Speakers | Centre for Energy Transition | The University of Aberdeen

Speakers

Paul Goodfellow
Upstream Director UK & Ireland, Shell

Paul joined Shell in Holland in 1991 after receiving a B.Eng. in Mining Engineering and a Ph.D. in Rock Mechanics. He worked in the mining industry in South Africa and Finland prior to joining Shell. He has worked in a variety of Wells related roles throughout the Group. In 2000, Paul was assigned to Shell Exploration & Production Company (SEPCO) as the Operations Manager for Deepwater Drilling and Completions and in August of 2003 he took up the role of Wells Manager for the Americas Region. He was named Venture Manager for North America Onshore in July 2008 and in September 2009 he moved into the role of Vice President Development, Onshore for Upstream Americas. In January 2013 Paul was appointed Vice President Unconventionals for Upstream Americas. He is a Chartered Engineer and a member of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and SPE. Paul serves on the Board of Directors of Shell’s Bully Deepwater Drillship Joint Venture, and also on the Board of Directors of the Centre for Sustainable Shale Development. He was appointed member of the board of directors for Shell Midstream Partners on October 2014. Appointed Upstream Director UK & Ireland from 1st March 2015.

Professor Alex Kemp
University of Aberdeen

Alexander G. Kemp is currently Professor of Petroleum Economics and Director of Aberdeen Centre for Research in Energy Economics and Finance (ACREEF) at the University of Aberdeen.

For many years he has specialised in his research in petroleum economics with special reference to licensing and taxation issues and has published over 200 papers and books in this field. He was a specialist adviser to the UK House of Commons Select Committee on Energy from 1980 to 1992 and also in 2004 and 2009. From 1993 to 2003 he was a member of the UK Government Energy Advisory Panel. In May 1999, Professor Kemp was awarded the Alick Buchanan-Smith Memorial Award for personal achievement and contribution to the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry. Professor Kemp is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He was awarded the OBE in 2006 for services to the oil and gas industries. He was a Member of the Council of Economic Advisers to the First Minister of the Scottish Government from 2007 – 2011. In June 2011 Professor Kemp was appointed a member of the Scottish Energy Advisory Board to the Scottish Government. He has written The Official History of North Sea Oil and Gas which was published in 2011 in 2 volumes. In March 2012 Professor Kemp received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Society of Petroleum Engineers Offshore Achievements Awards ceremony. In September 2013 Professor Kemp was appointed a member of the Independent Oil and Gas Expert Commission by the Scottish Government. Its report was published in July 2014. In June 2015 Professor Kemp received a Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the “Press and Journal” Gold Awards event. In November 2015 Professor Kemp was appointed by the New Zealand Government to be a member of its Petroleum Resource Allocation Advisory Group.

Gunther Newcombe
Director, Exploration and Production
Oil and Gas Authority

Gunther joined OGA on June 1st 2015 from Indonesia where he was President and CEO of VICO, a joint venture upstream business owned by BP and ENI focused on both conventional onshore oil and gas and coal bed methane. Gunther is a graduate of Manchester University and started his 35 year career with BP as a geologist. Assignments followed in London, Germany, China, Aberdeen, Norway, Indonesia, Houston and Venezuela. In the UK North Sea, Gunther’s leadership roles have included operating an FPSO in the Atlantic Frontier, running BP’s onshore terminals and pipeline business and finally as VP Decommissioning for BP. Gunther is married with four children and based in Aberdeen.

Greg Gordon, University of Aberdeen

Greg Gordon joined the School of Law as a lecturer in 2004 after a period working in Aberdeen and London as a solicitor specialising in litigation, primarily in the oil and gas sector. He became a senior lecturer in 2011.

Mr Gordon is co-Director (with Prof Paterson) of the Aberdeen University Centre for Energy law, of the LLM Programme in Oil and Gas Law and of Aberdeen University's involvement in the North Sea Energy Law Programme.

Mr Gordon’s principal teaching and research interests are in energy law (particularly upstream oil and gas law), delict/tort and commercial contracting.

Mr Gordon is the General Editor of the Stair Memorial Encyclopedia, a Trustee of the TB Smith Memorial Trust and a local committee member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators.

John Pearson
Group President, Northern Europe & CIS
AMEC-FOSTER-WHEELER

With a degree in Engineering from Aberdeen University, John joined AMEC in 1990. Over the last 26 years, John’s roles have included Engineering, Project, Business Improvement and HSSE Management.

In recent times John has managed AMEC’s Europe and West Africa region plus led the Projects and Asset Support business streams globally.

In 2013 John moved to look after AMEC’s European Business; this included 10,000 people working in Oil & Gas (Brownfield and Greenfield), Environment & Infrastructure, Clean Energy (Nuclear, conventional and Renewable Power) and Transmission & Distribution divisions.

Following AMEC’s combination with Foster Wheeler, on 1 January 2015, John took up the role of Group President for the ‘Northern Europe and CIS’ business.

John is immediate past co-chair of Oil & Gas UK.

Prior to joining AMEC, John worked with Chevron and has lived and worked in the UK, USA and Caspian Regions.

John currently lives in Aberdeen with his wife and their two children. John’s interests include skiing, cycling, tennis and running.

Graeme Young
Partner, CMS

Graeme is a partner specialising in all aspects of EU and UK competition law. He has over 15 years’ experience advising companies on competition law aspects of all forms of commercial agreements, joint ventures and other strategic partnerships. This includes advising on merger control and obtaining regulatory approvals for transactions from competition authorities across the world. Based in London, Graeme is a dual-qualified solicitor (qualified to practice in Scotland and in England & Wales). Graeme studied law at Aberdeen University before completing an LL.M in European Law at the College of Europe, Bruges. He trained with the Solicitor to the Secretary of State for Scotland before moving to Brussels in 1998. After a ‘stage’ at the European Commission he worked in private practice until 2001 when he transferred to London. He is a committee member and former Chair of the Competition Section of the Law Society of England & Wales and a member of the Steering Committee of the Scottish Competition Forum. With a reputation for giving practical commercial advice on complex competition and regulatory issues Graeme is described as being "impressively focused on getting the right result for the client" (Chambers UK).