John has served as VP LNG Origination for Cheniere since 2015 and is responsible for developing long term LNG sales opportunities in the EMEA region. Prior to joining Cheniere, John worked for Shell for almost 15 years in the company’s Gas & Power, LNG supply & trading and Crude Oil trading units in South America, Asia, Europe and Africa. John holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the National University of Rosario, Argentina, and an MBA from the Macroeconomic Studies Centre of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
KEEP READINGVladimir Malinov is the Executive Director and Member of the Management Board of the Bulgarian gas transmission system operator Bulgartransgaz since 29th of January 2025.
Mr. Malinov joined Bulgartransgaz as Head of Legal Division in 2010. He was responsible for regulatory affairs and was deeply involved in relations with EU institutions, the company’s TSO certification and unbundling and the implementation of NCs. From March 2018 until April 2024 he was the Executive Director of the company.
From April 2024 until January 2025 Mr. Malinov was the Minister of Energy in two consecutive Caretaker Governments of the Republic of Bulgaria.
Until his appointment as Caretaker Minister, he has been also a Member of the Board of Balkan Gas Hub from January 2019, a Member of the Board of Gastrade S.A. (the operator of the Alexandroupolis LNG Terminal) since January 2021 and a Member of the Board of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) since January 2022.
KEEP READINGEngr. Chichi Emenike has over twenty six (26) years experience in the Oil and Gas Industry spanning across the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors. She holds a Bachelors in Engineering and an MBA in Oil & Gas Management from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen plus is a Fellow of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), a certified member with the Council for The Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) and a founding member Women In Energy Network (WIEN).
She started her early career in the Nigerian Oil & Gas industry as a Project Engineer with Exxon Mobil Nigeria in 1999 and is currently on OML42 in Nigeria in Neconde Energy Limited as the Acting Managing Director as well as the Gas Asset Manager where she is responsible for consolidating and increasing the Asset’s current production of Gas and Crude with a focus on workovers, drilling campaigns and facility uptime with KPOs of value optimization for growth and profitability. She was one of the key leads on the team which secured and signed a Finance, Technical and Services Agreement (FTSA) on OML42 in 2022 which will have investments and injection of financing into the development of the Asset over a fifteen (15) year period.
On the other hand with the Asset’s keen focus on Gas, she is also responsible for driving the company’s Gas business and positioning Neconde as a lead player for developing Gas supply in with the company’s strategic mandate. One of her core focus is around unlocking the Asset’s potential of over 3.8tcf of Gas reserves for increased value optimization for growth and profitability.
Apart from being involved in several technical projects along different parts of the value chain of the industry, she has been engaged in several Corporate Social Responsibility Projects, advocating inclusion and diversity and its relevance to business sustainability as well as serving on different Not-for profit organizations and NGOs. These include but are limited to limited to the Nigerian Gas Association (NGA) (Study Chair of its Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Group), Women in Energy Network (WIEN) as Vice President, Upstream, Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and others. She remains committed to actively creating opportunities especially for women in Oil and Gas projects whilst also providing Commercial, Technical and Financial advice for women who are seeking to actively participate in the Upstream Oil & Gas industry.
Mr. Sotirios Bravos is the Chief Officer of Commercial Services of DESFA. He has graduated from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with a Diploma in Electrical Engineering and has a demonstrated working experience of over 30 years in the gas industry in Greece, in engineering, operations and commercial sectors. Mr. Bravos is a member of the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE). His mother tongue is Greek, and he is fluent in English.
KEEP READINGMr. Dániel Garai has been the CEO of CEEGEX, the Central Eastern European Gas Exchange Ltd. since July 2020. Mr Garai attained his Degrees at the Budapest Business School and University of Pécs. He has been working in the energy industry since 2005, fulfilling senior positions at FŐGÁZ Zrt. in Budapest, and RWE Supply & Trading Switzerland SA in Geneva, Switzerland. As of 2012, he was CFO and Member of the Board of Directors at MET Hungary and afterwards Business Development Director. From November 2019 until his appointment as CEO at CEEGEX, he was the advisor to the CEO of MAVIR Ltd., leading the company’s transformation program.
KEEP READINGGraduated on the Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering, University of Zagreb in 2006. During professional career, completed several professional training programs in the field of project management, gas equipment and pipelines, management of technological processes on the FSRU vessel and various safety processes of working with liquefied natural gas.
In the period 2002-2006, he completed a series of internships in Crosco – Integrated Drilling & Well Services Co, while from 2007 to 2020 he worked in Plinacro Ltd. – Croatian TSO in all positions: from trainee, pipeline engineer through division manager responsible for development to the director of the Gas Transport Department.
From 2020 he was Director of the Sector for Technical and Operational Affairs at LNG Hrvatska LLC. In 2023 he became Managing Director of the company.
KEEP READINGMr. Sifnaios started his professional career at Mobil Oil Hellas in 1987 as a Strategic Planning analyst. He continued in several positions within Sales and Marketing reaching the post of Sales Manager for South & Western Greece. He was then transferred to Mobil Oil International in London and Madrid where he assumed posts in supply and trading. In 1997 he moved to BP International, in Brussels, to work on the European restructuring of the company. He returned in Greece as General Commercial Sales Director for BP Greece (2000 – 2002) to then resume his international career within BP’s European supply chain till 2007. From June 2007 to the end of 2021, he worked in Copelouzos Group initially as New Projects Manager, gas sales Commercial Manager and then as Group Energy Director in the sector of Gas. He also managed the development of the Alexandroupolis LNG Terminal Project to its Final Investment Decision.
Since January 2022, when FID was taken on the Alexandroupolis LNG Project, he was appointed Managing Director of Gastrade, the owner and operator of the Terminal.
Mr. Sifnaios graduated from the school of Mathematics and Applied Sciences of the University of Athens having completed a special program on studies, methods and applications of Linear Programming and Network Flows. He went on to work as a research and faculty assistant at Columbia University, New York, U.S. where he received a Master of Science (MSc) in Operational Research and Applied Business Administration.
Mr. Sifnaios was born in Athens in 1960 and originates from the island of Lesvos. He speaks Greek, English, French and Spanish.
KEEP READINGDuring more than 20 years spent in the oil and gas industry Mr. Laszlo Fritsch has gained extensive professional knowledge from various fields of the energy sector. He started his career at Shell Gas Hungary where his professional expertise has been broadened in various positions held in several European countries. Later he joined E.ON Gas Storage as CFO and from 2013 to 2020 he held the position of CEO and Chairman of the Board of Hungarian Gas Storage. In order to gain in-depth knowledge also in the technical operation Mr. Fritsch has successfully completed a reservoir engineering course in Houston. In 2020 he was appointed CEO of MVM CEEnergy (formerly Hungarian Gas Trade), now serves as Deputy CEO. With his extensive knowledge of the energy and natural gas industry, Mr. Fritsch actively contributes to the domestic and international development of the sector as the chairman of the Hydrocarbon Mining Section of the Hungarian Mining Association and a member of the International Gas Union (IGU).
KEEP READINGPeter Pčola is the Director for Commercial and Regulatory Affairs in eustream, a.s since January 2017 where he is responsible for commercial front and back office, trading activities, regulatory management and commercial dispatching. He started to work for eustream, a.s. from January 2015 as Financial Director and before worked for gas distribution operator in Slovak Republic, SPP – distribúcia a.s., as Head of Finance Department and Deputy of Section Director. He started his career as auditor in Deloitte Slovakia and graduated at International Business, Slovak University of Agriculture and Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA).
KEEP READINGDmytro Lyppa, CEO of Gas TSO of Ukraine LLC, joined the company in March of 2023 in challenging times of the corporate and operational reforms in process, responding to harsh geopolitical and energy market challenges. Appointed with the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, he took the leadership in replacing the cornerstone importance of gas transit with integration of Ukraine’s GTS to the European gas infrastructure. As a result, in 2023, the volume of gas transported from EU and Moldova to Ukraine increased by 2,4 times compared to 2022. Under Mr. Lyppa’s management, the GTSOU’s new flagship projects include establishment of the Trans-Balkan Corridor and development of green energy infrastructure, as well as the “rightsizing” Ukraine’s GTS (Europe’s most branchy gas transmission system) with a view to optimizing its operational and financial effectiveness.
Previously, for 17 years, he held management positions in leading Ukrainian industrial companies, particularly in the international steel and mining Group of companies “Metinvest.” He has extensive experience in implementing large-scale production projects, forming long-term development strategies and providing for financial growth.
Dmytro Lyppa has a degree of Master of Economics and Finance (KNEU). He received an MBA at
IMD business school (Switzerland) and studied within the Harvard Business School programs for executives.
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