International Business House

David Glasspool has ten years experience in the front office, operating and then trading gas for Enron, BP and EGL and has presented and assessed on courses whilst at both BP and SGT. David was involved in all aspects of the value chain, booking physical and virtual storage, managing European swing contracts, upstream assets, and executing orders for internal customers such as LNG.

David is CEO and co-founder of GenieSolutions, a software development and outsourcing company with a particular focus on building SaaS applications for startups and SMEs. GenieSolutions has worked closely with Mr Cohen on a number of innovative projects including PetroWars. PetroWars is a game that simulates the petrol market and is widely used by University classes and Oil Company workshops as a training tool. Whilst PetroWars has existed since 2005, GenieSolutions was involved in the upgrade and reprogramming to produce a web version which will be used in the IBH workshop in Warsaw

David Richards has over 30 years experience in the international oil and natural gas business with the BP Group. He gained a breadth of experience in senior management positions within the downstream marketing business in the UK, Europe and South Africa, involving Directorships in a number of BP subsidiaries.

In a career spanning more than 30 years he has practised law as a partner with leading English and Australian law firms, Theodore Goddard, Jackson McDonald and Kott Gunning. Dr Mildwaters is a member of the faculty at the Centre for Petroleum and Mineral Law Studies at the University of Dundee. Globally, he has presented numerous papers and conducted workshops in the fields of natural resources law, joint ventures and joint operating agreement, negotiation skills and managing in-house legal functions.

Over 20 years in industry. He held various marketing positions in industries ranging from steel and paint manufacture to DIY retailing. During his last 10 years in industry he held senior positions with Shell (UK) in its petrol retailing operation and was heavily involved in some of the major developments in the industry. After leaving Shell, he maintained his interest in petrol marketing and has written a book and a number of academic papers on the subject.

A Concise Guide for Intermediate and Advanced Level (John Wiley & Sons, 2008), and also of the forthcoming Business Risk and Simulation Modelling: Using Excel, VBA and @RISK (John Wiley & Sons, 2015). He has 25 years’ experience in business and finance, including approximately 12 years as an independent consultant. Prior to this, he was a Vice President at J.P. Morgan and a Partner at Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman). He has lived and worked in several countries, and speaks fluent French and German.

Howard Palmer, a 30 years’ experienced banker and an expert trainer who has trained 2,500 bankers in 55 countries. Howard is the Author of International Trade and Pre-Export Finance (A Practitioner’s Guide) (Euromoney Publications) and five other texts dealing with aspects of International Banking in the Emerging Markets.He was, most recently, Assistant General Manager and Head of Trade and Lending at RZB (Raiffeisen) Bank London, where he was responsible for all aspects of international business.

Mr Afonin spent over 10 years in industry, dealing with physical and exchange oil trading. Senior executive with extensive experience in both physical and exchange oil trading, chartering, product blending, operations and information systems. Excellent record of improving trading operations by implementing an effective system of internal controls and impacting business growth through achievements in trading and operations.

Following ten years in supply and distribution with Total in the UK, John spent seventeen years in broking and operations, managing and running a number of tanker broking companies. He joined Reuters in 1992 to develop information services for the transport markets and to manage their tanker shipping service. John has provided training for the shipping and energy markets in tanker chartering and operations for the last 15 years and, as well as running this course and participating, he lectures regularly both in the UK and abroad.

Captain Dickie has spent the last 40 years in the maritime industry. This has encompassed 20 years at sea from cadet to command and on various ship types from oil, chemical and gas including combination carriers, bulk carriers and container ships. John was manager of the Marine Technical Division for a survey company in the middle east which he helped set up, as well as having been a marine superintendent and operations manager. Five years were spent in an IACS member as head of the ISM

John Metcalfe’s first career was with ExxonMobil for 33 years. He was involved in Planning & Scheduling and Configuration Studies for much of that time, at refinery, regional and corporate levels, and for the last 15 years had a global role specialising in Refinery Optimisation and Profitability. Then followed 5 years with UOP, during which time their Consulting business was grown into a significant presence in Europe, the Middle East and the FSU

Mr Lee joined the Centre for Global Energy Studies at its creation in 1989. He specialises in global oil market analysis and the oil industries of the former Soviet Union and sub-Saharan Africa, overseeing all the CGES’ work in these latter areas. Mr Lee has written extensively on many aspects of the oil industry of the former Soviet Union, i ncluding the production prospects for both Russia and the Caspian region, the export options for oil and gas producers in both regions and the dynamics of and prospects for Russian oil demand. Mr Lee is a frequent commentator on global oil markets and on the oil industry in the former Soviet Union and the proposed export projects of Russia and the Caspian countries. Mr Lee writes for the CGES on a wide range of subjects outside his areas of special interest, including the geopolitics of oil, the political and economic problems faced by major oil producers in the Middle East and general OPEC issues. Julian Lee is also responsible for the CGES’ publication, ‘Oil Market Prospects’ and regularly contributes research-based articles and the oil market review and forecast section for the ‘Global Oil Report’. Julian also writes much of the ‘Monthly Oil Report’ and produces the CGES’ ‘Annual Oil Market Forecast and Review’. Mr Lee is frequently interviewed for both recorded and live TV and radio broadcasts (BBC, ITN, CNN, Sky News, CNBC among others) on a wide variety of oil, gas and energy matters. Both the specialist and general print media also frequently seek his opinion on oil and gas matters. Mr Lee is a member of the Editorial Board for the Canadian Energy Research Istitute’s ‘Geopolitics of Energy’ and is also a regular presenter at conferences organised by the CGES and others on a wide range of oil- and gas-related subjects. Julian Lee has lectured on energy matters at summer schools organised by the German Society for Foreign Affairs and the Central European University. Julian Lee is a graduate in Mathematics from the University of Warwick and received his Master Degree in Operational Research from the London School of Economics.

Mr Lee joined the Centre for Global Energy Studies at its creation in 1989. He specialises in global oil market analysis and the oil industries of the former Soviet Union and sub-Saharan Africa, overseeing all the CGES’ work in these latter areas.

Paul has spent 20 years of his career working in oil trading. He was regarded as an industry expert in the area of trading operations for crude oils in the North Sea and Middle East before progressing to a senior leadership position within BP’s international trading division. As Head of Supply Paul was directly responsible for the trading teams which were optimising the purchase and risk management of 75 million m3 p.a. of petroleum products. More recently Paul was the Executive Chairman of Smart Global Trading.

Stefan joined BP after graduating from Cambridge University. During his front-line trading career he traded product derivatives, and both paper and physical Crude Oil. Stefan then became Head of Fuel Oil Trading for Europe and the USA. In this Book Leader role Stefan grew the book significantly in both scope and profitability over 5 years. Stefan was also heavily involved in BP’s trader selection, training and mentoring.

Steve has over 20 years experience working in the oil and gas industry, within the back, mid and front office. As an Equity Crude and Gas trader at BP he helped build a complex portfolio of trading books based in Germany. Steve has extensive experience developing risk management reporting, trader exposure and profit and loss systems for various clients. He has been a key participant in the design and development of simulation based trader training programmes.

Suzanne Taylor Business and Training Consultant Suzanne has 12 years of experience in the oil industry. In 2000 Suzanne qualified as a lecturer in adult education. Since 1991 she worked in the London trading office of TOTAL S.A. specialising in Risk Management with the responsibility for planning and delivering management training programmes. Manager of derivative services to Refining and Distribution Offered a full risk management service to TRD S.A., hedging refinery margins and marketing

Professor Tom James has built up 20 years of practical expertise in the Energy, Emissions and International Commodity markets. His broad experience covers investment and trading with a particular focus on Asian, Central Asian, and Middle East Markets.

Trevor Christmas has 30 years experience in the energy industry with BP, and more recently, with the IPE. At BP, he held senior management positions in London, Asia and the Americas mainly in trading and downstream. At the IPE, he was responsible for the Exchange’s marketing services worldwide in oil, gas and electricity.