Speakers

Confirmed Speakers

Moderators

Michał Gołębiowski

Deputy Director of Department of Strategic Projects, Ministry of Treasury, Poland

- Deputy Director, Department of Strategic Projects in the Ministry of Treasury
- in charge of shale gas matters

Responsible for ownership supervision of the strategic oil and gas companies, as well as coordination and monitoring of key investments in this sector (among others: LNG Regasification Terminal in Świnoujście), analysing of market environment and government and EU energy policy.

Neoklis Sylikiotis

Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Cyprus

Mr. Neoklis Sylikiotis was appointed Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism by the President of the Republic of Cyprus on the 20th of March 2012. Mr. Sylikiotis served as Minister of Interior since the 29th of February 2008 and had previously held the same post from September 2006 to July 2007 in the Council of Ministers of the late President Tassos Papadopoulos.

As Minister of Interior, Mr Sylikiotis promoted a wide range of reforms which include the radical reform of Local Self-government, the drafting of new town planning and housing policy with the introduction of new strategies to the Development Plans in order to implement social and economic policy, the modernisation of public administration and simplification of administrative processes, as well as important institutional changes that strengthen the principles of transparency, good administration and participatory democracy.

In December 2010, Mr Sylikiotis was elected as a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the AKEL political party and in 1995 as a member of the Central Committee. From 1995 and until assuming office for his first tour of duty as Minister of Interior, he was employed as a full-time official of the Central Committee, as head of the party Educational Bureau and member of the Cyprus Education Council. He also served as a member of the AKEL International Relations Bureau, of the AKEL Rapprochement Bureau and as a member of the Secretariat of the Central Organisational Bureau of the party.

After completing his studies and upon his return to Cyprus in 1987 he worked for the United Democratic Youth Organisation (EDON), initially as head of its Student and International Relations Department and subsequently as its Central Organising Secretary.

From 1988 to 1991 he served as General Secretary of the Pancyprian Federation of Student Unions (POFEN).

Mr Sylikiotis studied Mechanical Engineering at Aachen Polytechnic in Germany. During his studies he was highly involved with the student movement. He was one of the pioneers in the founding of the Cypriot Students Association of Aachen and of the Federation of the Cypriot Students Associations in Germany, of which he served as President.

Mr Sylikiotis was born in Lemesos (Limassol) on 24 January 1959. He is married to Adoula Ioannou and they have a son.

Niki Tzavela MEP

Rapporteur for the ITRE Committee's report on 'Industrial, energy and other aspects of shale gas and oil', European Parliament

Vice-Chair
Delegation for relations with the United States

Member
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy
Delegation for relations with Israel

Substitute
Committee on Development
Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee
Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees, and for relations with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia
Delegation for relations with Iran
Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China
Delegation for relations with India

Curriculum vitae (The MEP is solely responsible for the information published)
- B.S. Industrial Psychology, Howard University, Washington DC (1972), Labour Economics, Leeds University, G.B. Masters of Science
- Head of the Greek Manpower Employment Organisation (OAED) (1989-1993); Vice-Chair of the Foundation for the Rehabilitation of Albanians of Greek Descent; Vice-Chair of the Intracom Company; Vice-Chair of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games Organising Committee (OEOA); Vice-Chair of the Kokkalis Foundation; International development adviser for the ANTENNA network.
- New Democracy Member elected throughout the country (1994-1996).
- Member of the board of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Boston Massachusetts (1998-2009).
- Honorary Member of the Arab International Women's Forum (from 2004).
- American Field Service, Eisenhower Foundation OECD and Adenauer Foundation scholarships.

Bogusław Sonik MEP

Rapporteur for the ENVI Committee's report on 'the environmental impacts of shale gas and shale oil extraction activities', European Parliament

Vice-Chair
Committee on Budgetary Control

Member
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Delegation for relations with Iran

Substitute
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Special committee on organised crime, corruption and money laundering
Delegation for relations with the countries of Central America
Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly

Curriculum vitae (The MEP is solely responsible for the information published)
- Master's in law and administration, Jagiellonian University (1978).
- Journalist for Tygodnik Powszechny and the Znak publishing house (1982-1984). Correspondent: RFI, BBC, RWE, Deutsche Welle (1983-1989). Director of the Polish Institute in Paris and minister plenipotentiary at the embassy of the Republic of Poland in France (1990-1996). Director of the Festival Bureau for 'Kraków 2000 - European City of Culture' (1996-2002). Director of the Promotion Department of Kraków City Council (2003-2004). Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Provincial Environmental Protection and Water Management Foundation (2002-2004).
- Founder of the Solidarność Students' Committee (1977). Vice-Chairman of the Solidarność Executive for the Małopolskie region (1980-1982).
- President of the Małopolskie Provincial Assembly (1998-2002).
- Member of the Małopolskie Provincial Council and President of the Małopolskie Provincial Assembly (1998-2004). Chairman of the Environmental Protection Committee of the Małopolskie Provincial Assembly (2002-2004).
- Member of the European Parliament (EPP-ED) (since 2004).
- Member of the Association of European Cities and Regions for Culture and of the Assembly of European Regions (2000-2004). Member of the Presidium of the Association of European Cities and Months of Culture (2001-2004).
- Chairman of the May 77 Association (since 2002).
- Knight of the Order of Art and Literature. Order of Merit for Polish Culture. Kraków 2000 - European City of Culture, silver medal. Małopolskie Province medal of merit.

Marie Donnelly

Director, Renewables, Research and Innovation, Energy Efficiency, DG Energy, European Commission

1. Currently working with the European Commission, in the Directorate General for Energy as Director, New and renewable sources of energy, energy efficiency and innovation, responsible for:
- The development of the policy and actions on energy efficiency supporting the achievement of the target of 20% energy savings by 2020, including the implementation of legislative requirements for buildings, ecodesign and labelling, as well as concrete actions supporting energy saving;
- The development of policies and actions leading to the achievement of the EU 20% target for renewable energy (20% share of energy from renewable sources by 2020 and a 10% share of renewable energy specifically in the transport sector);
- Coordination of the research actions in the field of energy including the development of technologies and innovative solutions for low carbon technologies leading to their widespread market take-up (European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan));
- Actions aiming at supporting the achievement of the 20-20-20 targets - 20 % greenhouse gases, 20 % better energy efficiency, and a 20 % share of renewables - through the Program “Intelligent Energy - Europe”, in co-operation with “the executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation.

2. Previously was working with the European Commission, in the Employment and Social Affairs Directorate General as Director, Resources and Communication, responsible for:
- Management of the strategic planning and work programming of the DG, budget preparation and execution (10% of Community budget); human resource management (recruitment, deployment ad training);
- responsible for the design and implementation of communication policies for both the corporate DG as well as policy areas;
- provision of informatic support for all activities of the DG.

3. Previously Head of units: ESF Policy, Coordination; EQUAL Community Initiative, including
- policy development and horizontal coordination of ESF activities within DG EMPL including the establishment of policy options for the reform of the ESF and the Structural Funds;
- developing a coherent policy for employment development within the European Employment Strategy, building on existing Commission initiatives and experience;

4. Earlier Head of unit within the same DG Equality for women and men, which included
- Responsibility for the Community Framework Strategy, mainstreaming in all policy areas and institutions;
- Legislation on equal treatment and non discrimination (based on sex).

5. Earlier worked in the Directorate General for Enterprise in the area of Industrial policy in Pharmaceuticals - Human and veterinary medicinal products.

6. Immediately prior to joining the Commission, worked as Industry Group Director with the Federation of Irish Chemical Industries in Dublin, Ireland.

Tristan Aspray

Europe Exploration Operations Manager, ExxonMobil

Trıstan Aspray was educated ın England, receivıng a Bachelors Degree ın Geological Sciences from Cambridge University in 1992 and a Masters Degree ın Basin Evolution and Dynamics from London Unıversity in 1993.

Tristan joined Esso Exploration and Production UK Limited in 1994 as a Petroleum Geologist, working on Central North Sea fields. In subsequent assignments he has worked on exploration and development projects in the Gulf of Mexico, Egypt, Vietnam and Russıa. In 2008 he became an Upstream Advisor to ExxonMobil's Management Committee in Dallas, Texas. Tristan was then seconded into XTO Energy, a major producer of unconventional gas in the United States whıch was acquired by ExxonMobil in 2010.

Tristan assumed his current role of Europe Exploration Operations Manager in September 2011, and is based ın Leatherhead, in the UK. He ıs married and his interests include hikıng, cycling and wildlife photography.

Dale E. Ryan

Director, Chevron Bulgaria Exploration & Production EOOD

Mr. Ryan is a native of Wisconsin, U. S. A. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Geology.

Mr. Ryan joined Texaco in 1980 as an Exploration Geologist in Midland, Texas and has been with Chevron for over 32 years. He has subsequently held various technical, planning, operations, business development, natural gas commercialization and management positions with Chevron.

He has lived and worked in a variety of locations around the globe including: Texas, New York and California in the US; Angola; Nigeria; Colombia; Trinidad; Venezuela; Indonesia; Libya; Kuwait; and is currently serving as Director and Country Manager of Chevron Bulgaria E&P EOOD based in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Sergei Komlev

Head of Contract Structuring and Price Formation Directorate, Gazprom Export

Sergei Komlev is Head of Contract Structuring and Price Formation Directorate in Gazprom Export, the trade arm of the Russia’s major gas company Gazprom.

Sergei Komlev is in charge of contract structuring and corporate price policy formation.

In his previous experience in the consulting and equity research business he worked on a variety of energy assignments encompassing natural gas, electricity, oil, and financing matters both in the Russian market and internationally.

Prior to joining Gazprom Export he worked as Director of the Moscow office of international energy consultant Pace Global Energy Services. Formerly, he was an Area Expert with the Economist Intelligence Unit and a Senior Analyst with the brokerage company United Financial Group.

Mr Komlev has a PhD from the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.

Carina Vopel

Head of Unit, Strategy, DG Environment, European Commission

Carina Vopel was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1969. She studied economics at the Sorbonne University in Paris from where she graduated in 1994. She joined the European Commission in 1996, first employed by the Enterprise & Industry Department. She moved to the Environment Directorate General in 2003, specialising in environmental communication and awareness raising. She took up the position of Deputy Head of Unit in charge of Communication and Governance in 2006. From mid-2010 Carina Vopel has been actively involved in resource efficiency policy development ("Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe" adopted in September 2011). She is heading the DG Environment "Chief Economist, Impact Assessment & Evaluation" Unit since October 2011, in charge of economic analysis. Her areas of responsibility include the coordination of Resource Efficiency policy implementation and the environmental impacts of shale gas.

Alexander Antonyuk

Senior Energy Analyst, International Energy Agency

Alexander works at the Gas, Coal and Power Markets division of the IEA. Alexander undertakes the analysis of gas and electricity markets and policy developments with a special focus on supply-demand balance, capacity investments, supply security issues as well as the implications of climate policy for the gas and electricity systems. Alexander also manages projects on more in-depth econometric analysis of energy markets and analysis of energy sector of the Former Soviet Union countries.

Alexander is an econometrician and mathematician by training and holds PhD from the University of Oxford and BSc from Kiev University.

Brendan Devlin

Adviser, DG Energy, European Commission

Brendan Devlin is an Advisor in Directorate General for Energy.

At present, his major work focuses on the development of Caspian energy links with the European Union.

He has guided the negotiation and signature of the Nabucco intergovernmental agreement of 13 July 2009, worked on developing the EU Southern Gas Route Strategy and worked on investor protection issues in non-EU states.

Before 2007, he guided the negotiation, signature (in October 2005) and ratification of the Energy Community Treaty, the first multilateral treaty between the successor states of the ex-Yugoslavia, Albania and the European Union (and the first energy Treaty signed by the EU). Moldova and Ukraine have now joined the Treaty.

He began working in the Commission at the Directorate General for Competition leading major cases looking at the gas market in Germany and the North Sea. Then for three years, he worked as a note-taker at EU-US Summits.

By training, Mr Devlin is a lawyer and economist. He worked as a journalist before entering the Commission, writing in the UK national press and as an editor on a specialist political/economic journal. He has also worked in a Fortune 500 company and as teacher of political economy at the London School of Economics.

Mark Johnston

Senior Policy Adviser (Energy & Climate), WWF European Policy Office

Mark Johnston is a senior adviser on energy & climate issues in the WWF European policy team based in Brussels. He has worked in European affairs for ten years and is presently responsible for WWF’s work on power system policy issues in the EU institutions including, in particular the ‘upstream’ segments of generation and transmission, and related issues including gas supply.

Christian Egenhofer

Senior Fellow, Head of the Energy and Climate programme, CEPS

Christian Egenhofer has more than 20 years' experience working with EU institutions on numerous policy areas. Over the last decade he has been specialising in EU energy and climate change policy, with a particular focus on the EU energy, climate and transport policies. He is currently Senior Fellow and Head of the Energy, Climate and Environment Programme at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), a Brussels-based think tank. Christian is also Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium) and Natolin (Poland), SciencesPo (Paris/France) and LUISS University in Rome/Italy. From 1997 to 2010 he was Senior Research Fellow and Jean-Monnet Lecturer at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy at the University of Dundee in Scotland/UK (party-time).

Christian Egenhofer holds a Master's degree in Administration from the University of Konstanz as well as a Public Law degree.

Howard Rogers

Director, Natural Gas Research Programme, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies

Howard is the Director of the Natural Gas Research Programme at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

In 2010 he published a research paper on LNG arbitrage between the regional markets of Asia, Europe and North America.

In 2011 Howard co-authored a paper on the transition to hub-based pricing in Continental Europe with Professor Jonathan Stern and also published a paper on the long term gas supply and seasonal flexibility needs of the UK market and the impact of wind intermittency.

In January 2012 Howard published a paper examining the future potential for inter-regional gas price linkages under a range of scenarios.

Howard Rogers retired from BP in 2008 after a career of 29 years. Originally a Chemical Engineer by discipline, Howard spent much of his career in upstream oil and gas business development and strategy. This included postings to the US, Kuwait and Azerbaijan. His last post in BP was head of Fundamental Analysis, Global Gas.

Howard is based in Guildford, UK.,

Izabela Albrycht

Chairperson of the Board, The Kosciuszko Institute

Izabela Albrycht - is the Chairperson of the Board of the Kosciuszko Institute. A political scientist, she graduated from the Faculty of International and Political Studies at the Jagiellonian University and completed post-graduate studies in Public Relations at the Tischner European University in Cracow. She has completed a half-year internship in the European Parliament. She is an author and editor of numerous publications focusing on the EU institutional system and EU policies, including the energy policy. She is the editor of many publications prepared by the Kosciuszko Institute and has organized numerous press and scientific conferences in Poland and abroad.