Summit Overview
Economic diversification features prominently on the national agenda of most countries in the Middle East. With rapid population growth, resulting in increased energy demand and the continued global interdependence of the power industry on oil; increasing national oil outputs is integral to building resilient and sustainable economies.
Oil accounts for close to half of Kuwait’s GDP and constitutes 95% of national exports. Long serving as a backbone to Kuwait’s economy, growth in oil activities are integral to financing mega projects set forth by Kuwait’s Vision 2040 strategy. Kuwait is spending over $500bn over the course of the next few years as it aims to boost its crude oil production capacity.
Considerable emphasis is on Kuwait’s Downstream sector as it looks to expand its refining capacity both nationally and internationally. Kuwait plans to spend over $25bn on new downstream projects over the next 20 years.
The Kuwait Downstream Summit, considers the current energy landscape, bringing together regulatory authorities, senior stakeholders, policy makers, influencers and solution providers who are driving the energy eco-system in the region.
The engaging dialogues at the
Kuwait Downstream Summit will:
Technical Committee
Dr. Hamza Al Bazzaz
Programme Manager - Optimization of Petroleum Refining Processes Programme
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research
State of Kuwait
Dr. Hamza has expertise in the area of Optimization of Petroleum Refining Process and data mining. The main focuses of his research are upgrading of heavy oil, deep desulfurization of middle distillate, chemical kinetics, simulation and modeling, and multivariate statistical process control utilizing principal and independent component analysis and visualization techniques for batch and continuous processes. Dr. Hamza has many publications in well-known Journals. Currently, Dr. Hamza is program manager and involved in optimization of petroleum refining process programs at KISR.
Dr. Hamza Al Bazzaz
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research
State of Kuwait
Dr. Samir M. Elkareish
Director of Technical Affairs Department
Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC)
Dr. Samir Mahmoud Elkareish, (OAPEC) Director, Technical Affairs Department since 2010. He has joined OAPEC in 2005 as Petroleum Industries Expert. Dr. Elkareish has a total of thirty-four (34) years in the Petroleum and energy field including petroleum refining, petrochemicals and natural gas. He also has an extensive experience in quality control, alternative fuels and petroleum transportation pipelines.
Dr. Elkareish joined the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation,“EGPC” (Operations department) in 1985 and had held several positions until he reached the current position EGPC Vice Chairman.
Dr. Samir M. Elkareish
Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC)
Dr. Talal Al Adwani
Former Maritime Ambassador & Legal Expert
International Maritime Organization
HSSE Department
Kuwait Oil Tanker Company
State of Kuwait
Dr. Talal Aladwani has achieved his LLM and PhD in Commercial and Maritime Law. Before that, he has worked as a master mariner for VLCC's and Gas carriers. He has been nominated as an expert by the UN in the field of navigation, including pollution from vessels and from dumping. He has been appointed as a leading legal expert in missions for the IMO to audit and assist in reforming several countries maritime and commercial related laws for better implementation of international regulations. Dr. Talal advises on matters relating to International Trade; Oil & Gas; Risk Assessment; Shipping; Admiralty; Environment & Pollution; International Regulations; Audit; Reforming. He also advises on non-contentious shipbuilding, dry-docking, Intellectual Property, development of infrastructure projects and their financing, including mega ports, universities etc.
Further he is appointed as an IMO ambassador. He works as a lecturer in several universities in the UK and Kuwait. He was a leader drafter for Kuwait Search and Rescue Plan. He authored several publications (books, articles, conference papers) on several commercial, shipping, pollution, international regulations and IP related topics.
Dr. Talal Al Adwani
International Maritime Organization
HSSE Department
Kuwait Oil Tanker Company
State of Kuwait
Speakers
Dr. Sun Xiansheng
Secretary General
International Energy Forum
Dr Sun was elected IEF Secretary General in August 2016. Prior to that he was President of China National Petroleum Corporation’s (CNPC) Economics and Technology Research Institute (ETRI), reporting to the Chinese leadership on energy policy decision making, Chinese gas pricing reforms, and international energy cooperation. He was also deeply involved in the energy policy studies of the Chinese energy five-year planning process.
In addition to senior executive positions within CNPC in China, over the last 30 years Dr Sun has held several CEO / Chairman roles in CNPC subsidiaries around the globe.
Dr Sun holds an LLM and a Ph.D from the University of Dundee, where he also holds a honorary professorship in the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy.
Dr. Sun Xiansheng
International Energy Forum
Dr. Ayed S. Al-Qahtani
Director - Research Division
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
Dr. Ayed S. Al-Qahtani is the Director, Research Division of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretariat, based in Vienna, Austria.
Prior to his present assignment, Dr. Al-Qahtani was an advisor to H.E. Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, Saudi Arabia. Earlier in his career, Dr. Al-Qahtani held various executive and technical positions with Saudi Aramco and World Energy Council.
Dr. Al-Qahtani holds a PhD in Minerals Economics from Colorado School of Mines, USA, a MSc in Petroleum Economics & Management from Institute of Francaise du Petrole, France, an Executive Master of Advanced Studies in International Oil & Gas Leadership from Graduate Institute, Switzerland and a MSc in Minerals Economics from Colorado School of Mines, USA. He also holds a BSc in Petroleum Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Ayed S. Al-Qahtani
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
Adri van de Ven
Director
Kuwait Petroleum Research & Technology (Q8)
Adri has more than 35 years of experience in Kuwait Petroleum Research & Technology, where he has worked on many aspects of petroleum technology. Trained as an analytical chemist at the Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands he specialized in instrumental organic analysis using various advanced analysis techniques such as IR, NMR, GC, GC/MS, HPLC, etc. Adri also supported base oil manufacturing at the Europoort refinery, looking not only at processing aspects, but was also involved in the marketing of waxes, base oils and extracts on the market.
Adri did run the IT department at KR&T, including the development of a Laboratory Information Management Systems. As an experienced Technical Manager Adri was responsible for the KPRT products research group that develops lubricants and also provides fuels and processing technical support to the global Kuwait Petroleum businesses. Currently Adri is acting director, responsible for the Kuwait Petroleum Research & Technology R&D center in Europoort, The Netherlands.
Adri has been active in the European Lubricants Marketers organization ATIEL. He was chairman of the Base Oil interchange committee for 8 years and now is a member of the ATIEL Board of Directors. He is a frequent presenter at international lubricant conferences.
Adri van de Ven
Kuwait Petroleum Research & Technology (Q8)
Imad Nassif Makki
Senior Refining Expert
Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC)
He received MBA degree and BS degree in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering in 1978. Before joining OAPEC in 2005 he worked as a projects manager and Deputy General Director of Homs Refinery in Syria. He involved in preparing the strategic plan for the refining sector in Syria. Now he is working as a Senior Petroleum Refining Expert in the technical affairs department of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC).
Imad Nassif Makki
Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC)
Dr. Abdulazim MJ Marafi
Senior Research Scientist
Petroleum Research Center-PRC
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research
Dr. Marafi is a Senior Scientist at PRC and working at KISR for 35 years. Dr. Marafi has to his credit in the area of petroleum refining during his career development more than 35 publications in journals, 50 papers and extended abstracts in proceedings of highly respected conferences, 35 technical reports, 21 project progress reports, proposals and technical articles in area of refining for Arabic Magazines. Dr. Marafi also participated as an instructor on 17 formal technical trainings in the area of petroleum refining.
- Top 20 Researcher awards at KISR May 2015.
- Kuwait Foundation for Advancement of Science (KFAS) on the award on the Scientific Production on Engineering for year 2015.
Dr. Abdulazim MJ Marafi
Petroleum Research Center-PRC
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research
Alok Chugh
Tax Partner, MENA Government and Public Sector Leader
Ernst & Young - Al Aiban Al Osaimi & Partners
Alok is an active member and frequent speaker at the various forums in Kuwait. He has been advising the K-Group on a number of expansion projects and also advises major multi national companies in the oil & gas sector. He has been consulted by various regulation authorities including Ministry of Finance and Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority(KDIPA) on practical implementation of various regulations in Kuwait.
Alok Chugh
Ernst & Young - Al Aiban Al Osaimi & Partners
Abdullah Y. Aldhafer
Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company (YASREF)
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Dr. Talal Al Adwani
Former Maritime Ambassador & Legal Expert
International Maritime Organization
HSSE Department
Kuwait Oil Tanker Company
State of Kuwait
Dr. Talal Aladwani has achieved his LLM and PhD in Commercial and Maritime Law. Before that, he has worked as a master mariner for VLCC's and Gas carriers. He has been nominated as an expert by the UN in the field of navigation, including pollution from vessels and from dumping. He has been appointed as a leading legal expert in missions for the IMO to audit and assist in reforming several countries maritime and commercial related laws for better implementation of international regulations. Dr. Talal advises on matters relating to International Trade; Oil & Gas; Risk Assessment; Shipping; Admiralty; Environment & Pollution; International Regulations; Audit; Reforming. He also advises on non-contentious shipbuilding, dry-docking, Intellectual Property, development of infrastructure projects and their financing, including mega ports, universities etc.
Further he is appointed as an IMO ambassador. He works as a lecturer in several universities in the UK and Kuwait. He was a leader drafter for Kuwait Search and Rescue Plan. He authored several publications (books, articles, conference papers) on several commercial, shipping, pollution, international regulations and IP related topics.
Dr. Talal Al Adwani
International Maritime Organization
HSSE Department
Kuwait Oil Tanker Company
State of Kuwait
Dr. Zsuzsanna Gyenes
Deputy to the Director
IChemE Safety Centre
After graduating with a Master of Science in Biochemical Engineering from the Technical University of Budapest, Dr Zsuzsanna Gyenes worked in disaster management for the Hungarian Government. During this time, she obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Public Administration. She then moved into a role as a Seveso Site Inspector for Hungary, at this time she also obtained her PhD cum laude on the development of procedures and tools for the improvement of industrial safety against external effects from the National Defense PhD Institution in Military Technology in Hungary. Following her time as a Seveso Inspector, she was the Head of Section for nuclear Safety in the National Directorate General for Disaster Management in Budapest. Her most recent role was as a Scientific Technical Office for the European Commission Joint Research Centre, where she worked to assist member states on learning from incidents and Seveso implementation, including land use planning policy. She commenced as the Deputy to the Director of the IChemE Safety Centre in September 2017.
Dr. Zsuzsanna Gyenes
IChemE Safety Centre
Dr. Halim H. Redhwi
Deputy CEO-BD
Dhahran Techno-Valley Holding Company
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Dr. Redhwi is the Deputy CEO, Business Development, Dhahran Techno-Valley Holding Company and the Professor Chemical Engineering Dept. in the Chemical Engineering department of KFUPM. During his professional career spanning more than thirty years, he has been active in research and teaching in the field of Refining and Petrochemicals. Dr. Redhwi's main contribution in the last ten years is in establishing and managing DTV and Science Park that includes Technology centers of Schlumberger, Yokogawa, Honeywell/UOP, Baker Hughes, Halliburton, GE, Rosen, Sipchem, Schneider, Sinopec and others. He was also involved in the developing novel refining process (HSFCC) that was recently commercialized in S-Oil Company, Korea. Dr. Redhwi has published 3 books, 5 patents and more than 150 papers in refereed journals, conference proceedings and chapters in book.
Dr. Halim H. Redhwi
Dhahran Techno-Valley Holding Company
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Exhibitor
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