Khalid bin Khalifa Al Thani
Chief Executive Officer, Qatargas
Khalid bin Khalifa Al Thani was appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Qatargas Operating Company Limited (Qatargas) in 2010. He also serves as Vice Chairman and CEO of the Qatargas group of companies, including serving as Vice Chairman and CEO of Barzan Gas Limited Company.
Khalid spearheaded the successful integration of the State of Qatar’s two liquefied natural gas (LNG) giants – Qatargas and RasGas – thereby creating the largest producer of LNG in the world with an annual production capacity of 77 million tonnes per annum. Currently, Khalid is leading the expansion of LNG production to increase capacity to 126 million tonnes per annum. When completed, the expansion will be the largest LNG capacity addition ever, and the most competitive LNG project in the world.
During his professional career, Khalid has held various leadership positions in the energy sector, including Director of Ras Laffan Industrial City, Business Development Manager of Mesaieed Industrial City, and key positions in Qatar Petroleum since 1991.
Khalid holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the Pacific Lutheran University, Washington, United States.
Steinar Vaage
President, Europe, Middle East & North Africa, ConocoPhillips
Steinar Vaage is president, Europe, Middle East & North Africa for ConocoPhillips.
Vaage began his career in 1988 and held various engineering positions in Norway up to 1995. From 1995
to 2000, he held positions at Phillips headquarters in the U.S., and from 2000 to 2004 in the U.K. and Norway. From 2004 to 2007, he was general manager of Heavy Oil Joint Ventures in Venezuela. From 2007 to 2012 he served as managing director of ConocoPhillips Norway, and from 2012 to 2015 he was president of ConocoPhillips Europe. From 2015 to 2020, he was senior vice president at ConocoPhillips Headquarter in Houston, with global responsibility for several technical functions including operations, wells, capital projects and supply chain. He assumed his current role in 2020.
He has served on the board of the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association (2007 – 2013), as chairman of the
board (2008 – 2013), on the management committee of IOGP (International Association of Oil and Gas
Producers) from 2012-2015, and on the board of the Norwegian-American Chamber of Commerce in Houston from (2016-2020).
Vaage received a Bachelor of Science in petroleum engineering in 1987, and in 1991, a Master of Science in reservoir engineering.
Nafez Bseiso
Chief Major Project Officer, QatarGas
Mr. Nafez Bseiso as the Chief Major Projects Officer (CMPO) is responsible for all Qatargas Major Projects including North Field East and North Field South Expansion Projects, North Field Production Sustainability (NFPS) Project (I1P1, Compression and EPCOL) and CO2 Sequestration Project. Moreover, he was also responsible for the successful execution and completion of the strategic Barzan project which had achieved an unprecedented world safety record of 130 million man-hours without lost time injury.
Mr. Bseiso is a highly experienced, accomplished and hands-on professional with a proven track record in executing and delivering multi-billion-dollar mega LNG Projects in Qatar. A dedicated and committed leader in promoting and implementing the highest safety and quality standards across all major projects’ activities.
Overall, Mr. Bseiso has over 35 years of experience in the oil and gas industry with a strong multidisciplinary technical background, which includes surface facilities, subsurface, planning, engineering, research, project development and operations.
Mr. Bseiso graduated from University of Tulsa, USA with a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering.
Faisal Khan, Ph.D.
Mike O’Connor II Chair Professor, Director of Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center at Texas A&M University, and Director of Ocean Energy Safety Institute (OESI)
Dr. Faisal Khan is Mike O’Connor II Chair Professor and Director of Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. He is also Director of Ocean Energy Safety Institute (OESI), a US Department of Energy and US Department of Interior funded applied R&D initiative. Dr. Khan is former Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier I) of Offshore Safety and Risk Engineering at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. He is the founder of the Centre for Risk Integrity and Safety and Engineering (C-RISE), Canada which have over 100+ research members. His research interest areas include process safety, offshore safety, drilling safety, extreme event modelling, asset integrity and risk engineering. He is the recipient of the many National and International Awards. He is Fellow of Canada Academy of Engineer. He has authored over 500 research articles in peer-reviewed journals and mentored 75 PhDs and 85 master students. He is Editor-in-Chief to the Journal of Process Safety & Environmental Protection and Safety in Harsh Environments.
Trish Kerin
Director, Institution of Chemical Engineers Safety Centre (ISC)
Trish Kerin is an award-winning international expert and key note speaker on process safety leadership and the inaugural director of the IChemE Safety Centre. She leads an international team who help organisations share and learn in process safety. Trish leverages off her years of engineering and varied leadership experience to help organisations improve their process safety outcomes.
She has represented industry on many government committees and has sat on the board of the Australian National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA). She currently sits on the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center (MKOPSC) steering committee at Texas A&M University.
She is a Chartered Engineer, registered Professional Process Safety Engineer, Fellow of IChemE and Engineers Australia and a Senior Member of AIChE. Trish holds a Diploma in OHS, a Master of Leadership and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In 2023 she published her second book, The Platypus Philosophy – how to identify and manage weak signals.
Her expertise has been recognised with the John A Brodie Medal (2015), the Trevor Kletz Merit Award (2018) and Women in Safety Network’s Inaugural Leader of the Year (2022). She has been named one of the “Superstars of STEM” for 2023/24 by Science and Technology Australia.
