3rd Papua New Guinea Petroleum & Energy Summit

Hon. Charles Abel

Deputy Prime Minister

Papua New Guinea

Hon. Charles Abel is a Member of Parliament for Alotau electorate and formally the Minister for Planning. First Elected to the 8th National Parliament for the Alotau Open Electorate in the 2007 General Elections as an Independent candidate, he then joined the National Alliance Party. Appointment as Minister for Culture and Tourism in the Somare-Temu cabinet on the 29/8/2007 till resignation from government in July 2010 to join the Morauta led opposition. Appointed Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry on 5/8/2011 in the O'Neill-Namah cabinet.Re-elected to the 9th National Parliament for the Alotau Open Electorate in the 2012 General Elections as an People`s National Congress Party candidate. Appointed Minister for National Planning in the O'Neill-Dion cabinet.

Hon. Dr Fabian Pok Mec Ph.D MP

Minister of Petroleum

Papua New Guinea

Hon.Dr Fabian Pok was first elected to the 6th National Parliament for North Wahgi Open seat in the 1997 General Elections as an independent Appointed Minister for Forests from July 1997-July 1998, then responsibilities as Minister for Public Enterprise and Minister for Communications from April 1998 till resignation from the Skate government in June 1999. Led a bloc of independent MP's in the formation of the Morauta government in July 1999. Joined PDM after formation of government. Named in Sir Mekere Morauta's caretaker cabinet as Minister for Trade and Tourism, Commerce and Industry, and Police on the 15/07/99. Confirmed Minister for Lands and Physical Planning on the 26/07/99, then given added responsibilities as Minister for Petroleum and Energy in March 2000 till November 2000. Relinquished Lands and Physical Planning portfolio in April 2000. Appointed Minister for Labor and Employment on the 21/10/2001.

Hon. Sam Basil MP

Minister of Communications, Information Technology & Energy

Papua New Guinea

Hon.Sam Basil was re-elected to the 10th National Parliament as the member for Bulolo Open Electorate seat as a Member of the Pangu Party during the 2017 General Elections. He is the current Minister for Communications, Information Technology and Energy. Hon. Basil was first Elected to the 8th National Parliament for the Bulolo Open Electorate in the 2007 General Elections as a People's Progress Party candidate. He has held various positions within government including being appointed member of Parliamentary Referral Committee on Lands and Environment and the Special Committee on Gas and Energy as Deputy Chairman.

Hon. Joe Oliver

Former Minister of Natural Resources & Former Minister of Finance

Canada

Dairi Vele

Secretary - Treasury Department

Papua New Guinea

Mr Dairi Vele is the Secretary for the Papua New Guinea Department of Treasury, a position he has held since August 2013. Interestingly, Dairi is the first Secretary for Treasury in PNG to have occupied the position his father the late Morea Vele held twice before. Dairi studied Economics at the Australian National University where he attained his Bachelors Degree in Economics in the year 2000. Prior to joining Treasury, Mr Vele was twice the Director of the Gas Projects Coordination Office from 2007 to 2010 and 2012 to 2013 where he was heavily involved in the successful negotiation of the PNG LNG project on behalf of the State. He was also the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Company of PNG (NPCP) from 2010 to 2011.

Wapu Sonk

Managing Director

Kumul Petroleum Holdings Ltd

Mr Sonk is the Managing Director of Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited (Kumul Petroleum), formerly National Petroleum Company PNG Holdings Limited.
Since his appointment as the Managing Director of NPCP in January 2013 and transitioning through to Kumul Petroleum, Mr Sonk has been the driving force behind building the Kumul Petroleum Holdings Ltd (formerly NPCP), where the highlight has been the successful legislative reforms that has lead to the birth of Kumul Petroleum as Papua New Guinea’s National Oil and Gas Corporation. The legislation now gives the NOC a strong foundation to grow and move forward.
Mr Sonk has over two decades of experience as a Papua New Guinean leader in the oil & gas industry. His career matured with the industry itself maturing from being an oil exporting country to now LNG exporter.
He has occupied numerous leadership roles in the Petroleum Industry of PNG since beginning his career with Chevron Nuigini Pty Ltd in 1997. These roles include Director – PNG LNG Project at IPBC, Chairperson of Society of Petroleum Engineers (PNG Section) (2011), Technical Manager at NPCP (Kroton), Drilling & Completions Engineer at Oil Search Head Office, Sydney, Drilling Rig Operations Supervisor, Field Coordinator - PNG to QLD Gas Pipeline Project FEED Team (2005) and Petroleum Engineer for Chevron.
Mr Sonk continues to be a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (Worldwide), and Institute of Engineers PNG.
Mr Sonk holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree (Mining Engineering) from the University of Technology, Lae, Papua New Guinea; a Diploma of Business (Business Management) from the Melbourne Business School, Mt Eliza Centre for Executive Education, Australia.

Carolyn Blacklock

Acting Managing Director

PNG Power Ltd

Carolyn has 25 years’ experience in private sector finance, development and infrastructure with the last 15 years in the Pacific. Following a successful corporate banking career working with Australian top tier banks, in 2009, Carolyn moved permanently to Papua New Guinea to establish the International Finance Corporation (the private sector arm of the World Bank) where she led the office for the next four years. Following a stint overseeing key projects for Hawkins Infrastructure, New Zealand, Carolyn had been engaged by the Government of PNG in Treasury as their specialist adviser with a specific mandate to accelerate infrastructure development and create a pipeline of bankable projects to attract high quality developers and investors to PNG. More recently Carolyn has taken over a new role as Acting Manging Director at PNG Power. She is known for her strong track record of taking large, complex projects through to successful delivery. She lives and works in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

Augustine Mano

Managing Director

Mineral Resource Development Company (MRDC)

Mr Augustine Sanga Mano was appointed the Managing Director & CEO of Mineral Resources Development Company in March 2008. MRDC is a state owned entity that manages all Royalties and Equities for Landowners and Provincial Governments in Mining and Petroleum Projects in PNG. Mr Mano has been involved in both mining and petroleum industries for the last ten years. He has been actively involved in various capacity in construction, transport, finance, insurance, aviation and the hospitality industry. He is the Chairman of The Star Mountains Plaza, The Pearl Resort in Fiji, Taumeasina Hotels in Samoa and Inspac. He currently serves on the Boards of all MRDC Group of Companies namely, Mineral Resource Star Mountains, Mineral Resources Ok Tedi No.2, Petroleum Resources Kutubu, Petroleum Resources Moran and Petroleum Resources Gobe and many other subsidiaries of MRDC. He is also on the boards of Hevilift, PNG Air and Bank South Pacific (BSP).  

Jean Marc Noiray

Managing Director

Total PNG Ltd

Peter Botten

Managing Director

Oil Search

Mr Peter Botten was appointed Managing Director on 28 October 1994, having previously filled both exploration and general manager roles in the company since joining in 1992. He has extensive worldwide experience in the oil and gas business, previously holding various senior technical and managerial positions in a number of listed and government owned organisations.

Mr Botten is a former President of the Papua New Guinea Chamber of Mines and Petroleum and is on the Executive Committee of the Australia PNG Business Council. He is Chairman of Business for Development, the Hela Provincial Health Authority and the National Football Stadium Trust in Port Moresby. Mr Botten is also a Director of AGL Energy.

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to commerce and the mining and petroleum industry in Papua New Guinea.

Dr Fereidun Fesharaki

Chairman

FGE

Dr Fereidun Fesharaki is the Founder and Chairman of FGE. His work is well-recognized worldwide for pioneering oil and gas market analysis and studies of the Asia Pacific/Middle East energy markets since the early 1980s. Dr Fesharaki received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Surrey in England and then completed a Visiting Fellowship at Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Joined the East-West Center in 1979 and was a Senior Fellow leading energy-related research till end 2013. In 1989, Dr Fesharaki was elected a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Since 1991, a member of the International Advisory Board of JX Holdings (and its predecessor companies)—Japan’s largest oil company. Dr. Fesharaki was the 1993 President of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE). In 1995, elected a Senior Fellow of the US Association for Energy Economics for distinguished services in the field of energy economics. In 2002, appointed a Senior Associate of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. In 2008, Dr Fesharaki was appointed to the National Petroleum Council by then US Secretary of Energy and re-appointed by Secretary Moniz in April 2016. Received the Outstanding Contributions to the IAEE Award in 2012. He was a member of the Advisory Board of VOPAK LNG from 2013 to 2015. In 2014, appointed as Honorary Advisor by CNPC Research Institute of Economics and Technologies in Beijing. Dr Fesharaki is the recipient of the 2016 Adelman-Frankel Award from the US Association for Energy Economics (USAEE) for his unique and innovative contribution to the field of energy economics. In March 2017, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) appointed him as a Director of the Dubai Mercantile Exchange Limited (DME). Since 2009, he has been a member of the DME Board of Directors.