2012 Speakers

H.E. Dr Mousa Ali Alhamdan Alzyoud
Director General, Natural Resources Authority (NRA), Jordan

Dr Alzyoud has played a leading role in restructuring the Natural Resources Authority by reviewing the legal, regulatory and institutional framework towards drafting new laws and an optimal structure. He has spearheaded the promotion of open blocks for oil & gas exploration for international oil companies and other projects including the Data Banking System and Online Data Room and various international bid rounds

Christoph Frei
Secretary General, World Energy Council, UK

Christoph Frei became the World Energy Council’s youngest Secretary General in April 2009. He has an assignment as Adjunct Professor and acts as Advisor to the President of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne and he is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Energy Security.

Before joining the World Energy Council, Frei was Senior Director, Energy Industries & Policy at the World Economic Forum (WEF) and a member of WEF’s Executive Council (2001-2009). Previously he held various positions as Research Fellow and Lecturer at Swiss Federal Technical Institutes in Zurich (CEPE/ETHZ), Lausanne (EPFL) and Würenlingen (PSI).

Frei’s work and publications cover fields including energy security, energy poverty, and urban innovation (http://people.epfl.ch/christoph.frei). He has initiated projects including EPFL’s Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels, the South Africa based Energy Access Partnership, or the World Economic Forum’s Partnering Against Corruption Initiative.

Thomas A. Sladek
Director, Ockham Energy Services, USA

Tom Sladek is a consulting engineer with degrees in chemical, metallurgical, and petroleum refining engineering. He started his first oil shale project in 1967 and has been involved with oil shale and other unconventional energy resources for more than 40 years. He was the project director and principal investigator for the Jordan Oil Shale Technical Assistance project, which was conducted in 2007-08 and is the subject of this paper.

Harri Mikk
Member Of The Management Board, Enefit, Estonia

Harri Mikk has been a Member of the Management Board of Enefit since 2006. As the Head of the Minerals, Oil and Biofuels Division, he is in charge of both oil shale mining as well as domestic and international oil shale development projects. These include the expansion project of Eesti Energia's oil industry as well as the shale oil and power production development project in Jordan. From 2001-2006, Harri Mikk was the General Counsel of Eesti Energia. Mr Mikk previously worked as the Domestic Policy Advisor to the President of the Republic of Estonia. From 1996-2000, he managed the Department of Private Law of the Estonian Ministry of Justice, where he was in charge of carrying out the reform of the Estonian private law system.

Andres Anijalg
Project Director

Andres Anijalg, Project Director, for Enefit´s Jordan oil shale projects since the projects were started in 2006. As the Project Director, Mr. Anijalg is responsible for developing both, the 40,000 bbl/d Shale Oil Production and the 600-900MW Direct Combustion Power Projects in Jordan. Mr. Anijalg is currently heading a team of ca 10 people with different professional backgrounds who are directly involved in the Jordan Project. Mr. Anijalg has also been heavily involved in other international oil shale development projects of Enefit (e.g Morocco, Egypt, China). From 1996 – 2006 Mr. Anijalg worked in the Financial Services sector, offering Private Banking Investment Solutions and heading the Investment Services Development Department at various Banking Corporations. Mr. Anijalg has experience in working for an international insurance corporation in Switzerland and for a chemical industry in Germany. Mr. Anijalg has a MBA degree from the University of Tartu, Estonia, and has been studying at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Ruslan Salikhov
Deputy Chief Engineer Designer, ATOMENERGOPROEKT, Russia

Ruslan Salikhov has 9 years experience at the Oil Shale Mining Company LENINGRADSLANETS as position of Deputy General Director on development, and since 2006 works as deputy chief engineer designer in ATOMENERGOPROEKT. His responsibilities include research, design and development of thermal power plants, nuclear power plants and oil shale processing plants all over the Worlds. The institute has been involved in the oil shale industry since 1950s and for today, a significant part of Estonian oil shale processing industry is based on ATOMENERGOPROEKT’s designs including oil shale firing power plants (Ahtme 45 MW, Estonian 1700 MW, and Baltic 1800 MW). All installations in Estonia based on the Galoter method were built by ATOMENERGOPROEKT’s designs: installation UTT-200 in Kiviyli since the 1950s, installation UTT-500 from 1963 till 1980, two installations UTT-3000 in Narva Oil Factory operating now as Enefit-140, and UTT-3000 on the site of Viru Keemia Group in Kohtla Jarve commissioned in 2009 and operating as Petroter.

Thomas Meijssen
General Manager, Jordan Oil Shale Company B.V. (JOSCO), Country Chair for Shell, Jordan.

Thomas graduated in Physics and Business Administration. He has been with Royal Dutch Shell for 28 years with postings in The Netherlands, Egypt, Syria, Gabon, Oman, and Nigeria. He has been Chief Reservoir Engineer in Oman, Gas Development Manager, Asset Development Manager and Non-Operated Ventures Manager in Nigeria and Value Assurance Consultant Global in The Netherlands. He has extensive experience in oil and gas field development in the Middle East and Africa.

Jeremy Boak
Director of the Center for Oil Shale Technology and Research (COSTAR), Colorado School of Mines, Colorado

Dr. Boak is a non-executive Board member of San Leon Energy. Before Mines, he was a project manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the U. S. Department of Energy Yucca Mountain Project. Before DOE, Boak was an exploration geologist at ARCO Oil and Gas, Inc. He received his B. S. M. S. and Ph. D. degrees from Harvard University, and an M. S. degree from the University of Washington, in Geological Sciences.

Nicky Spooner
Partner, Citrus Partners LCC, UK

Nicola has worked in the environment industry for 18 years with a focus on major project management and environmental and social impact assessment in the natural resources sector. Nicola has an MSc in Land Resources Management from the Cranfield Institute of Technology and a BA in Geography from Nottingham University. In the ESIA arena, Nicola has led a number of Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) studies helped to develop contractor environmental management plans, environmental permitting and environmental and social baseline studies. She has also conducted Equator Principles compliance reviews and assisted in the first appraisal of a mining project against the new IFC Performance Standards. She has significant experience in the mining sector and has worked for: Jordan Energy & Mining Ltd, Bisha Mining Share Company, Anglo American, Rio Tinto, European Nickel, Tournigan Gold Corporation, IMERYS, Lafarge Gypsum among others. She has also worked for a number of multilateral lending institutions and is familiar with the procedures of EBRD, the World Bank, IFC, DFID and CEB.

Mark Mackintosh
Partner, Citrus Partners LCC, UK

Mark is an accomplished environmental professional with over 15 years’ experience in environmental consultancy and direct experience in over 25 countries including Abu Dhabi, Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Jordan, and Turkey Mark has extensive experience of evaluating environmental and water resource issues and working with clients to develop strategies for managing their environmental liabilities. He has high-level experience undertaking environmental impact assessments against client or international standards such as those of EBRD, IFC, and Equator Principles and is skilled at developing environmental strategies for dealing with environmental issues, with specific skills in hydrogeological assessments. Much of his consultancy experience has included the preparation of environmental documents which have been relied on by international financial or corporate investors, and has followed international best practice such as World Bank guidelines.

Khosrow Biglarbigi
President of INTEK, Inc., USA

Khosrow has over 20 years experience in petroleum engineering, executive consulting, and management. He is experienced in oil shale project development with expertise in resource evaluation, technology assessment, economic analysis, and evaluation of alternative development options for commercialisation. He is also experienced in enhanced oil recovery, NODAL system analysis, gas lifting, reservoir characterization, horizontal wells, reservoir simulation, and reserves estimation. Mr. Biglarbigi is responsible for the operation of INTEK and manages the firm’s diverse team of geologists, engineers, economists, and energy analysts for all services to its public and private clients. Since 2005, he has been engaged in oil shale project developments in Jordan, Australia, and the United States, and he has led numerous related consulting engagements. Mr. Biglarbigi has authored numerous publications in oil & gas, and he was selected by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) as the 2009-2010 Distinguished Lecturer on the subject of oil shale. Mr. Biglarbigi holds a B.S. and a M.S. degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma (USA).

Chris Morgan
Chief Executive Officer, Jordan Energy and Mining

Chris Morgan has over 40 years' experience in the mining, energy and environmental sectors. This includes 20 years with Billiton International Metals (previously the metals arm of Shell) to operating company Managing Director level where he was involved in the operation and management of large open pit mining and processing operations in South America, Africa and latterly Central Asia with Western Mining Corporation.

Having held a succession of senior corporate and project management roles in coal, base and precious metals and Oil Shales, Chris incorporated a consultancy group specialising in the natural resources and energy sectors. This lead to advisory work in Jordan and ultimately to the formation of Jordan Energy and Mining.

Chris is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and holds an Honours degree in Mining Engineering and a Master's in Mineral Production Management.

Hazem M. Al-Ramini
Acting Director of Petroleum & Oil Shale Directorate and Head of Policies & Contracts Division, Natural Resources Authority, Jordan

Hazem is responsible for all studies of open hydrocarbon exploration blocks in Jordan, promotion of these exploration blocks and negotiations with international oil & gas and oil shale companies on lease terms including: following up company compliance during the Production Sharing Agreement and Oil Shale Concession Agreements with the Government of Jordan.

Izzat Ahmad Salman Abu Humra
Director, Licensing and Guidance Directorate, Ministry of Environment, Jordan

As Director, Licensing and Guidance Directorate, Izzat is responsible for management of the Environmental Impact Assessment, Licensing and Cleaner Production Sections, follow up, review and recommendations with the EIA for environmental approvals, managing the licensing process for projects, coordinating with other directorates for integrating the ministry’s work and contribution to environmental plans and regulation formulations.

Chris Nurse
Managing Director, Hart Group, UK

Chris Nurse studied law at Oxford University prior to joining the London practice of accountants Price Waterhouse where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. His wide range of assignments included restructuring, secondment to government and various accounting and consulting projects where he specialised in natural resource industries. In 1989 he set up the independent consultancy practice, Hart Group, where he has co-ordinated legal and financial aspects of due diligence work for investment and worked on a large number of major restructuring, natural resources regulatory reform projects, commercialisation and privatisation studies. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a Member of the Energy Institute.

Jamal Alali
General Manager, Aqaba Petroleum for Oil Shale Co, Jordan

By training, Dr Alali is a Mineral Processing Engineer & Mining Geologist in the field of industrial minerals. Dr Alali started his career with BSc Geology/ Geophysics from Baghdad University, MSc Mineral Exploration & Mining Geology and PhD in Mining and Mineral Processing Engineering from University of Nottingham/ UK. He has 25 year experience in the field of natural resources in assessing and evaluating industrial mineral and rocks for industrial applications, of which 7 years in the field of oil shale as source of energy. Previous positions include Technical Advisor to the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources-Jordan, Project Technical Manager & Coordinator of oil shale project at INCOSIN company and Chief Mining Geologist at the Mineral Investment Holding Company 1996-1998.

Roy Jackson
Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor, Centre for Green Chemistry, Monash University, Australia

Professor Jackson was the founding Director for the Centre of Green Chemistry at Monash University where currently holds a research professorship. He is a Fellow of the RACi, the Australian Institute of Energy and the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. He has published nearly 400 papers and patents and been awarded several prizes including a Centenary of Federation Medal for services to Applied Chemistry Professor Jackson’s main research areas have included: new asymmetric catalyst systems for organic synthesis, the structure and reactivity of brown coal and oil shale; new pharmaceutical development, biologically active compounds and new materials for optoelectronic devices. Recently, Professor Jackson has focused on the application of green chemistry principles in drug design and synthesis, and in the clean production of commercially important intermediates and energy resources.

Robert L. Kleinberg
Schlumberger Fellow, Schlumberger-Doll Research, USA

Robert L. Kleinberg has been employed by Schlumberger since 1980 and is a Schlumberger Fellow, one of less than a dozen who hold this rank in a workforce of more than 100,000. He has worked on geophysical applications of ultrasonics, electrical resistivity, nuclear magnetic resonance, and gravimetry. Recent activities include applied research on heavy oil, gas hydrate, gas shale, and oil shale reservoirs. He advises Schlumberger senior management on long-range planning, and has served on or advised several government and academic committees on energy policy, most recently the US Department of Energy Unconventional Resources Technology Advisory Committee. Dr. Kleinberg has published more than 100 academic and professional papers, holds 34 U.S. patents, and is the inventor of several geophysical instruments that have been commercialized on a worldwide basis.

Jaan Habicht
Academic Mentor, Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu, Estonia

Jaan Habicht has been working with retorted oil shale for last 8 years. Long before that he had academic career as a molecular biologist at University of Tartu and Estonian Academy of Sciences. Jaan Habicht got Estonian State Science Award in natural sciences in 1992. He has been the head of the board of Center of Applied Biotechnology and executive director of biotechnology development company “Estar”. His applied research interests today include use of spent shale chemistry in waste utilisation.

Aleksei Tsenter
Jordan Oil Project Manager, Enefit, Jordan

Aleksei Tsenter graduated from Tallinn Technical University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and later earned the MBA degree from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. Aleksei Tsenter worked in the financial department of the Coca-Cola Company, at a major Scandinavian bank, at Ernst & Young as an internal audit services leader, at a private company in power engineering industry as a business controller. He currently works as the Jordan Oil Project Manager at Enefit / Eesti Energia, and is the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of JOSE.

Erik Hansen
Senior Hydrogeologist, Shell International Exploration & Production Inc, USA

Erik Hansen is a hydrogeologist working for Shell International Exploration & Production, Inc. – Unconventional Oil in Houston, Texas, USA. He has a B.Sc. degree in geological engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and over 25 years experience in groundwater hydrology, soil and groundwater remediation, and risk assessment.

Tobias H. Andersen
Environmental Expert, Enefit, Estonia

Mr Andersen graduated from Technical University of Denmark with a degree in Environmental Engineering, and later published an article based on the findings during his master thesis*. Mr. Tobias H. Andersen worked as a RA specialist in Cheminova A/S and later as a RA Manager in Lundbeck A/S where he was responsible for getting marketing licenses approvals of the companies’ products in multiple countries around the world. He currently works as the Environmental Expert for the Jordan Oil and Power projects at Enefit / Eesti Energia.

*Tobias H. Andersen et. al: Acute and chronic effects of pulse exposure of Daphnia magna to dimethoate and pirimicarb, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (2006), Volume: 25, Issue: 5, Pages: 1187-1195

Raine Pajo
Member Of The Management Board, Enefit, Estonia

Mr Pajo has 14 years of experience in engineering and management in power industry. He has worked in various roles within transmission grid and was a member of the Management Board of Transmission, a director of the development department and a director of the electrical grid planning section. He has also worked for Fingrid (the Finnish TSO). Mr Pajo has a degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s degree and a Doctorate in Engineering from the Faculty of Power Engineering at Tallinn University of Technology. He also has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Tallinn University of Technology. Since 2006 Mr. Pajo is responsible for electricity and heat generation development in Eesti Energia.

Väino Puura
Professor, University of Tartu, Estonia

Puura has been a geologist in geological survey parties with Geological Survey of Estonia 1959-1979, head of department and research director with the Institute of Geology of the Estonian Academy of Sciences 1979-1997, Professor of geology of the Tartu University 1994-2000 and is currently Professor emeritus with additional consulting activities since 2000. Research in the field of regional geology of the Baltic Sea area, geology of phosphorite and oil shale basin of Estonia, and oil shale deposits of Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Uruguay etc. Puura graduated in 1959 at the University of Tartu, Estonia.

Indrek Aarna
Head of R&D, Enefit, Estonia

Indrek is responsible for development of Enefit retorting technology and shale oil upgrading technology for all Enefit shale oil development projects. Mr. Aarna graduated from Brown University and holds PhD in Chemistry.

Michael W. Lin
Senior Research Engineer, Unconventional Resources-Oil Shale, ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company

Michael Lin is a research engineer at ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company. He currently serves as team lead for lab and simulation activities in the oil shale section. Michael received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Tõnis Meriste
Environmental Development Manager, Enefit, Estonia

Tõnis Meriste is the Development Manager of Environmental department at Enefitand has been working in company 8 years. He is responsible for the whole group environmental activities including permitting, reporting, new developments environmental aspects, environmental policy making etc. He has previously been as managing director and leading expert in private sector on the field of hazardous waste management and pollution remediation. He is also today the CEO of Estonian Association for Environmental Management, member of the Council of Laboratory of Inorganic Materials of Tallinn University of Technology, member of the Estonian Waste Management Association etc. Tõnis Meriste graduated from Tallinn University of Technology in 1995 as engineer of chemical technology.

Helen Foster
PhD Student, University of Durham, UK

Helen Foster is a PhD student at the University of Durham currently studying in the Department of Earth Sciences, focused on Environmental Geochemistry. She is researching the optimisation of the use of spent oil shales, and is sponsored by Jordan Energy and Mining Limited (JEML). Helen is also a member of the Geochemical Reclamation of Industrial Minerals and Elements (GRIME) research group, contributing to published work in the Materials World magazine (Jan 2012). Helen earned a Master in Science degree in Natural Sciences (Chemistry and Earth Sciences), with First Class Honours, also at the University of Durham (2006-2010).

Anton R. Dammer
President, ARD Resources Ltd, USA

Anton (Tony) Dammer is an independent consultant specializing in oil shale and other unconventional fuels development. From September 2008 to January 2012, he was a Senior Vice President with Red Leaf Resources Inc. a Utah-based oil shale technology and resource development company. Mr. Dammer joined Red Leaf Resources after 28 years of federal service in the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Naval petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves. For the last twenty years of his service he served as Director of the office, responsible for management and operation of six reserves in California, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. He played a key role in the privatization of the largest reserve (Elk Hills) which resulted in its sale to Occidental Petroleum for $3.65 billion. Mr. Dammer initiated, implemented, and managed the current oil shale program in the Department of Energy and was responsible for all of the reports and analyses on the Unconventional Fuels web site. He managed and coordinated the activities of the Government’s Task Force on Unconventional Fuels mandated by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. He has a broad and diverse background in oil shale. Early in his career he worked on the Naval Oil Shale Reserves “Oil Shale Pre-Development Plan” for Colorado. He was the Government’s expert witness on the largest Federal water claim in history. He initiated and managed a joint U.S. / Estonian Oil Shale Research and Development Program. He is a frequent guest speaker on oil shale, energy security, and unconventional fuels. He has for several years served on the Board of Director of the National Oil Shale Association and is honored as a member of the Spent Shalers association. He has a B.A. from Tulane University and an M.S. from the University of Arizona.

James Killen
Unconventional Fuels Program Manager, U.S. Department of Energy, USA

James has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, and over 40 years of experience in the petroleum industry, including oilfield operations; crude oil supply, trading, and refining; natural gas processing; and product supply and distribution. Twenty-six years of his career were at the Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve in California, where he held senior management positions in engineering & operations; environment, safety & health; quality assurance; security; planning & budgeting; auditing; and site Director. Mr. Killen assumed his current position in 2005.

Rikki Hrenko
CEO, Enefit American Oil, USA

Prior to that she has been a project director in Enefit (Eesti Energia) working on international shale oil development projects. Ms. Hrenko graduated with Distinction from Carnegie Mellon University and holds M. Sc. in Environmental Policy and Management.

Her Highness Sharifa Zein Alsharaf bint Nasser, Jordan

Her Highness Sharifa Zein bint Nasser is the Assistant for youth, women, Education and Development at His Majesties Tribal Affairs Advisory. Her Highness is also the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees for the Hashemite Fund for Development of Jordan Badia.

Sharifa Zein has worked with the Bedouin tribes of Jordan for the past 27years in various fields such as environmental conservation, women's education, legal rights and empowerment, agriculture projects, water harvesting, rangeland rehabilitation, and restricted agriculture using reclaimed water, as well as income generating projects, TB, Malnutrition, dental care, crisis relief (during snow storms), mother/ child health care and educational issues. Also, Her Highness is an Honorary Chairwoman for many NGOs in the Northern, Middle and Southern of Jordanian Badia.

Her Highness graduated from St. Stevens College, Kent, England, and undertook extended studies in Hatchlands College, Surrey, England and Info systems, San Diego, California

Jim Schmidt
Managing Director, PROCOM Consultants P/L, Australia

Jim graduated from University of Queensland in 1972 with a degree in Chemical Engineering, and an MBA from the University of New England, 1995. He worked in a range of industries, including a brown coal to oil pilot plant in Victoria, with commissioning experience in Australia, England and Poland before joining Southern Pacific Petroleum NL, in 1989. Within SPP, Jim lead the development of the oil hydrotreater design and environmental studies for Stage One Oil Shale plant of 4500 bpsd capacity and was General Manager for the development company responsible for Stage 2, 15,000 bpsd. Jim spent two years managing the operation of the Stage 1 plant after Suncor left the project and achieved 100 days continuous operation of the ATP technology extending the maximum from 4 days.

Jim formed PROCOM Consultants P/L in 2005 to retain expertise from the Oil shale experience from the Stuart Plant in Gladstone, Australia. PROCOM provides engineering services to a range of industries from its base in Brisbane, Australia.

Peter M. Crawford
Director, INTEK, Inc., USA

Peter has over 25 years of experience in technical, analytical, and energy project development consulting for public and private clients. He is a recognized investigator of resources, technologies, infrastructure, regulatory, and environmental conditions affecting global oil shale industry. He manages a suite of oil shale related projects for the US Department of Energy. He has authored numerous reports, articles and publications on oil shale, enhanced oil recovery, and unconventional fuels, including the findings and plans of the U.S. Task Force on Strategic Unconventional Fuels. Mr. Crawford earned a B.S.F.S. degree in International Politics from Georgetown University.

Munther Akroush
Director, Karak International Oil psc, Jordan

Munther Akroush has diverse experience of the mechanical, petroleum, construction and energy sectors. After a successful commercial career Munther spent 23 years in the Natural Resources Authority of Jordan, latest post was Assistant Director General of Jordan's Natural Resources Authority. A qualified Mechanical Engineer, Munther also holds a Master's degree in Economics.

Ziad Jebril Sabra
Director of Alternative Energy Department, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Jordan

Eng. Sabra is a key leader in Renewable Energy field at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, where he joined the ministry in 1987 and has held various designations and responsibilities including implementation of policies, strategies and follow up of several renewable energy commercial projects, especially Wind IPP projects Solar thermal power generation project in addition to other projects including Oil Shale , as well as Energy Efficiency studies and measures. Mr. Sabra is a Mechanical Engineer graduated from Yarmuk University of Jordan in 1984, conducted post graduate courses and advanced training in Germany, Spain and Italy in this field and conducted several studies, reports and publications in the field of energy, renewables in particular. He is a member of several local committees for studying and evaluation of different proposals for IPPs projects in both Renewables and oil shale. He is a member of the International Steering Committee of the World Renewable Energy Congress of WREN at the UK. In addition, he is a member in the Executive Committee of the Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE) at Cairo, and working as the Focal Point of Jordan at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) currently hosted in Abu Dhabi as well as to the Mediterranean Solar Plan (MSP).

Erik Puura
Director, Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, Estonia

Reiner Homrighausen
Chairman, Site Group for Services & Well Drilling, Jordan

David Argyle
Chairman, Global Oil Shale Holdings, UK

Jamal O. Jaber
Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Al-Balqa' Applied University, Jordan

Sergei Sabanov
Consultant, SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd, UK

Sergei Sabanov got his PhD degree in 2008 on the topic “Risk Assessment Methods for Oil Shale Mining Industry. He is a mining engineer with 20 years experience in the oil shale mining industry. During the last nine years he has been participating in and delivering complex, multi-disciplinary projects and teaching programs in mining engineering research, consulting, development and deployment in a variety of technical areas at universities, at design institutes and at mining companies. The work encompassed projects in mine design, operations, production planning and mining method selection, beneficiation for oil shale underground and open mining projects, sustainable development of oil shale mining.

Omar Al-Ayed
Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering & Oil Shale Department of Chemical Engineering Faculty of Engineering, Al-Balqa Applied University, Jordan

Omar is an associate professor of Chemical Engineering at Al-Balqa Applied University in Jordan and at present spending his sabbatical year at Mutah University in Jordan. He graduated from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India in 1990 and has more than 25 publications in Oil Shale in different International reputed journals. Omar is the principal investigator of the project entitled "Building a retorting system for Jordanian Oil Shale" financed by Higher Council of Science and Technology(HCST) , Government of Jordan.

Richard Terres
Development Manager, JOSCo - Jordan Oil Shale Company, Jordan

Dr Richard Terres currently is Development Manager of the Jordan Oil Shale Company, a 100% Royal Dutch Shell Company. Dr Terres has a 29 year career in the International Oil Industry that has included assignments in Exploration, Development and Planning functions for operations in offshore and onshore locations that span five continents. Dr Terres worked 20 years with Chevron and now 9 years with Shell. His PhD is from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Hisham Khatib
Honorary Vice Chairman, World Energy Council, Ex-Minister of Energy, Water and Planning, Government of Jordan

Dr. Hisham Khatib is past-Chairman – Jordan Electricity Regulatory Commission, Honorary Vice Chairman of the World Energy Council. He is an engineer and economist on energy technology and energy security, local and global environmental issues related to energy and development. Over the last many years, Dr. Khatib was a Minister in the Government of Jordan in many portfolios – planning, water and energy.

He is mentioned in all quality biographical references, including “American Men and Women of Science”. In 1998 he was awarded the “Medal of Achievement” of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in the UK. In the World Energy Congress in Rome 2007, Dr. Khatib was awarded the highly prestigious “Global Energy Award” by the World Energy Council. He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE (L.F.I.E.E.E.), and is on the World Federation of Scientists – Energy Planetary Monitoring Panel, also he is an advisory editor of Energy Policy Journal (Elsevier).

Tom Fowler
Oil Shale Commercial & Integration Lead, Shell International Exploration & Production, Inc, USA

Thomas D. (Tom) Fowler joined Shell in June 1981 and has worked a number of North American offshore and onshore facilities engineering and management assignments. Since 1998, Tom has worked with Shell’s Researchers on the field-testing of Shell’s emerging In-situ Conversion process (ICP) for Oil Shale and Heavy Oil in an effort to unlock these massive resources. He has been involved in several of the recent Oil Shale and Heavy Oil pilots. Tom shares a number of patents in both the ICP and IUP technologies. Tom graduated from Michigan Technological University in 1981 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.

Alan Chaffee
Professor and BCIA Fellow, Monash University, Australia

Alan Chaffee’s career has spanned the three major research sectors in Australia - CSIRO, Private Industry (BHP Corporate Labs.) and University (1998 to present). Movement between these sectors has fostered a cross-disciplinary range of research interests in the general domain of ‘Chemistry of Fuels, CO2 Capture and Utilisation’. This includes fundamental and applied aspects of adsorbent design (for gas separations and storage applications), heterogeneous catalysis (for syngas and carbon dioxide utilization) and coal dewatering (to improve the efficiency of power generation) and . Alan is currently Professor and BCIA (Brown Coal Innovation Australia) Research Leadership Fellow in the School of Chemistry at Monash University.

Steven Odut
Senior Process Engineer, UMATAC Industrial Processes, Canada

Steven Odut is the senior process engineer with UMATAC Industrial Processes. For the past 20 years he has worked with the ATP Technology and helped to develop oil shale projects around the world .

Pierre Allix
Unconventional Resources R&D Program manager, TOTAL SA. France