About Our Speakers
Mohamad Rizam Sarif
Mr. Mohamad Rizam Sarif is the Senior General Manager of Geoscience Solutions at PETRONAS Carigali, bringing over 28 years of extensive experience in geoscience across exploration, development, and field planning. He began his career as a Geoscientist at ExxonMobil, advancing through key roles that encompassed technical team leadership, field development, and new ventures management, before transitioning to PETRONAS in 2023. Mr. Rizam holds a BSc in Petroleum Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and an MSc in Petroleum Geoscience from Universiti Brunei Darussalam. His leadership expertise is further enriched through executive training from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. Throughout his career, Mr. Rizam has championed integrated subsurface solutions, blending geology and geophysics with techno-commercial strategies to deliver robust field development plans and advance PETRONAS’ objectives in sustainable energy. His collaborative approach has fostered strong multi-disciplinary teams, enhancing value creation and stakeholder engagement across PETRONAS’ exploration and development projects.
Dr. Jamaal Hoesni
Dr. Jamaal Hoesni currently holds the esteemed position of Director for the Geopressure Centre atBeicip-FranlabAsia. His impressive career trajectory includes a significant tenure at PETRONASspanning from 1986 to 2020, where he culminated his journey as the Head of PorePressure/Geomechanics and Custodian for Petroleum System Modelling. Jamaal's hold a Bachelorof Science with Honors from the University of Adelaide, Australia (1995) and a Ph.D. from theUniversity of Durham, UK (2004).
Joy R. de Melo Araujo
Joy R. de Melo Araujo serves as the Well Construction Division Manager for East Asia at SLB. Bringing more than 23 years of expertise in the energy sector, he has held senior leadership roles overseeing complex global operations, spearheading product and technology development, corporate strategy, and mergers and acquisitions integration. Mr. de Melo Araujo is passionate about advancing sustainable energy access. He has been instrumental pioneering award-winning technologies, such as advanced reservoir mapping and drilling automation solutions, which have set new standards across the industry. Driven by a commitment to innovation and operational excellence, he seeks to actively shape a future where energy security, economic growth and environmental stewardship come together to create a lasting impact.
Thakerngchai Sangvaree
Thakerngchai Sangvaree serves as the Head of Malaysia Sarawak Asset at PTTEP, bringing more than 20 years of expertise in the oil and gas industry with the company. He began his career as a petroleum engineer and has subsequently led integrated subsurface teams overseeing appraisal programs, field development planning, reservoir management, and production optimization across onshore, shallow water, and deepwater projects. Thakerngchai is a strong advocate for cross-disciplinary integration and collaboration, considering it essential for achieving organizational success. He holds a bachelor's degree in Petroleum Engineering from Chulalongkorn University and a master's degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
Ankit Kumar
Mr. Ankit is a Geophysicist, master’s from IIT-Roorkee, India with 19 years’ industry experience. Currently working with Beicip Franlab Asia KL office, where he is leading the Geophysics department. Ankit is staying in Malaysia with his family since 2014 and before this he was in India with Reliance E&P company.
Chandramani Shrivastava
Mr. Chandramani Shrivastava is Geology Advisor and Domain Head for SLB Well Construction based in Sugar Land, Texas (US). He has 23 years of experience in formation evaluation and technology development across India, Middle East, Southeast Asia, West Africa, Caribbean and the US. He holds Master’s degree in Applied Geology from IIT-Roorkee (India) and in Petroleum Engineering from Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh (UK). He is widely published (> 100 publications) and is industry recognized expert on geological interpretation of well logs. He has served as SPE Distinguished Lecturer and is also a founding member and VP of SPWLA Borehole Imaging SIG.
Hj. Jamari Mohd Shah
Hj. Jamari has over 25 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. As Custodian of Petrophysics and Group Technical Authority at PETRONAS, he provides technical oversight across all project phases, from exploration to abandonment. He specializes in reservoir characterization for both conventional and unconventional reservoirs, with evaluation experience in over 40 countries. Hj Jamari leads innovation in advanced Petrophysics, particularly the integration of Artificial Intelligence, and has delivered several first-in-PETRONAS technologies. He holds a BSc in Petroleum Engineering from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
Vikas Jain
Vikas Jain is currently working as the Domain Head of Petrophysics, Acoustics, and Geomechanics for Well Construction Measurements at SLB. Previously, he led Schlumberger’s Artificial Intelligence business development in the Americas. In his 24+ years of career with SLB, he worked across various geographies and roles in operations, sales and marketing, engineering, and as a domain expert. With his experience in logging-while-drilling (LWD) technologies and artificial intelligence-driven data interpretation, he has played a pivotal role in bridging traditional petrophysical methodologies with modern digital solutions. In his current role, Vikas Jain is responsible for shaping the future of LWD formation evaluation technologies by advising senior management on measurement innovation strategies, training and development of the domain population globally, and overseeing new technology development, including digital customer experience. His expertise spans nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), machine learning-assisted petrophysical interpretation, and the integration of LWD and wireline data for enhanced reservoir characterization. Having worked in multiple domains, he sees petrophysics and formation evaluation as an enabler for integrated workflows benefiting reservoir engineering, completions, and production. Vikas Jain has authored 40+ technical publications and holds 20+ patents related to advanced formation evaluation techniques and machine learning. He is a recognized industry thought leader, regularly invited to speak at conferences, lead technical panels, and mentor early-career professionals. As an active member of the community, he has contributed to industry knowledge-sharing through training sessions, technical workshops, and collaborations with global experts. His commitment to technical excellence and innovation aligns with the community’s mission to advance petrophysical research and education worldwide.
Nader Gerges
Mr. Nader Gerges serves as a Senior Specialist Petrophysicist with Thamama Excellence Center in ADNOC Upstream. With a 25-year career in the E&P industry, he has held roles in Schlumberger, Nexen Petroleum/CNOOC International and Equinor before joining ADNOC in 2015. Mr. Nader is an expert in Carbonate and Clastic petrophysical modelling, reservoir characterization, Geosteering activities, operational petrophysics and EOR reservoir monitoring and surveillance. Currently, he spearheads multiple digital initiatives within Thamama Center, aimed at enhancing petrophysical modeling using Agentic AI, automation of reservoir management ML workflows, optimization of field development planning, AI reservoir surveillance and autonomous Geosteering.
Jimmy Ting
Jimmy Ting received his B.Sc. in applied geology from the University of Malaya in 1991, completing a thesis on the study of limestone and paleogeographic interpretation. After graduation, he joined Sarawak Shell Berhad (SSB) as a seismic imaging geophysicist for three years, followed by another three years as a special studies/quantitative interpretation geophysicist. Since 1997, Jimmy has been with GeoSoftware for over twenty-eight years, serving in various technical, product R&D, and commercial roles. His expertise spans seismic imaging, rock physics, quantitative seismic reservoir characterization, and seismic fracture interpretation across clastic, carbonate, and unconventional reservoirs. Over the years, he has delivered technical training classes, educational series, pre-conference workshops, and continuing education courses. Together with his team, Jimmy has developed several customized Action-Based Learning courses tailored for exploration geoscientists. He is an active member of SEG, EAGE, ASEG, the Board of Geologists Malaysia (BOG), and a life member of SEAPEX (Southeast Asia Petroleum Exploration Society).
Dr. Azli Abu Bakar
Azli joined PETRONAS in 1999 as an Explorationist & Geoscientist in PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd (PCSB), starting with exploration of Malaysia basin where he was instrumental in the discovery of the Sumandak field complex in Sabah in 2001. He then continued his journey to be in Basin Studies in 2006, where he was tasked to explore the potential of various petroleum basins from Asia to the Americas and later appointed as Staff (Exploration Geology) in 2008. He then expanded his career in Technical Professional (TP) as Principal (Petroleum Geoscience) for Exploration International Ventures in 2016, where he oversaw the technical evaluations of PETRONAS’ exploration activities in Indonesia, Brunei and Myanmar. Azli then was promoted as Head of Asia Pacific Basin, Exploration, in 2018. During his two-year tenure leading the exploration efforts in Asia Pacific Basin, he has contributed significantly, such as the acquisition of Andaman III blocks in Indonesia, spearheading evaluation of emerging basins of Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea, forming new play opportunities for Malaysia basins and formulating the in-house Global Basin Ranking to guide Exploration’s strategy. Prior to his current appointment, Azli was a Business Development Expert for Upstream business since the year 2020, where he has been leading the efforts in expanding PETRONAS’ footprint in the US Gulf of Mexico. Azli holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Geology, earned a Master of Science in Petroleum Geoscience and PhD in Tectonics and Stratigraphy from Imperial College, London, United Kingdom. He is also an active member in several professional bodies, having served in societal events as committee member and co-chair of technical workshop. He is also very keen on developing young executives by being active in skill group as well as management trainings.
Asari Ramli
A.H. Asari Ramli is the Digital Lead at Malaysia Petroleum Management (PETRONAS), where he drives digital transformation initiatives to embed data analytics and AI-driven decision-making, ensuring MPM remains future-proof. He currently leads the development of agentic AI applications for myPROdata and the Digital Intelligence Centre (DIC), anchoring the next phase of digital excellence. With over 17 years of upstream experience, Asari also serves as a Principal Petrophysicist, providing technical assurance across Malaysian assets, including CCS projects. His expertise spans integrated reservoir characterization, rock typing, permeability prediction, saturation-height functions, and support for FDP and full-field reviews. He co-developed PETRONAS’ Sand–Silt–Clay model and several enterprise-wide petrophysical workflows and standards. Passionate about capability building, he has trained engineers in Sand–Silt–Clay petrophysical evaluation. Asari holds a B.Eng. (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering (Petroleum specialization) from Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS and is based in Kuala Lumpur.
Kian Wei Tan
Kian Wei Tan currently serves as Senior Advisor for Low Carbon Solutions at Halliburton, where he provides strategic and technical guidance across Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. His unique blend of geoscience expertise and digital fluency makes him a sought-after speaker and moderator in CCS and energy transition forums. Kian is a seasoned energy professional with over 18 years of experience spanning geology, geophysics, and digital transformation in the oil & gas and low carbon sectors. Over the past five years, Kian has led digital technology adoption and AI/ML integration across CCS projects in Asia. His experience includes carbon storage screening, reservoir property prediction using machine learning, CO₂ MMV (Measurement, Monitoring & Verification) strategy development, and cross-border CCS discussions.
Prof. Christoph Arns
Christoph is full Professor and discipline lead of Geoenergy and Geostorage Engineering in the School of Minerals and Energy Resources Engineering at UNSW Sydney. He is a pioneer in Digital Rock Physics (>20 years) and specialises in reservoir characterisation, and more specifically in pore-scale physics on micro-tomographic images, the combination of 3D tomographic imaging technology with laboratory measurements, and NMR time domain techniques for porous media research. Christoph was an integral part of the team commercialising digital core analysis through the ANU/UNSW spin-off Digital Core Pty Ltd (now part of ThermoFisher). He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Distinguished Technical Achievement Award of SPWLA and the 2015 Premier's Prize for Science & Engineering: Leadership in Innovation in NSW. Christoph holds a Diploma degree in physics from the University of Technology Aachen, Germany and a Ph.D. degree in Petroleum Engineering from UNSW.
