Opening Address Speaker

AMINA BENKHADRA

General Director of the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines, ONHYM

Civil Engineer of Mines from the National Superior School of Mines of Nancy, Mrs. Benkhadra is also a Doctor Engineer in mine sciences and techniques (ENSM Paris). She also had management trainings at the University of Columbia in the year 1990.

Her career started in 1982 at the Mines Research and Participation Office (BRPM) where she held several positions of responsibility in managing new projects and portfolio of BRPM.

In 1994, she was appointed Director of Mines at the Ministry in charge of Energy and Mines, then Secretary of State in charge of mining sector development (1997-1998).

She became Director of the BRPM in 1998, then General Director of the National Office of Oil Research and Exploitation “ONAREP”. She was appointed as a General Director of the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) on 2003 and conducted the restructuration and the merger of the two companies, and launched a new strategy of ONHYM.

In October 2007, she was appointed as a Minister in charge of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment (2007 – 2012). She launched the new energy strategy, the new water strategy and the national strategy for sustainable development with the setting up of a new institutional framework, news laws and dedicated financial instrument.

Mrs Benkhadra is speaker in several international institutions dealing with energy, mines and sustainable development.

She is member of several associations and awards (Wissam Al Arch, the order of Officer - Prize for Arab-European organization for environment-Legion of Honour from the Republic of France)

Keynote Speakers

KENNETH McDERMOTT

Structural Geologist – Integrated Subsurface Characterisation, Shell

Ken is a structural geologist with over 14 years post-graduate experience in government, academia, and industry. He holds a Ph.D. in structural geology and geophysics from the University of Birmingham, where he researched continental breakup and crustal hyper-extension using seismic data from the Irish Atlantic Margin and Iberia-Newfoundland system, and synthetic seismic data generated from field data from complex extensional provinces.

Before joining the industry, Ken was a post-doctoral researcher at University College Dublin, collaborating with a multinational, multidisciplinary team to create The NAGTEC Tectonostratigraphic Atlas for the Northeast Atlantic.

Ken's 11 years of industry experience, gained at ION and since 2019 at Shell, includes evaluating tectonomagmatic and geodynamic processes across various rifted margins formed from the breakup of Pangea. He has a particular focus on the Atlantic Margins, especially the South Atlantic conjugate systems. Ken integrates diverse geological datasets and disciplines to develop comprehensive plate-to-play solutions, ensuring acreage of interest is placed within its proper regional context.

Beyond hydrocarbon exploration and rifted margin evolution, Ken is also interested in new energy solutions like geothermal energy and natural hydrogen. He regularly presents at international conferences on tectonics and geodynamics, has co-authored/authored over 20 peer-reviewed articles, and served on technical committees for four conferences. He holds an Honorary Lectureship at the University of Aberdeen and is a Fellow of the Geological Society, London.

Wadii El Karkouri

EVP – Imaging and Technology, TGS

Wadii El Karkouri is the Executive Vice President of Imaging and Technology at TGS, based in Houston. His mission is to lead a global team of professionals who deliver high-quality seismic imaging and interpretation services, leveraging geophysical and digital technologies. Prior to this role, Wadii was a Global Sales Director of Amazon Web Services Energy and Utilities. AWS delivers the broadest and deepest cloud platform and industry solutions for energy companies to transform legacy operations. Prior to this, his experience was mainly in the Oilfield services industry, with SLB.

During his twenty-three years with SLB and WesternGeco, he has filled a variety of roles in field operations, executive management, sales and human resources management, with assignments in many countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and most recently was the SLB Vice-President of Sales and Commercial based out of Houston and SLB Vice-President Geo solutions. Prior to joining SLB, he briefly worked with TOTAL as a research engineer.

Wadii holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering from l’Institut National Polytechnique deGrenoble, and a master's in business administration from the Rotterdam School of Management.

PABLO Rodríguez

Exploration and Production Professional, ANCAP

Pablo Rodríguez is an Electrical Engineer with a Master's degree in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University. Since 2009, he has been part of ANCAP's Exploration and Production (E&P) department. Currently, he specializes in Energy Transition within the E&P sector, serving as a geophysical advisor and overseeing exploratory data management. He has also contributed as a Geology and Geophysics technical advisor to the Executive Branch Advisory Commission for Uruguay’sContinental Shelf, playing a key role in preparing technical reports submitted to theUnited Nations. His research focuses on geophysical exploration methods applied to energy resource assessment.

Andrew Pepper

Founder, This is Petroleum Systems LLC

This year Andy Pepper celebrates 44 years Industry experience as a geologist, petroleum systems analyst and leader: including at BP as Network Leader for Petroleum Systems; at Hess as Chief Geologist and then Director of Conventional and Unconventional New Ventures; and at BHP as VP Geoscience and VP Unconventional Exploration. He founded This is Petroleum Systems LLC in 2015 as a vehicle to collaborate and innovate in Petroleum Systems concepts, modeling and training.Some current and recent project areas encompass the Gulf of Mexico-Caribbean-Central Atlantic and Morocco to Equatorial Guinea on the West African conjugate margin; including working with students as Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston.

DOUGLAS PATON

Director, TectonKnow

Douglas Paton was awarded a PhD in structural geology from Edinburgh University on a thesis that investigated the role of crustal inheritance on continental break-up. The study focused on the Cape Fold Belt, South Africa and integrated onshore structural analysis with offshore basin analysis. After that he worked as a Conoco-Philips funded PDRA looking at the structural controls on fairway deposition in the North Sea. He then moved to GFZ Potsdam where he applied basin analysis concepts to petroleum system modelling in the Orange Basin (offshore South Africa). After a two year Chevron position at the Colorado School of Mines investigating structural controls on deep water clastic deposition, he moved to University of Leeds focusing on and lead a research group investigating structural modelling and impact on resource exploration, he was appointed Chair in Structural Geology and Basin Analysis. During his time at Leeds he was also the Director of the MSc Structural Geology with Geophysics.

Since 2020 he has set up an independent consulting company, TectonKnow, which has a focus on understanding and applying structural geology and restoration concepts to earth resources in complex structural and tectonic settings utilizing the 20 years exposure to structural geology modelling. His current work and expertise spans all scales from faults to basins to plate and includes technical project delivery and training.