPO of Burger King, Cosmedicine’s startup and launch to the international luxury beauty market through backing by LVMH, and a $200 million private sector placement to finance the for-profit UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) Sub Saharan Africa Microfinance Initiative.

Prior to her time in the oil and gas space, Ms. Norman worked at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in post-conflict Sierra Leone, where she was seconded to the Head of State’s Office, President Tejan Kabbah. She held positions as the Deputy Minister of Information, Spokesperson to the President, and she served as a technical advisor from the Office of the President, who hired Anadarko to do the first ever explorations for oil in the offshore waters of Sierra Leone, which proved fruitful in December 2006.

Early on in her career, she was a founding member of ONEWORLD Software Solutions, a software consulting firm. She headed up investor relations and the development of the company culture. ONEWORLD built technology solutions for clients in the emerging Fin Tech space, and their market spanned the globe. The company was acquired by Microsoft in 2002. This experience and the lessons learned were invaluable for Ms. Norman, and the lessons learned have been a defining and driving force throughout her career.

Ms. Norman is a graduate of Utah State University, with a Bachelor of Arts in History. She has lived and worked in France, Jordan, China, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, The United States and Nigeria. She is fluent in French.

Former CEO, OneLNG and former COO, Perenco.

Jeff Goodrich

Morocco Country Director, Chariot Oil & Gas

Pierre Raillard

Mr. Raillard has more than 25 years of operational and management experience with over 15 years in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Pierre was instrumental to the success of the Songo Songo Gas Development and Power Generation Project in Tanzania and has managed successfully the development of the Company upstream and downstream natural gas business through his successive roles as Country Director, Vice President Operations and subsequently Vice President Infrastructure for Orca Exploration Group until end of 2011. During that time, Pierre has also served as Director of the Company.

Subsequently, he took the role of Director West Africa for African Petroleum Corp. between 2012 and 2017 where he managed 10 Production Sharing Contracts and Government relationships in 5 countries (Senegal, The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra – Leone and Ivory Coast). More recently Pierre was Director Africa for OneLNG (a Joint Venture between Schlumberger and Golar created to develop stranded gas assets via FLNG technology) between 2017 and 2018. After having joined Orca again in 2019 as Head of Business Development for a short period, Pierre has now embarked on a new challenge as Morocco Country Director for Chariot, the Africa focused transition energy company with a view of moving forward the development of the Anchois gas discovery for the domestic markets.

Pierre has spent his early career in several locations such as Argentina, the USA, Turkey, Monaco and France for Total Austral, Perenco and SBM Offshore. He holds a MSc in Chemistry from the Institut National Polytechnique of Toulouse (INP – ENSIACET) and a MSc in General Management from the Aix – Marseille Graduate School of Management (Institut d’Administration des Entreprises) in France.