First EAGE/VAPA Online ForumVenezuela's Upstream To Downstream
3-4 June 2021 | Online
MEET OUR SPEAKERS
Evanan Romero
Dr. Romero has decades of academic, operational and management experience in the energy industry, including senior ministerial responsibilities for energy in Venezuela. Dr. Romero was one of the founders of INTEVEP, PDVSA R&D Center for petroleum and petrochemicals and occupied the position of Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer for the first ten years of INTEVEP. Romero was in charge of the R&D portfolio of the National Petroleum Company [PDVSA] and of negotiating the Cooperation Agreement on energy technologies between Venezuela and the USA’s Department of Energy. He was also coordinator of other similar cooperative agreements with Germany, Canada and Brazil.
He served as Venezuela’s Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines and Managing Director of PDVSA from 1996 through early 1999. During those years, Dr. Romero participated in key energy policy issues, especially restructuring and opening of the Venezuelan Oil and Gas sectors to private investment or “the Apertura of the 1990s”.
In February 1999, Dr. Romero was granted by the US Government a senior Fulbright scholar appointment, retired from PDVSA and accepted an invitation to join the Kennedy School at Harvard University as a visiting scholar and later as a fellow at the Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas in Austin, working on energy reform and energy integration.
In November of 2002, the World Economic Forum’s Latin America Summit 2002 asked Romero to chair the round-table discussion “Wealth of Energy Resources: Private or Public?” where the leading figures of the region had gathered to evaluate this important issue.
As CEO of a petroleum and geology consulting group, Romero has been directing studies and providing consulting services in Mexico, Paraguay, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Panama and Venezuela.
Dr. Romero is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers “SPE” and has degrees in Petroleum Engineering of Zulia University in Venezuela; MS in Petroleum Engineering of Tulsa University in Tulsa, Oklahoma and an Engineer’s Management Option [Professional Doctor] of Stanford University, California.
Tomás Mata
Tomas Mata is a petroleum engineer with over 40 years of experience in oil and gas field development and operations. Mr. Mata graduated from the University of Tulsa. He held various technical and Senior Executive positions in Drilling and Production Operations, Field Development Manager, and Chief Technology Officer in PDVSA, the NOC of Venezuela. He was also General Manager of PDVSA’s Eastern Business Unit, responsible for producing over a million barrels of oil per day. Mr. Mata led Field Development Management initiatives for giant oil and gas condensate assets for ADCO, in Abu Dhabi. From 2014 to 2016, he was the SVP of Development and Operations of Gas and Light Oil assets for Pacific E&P in Colombia.
While at PDVSA, Mr. Mata also presided two joint ventures between PDVSA and two large public universities in Venezuela (UCV and UDO) and acted as Director of Administradora la Ceiba (PDVSA, Exxon Mobil and Veba Oil). He also led the three international coal mining firms in Venezuela (Carbozulia, Carbones del Guasare, and Carbones de la Guajira).
Mr. Mata is an active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), contributing as a Reserves Committee member and presiding over the SPE LACPEC meeting in 1999. He enjoys sharing ideas as a speaker in international conferences and writing technical publications, encouraging the value of innovations to improve business performance.
Mr. Tomas Mata also maintains a vast network able to articulate advice on energy development and technology adoption, especially in the fields associated with energy transition. He and his close associates have acted as trusted advisors in Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Nigeria, Venezuela, and the UAE. Tomas possesses expertise in subsurface modeling, artificial lift, well drilling and completions, field development planning, production operations, automation, reserves valuation, renewable energy, hydrogen generation, portfolio management, and financial modeling.
On the side, Tomas Mata is a jazz aficionado and an avid tenor saxophone player.
Francisco Monaldi
Francisco J. Monaldi, Ph.D., is the fellow in Latin American energy policy and the director of the Latin America Energy Program at the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, a fellow at the Center for the United States and Mexico, and a lecturer in energy economics at Rice University. He is also the founding director and a professor at the Center for Energy and the Environment at IESA in Venezuela, and a visiting professor at the School of Government at the Tecnológico de Monterrey in México.
Previously, Dr. Monaldi has been a visiting professor at Harvard University, Stanford University, and Tufts University, and a fellow at the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School, the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, and Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He was a lecturer at UCAB in Caracas, and a visiting lecturer at Uniandes in Bogota, ESAN in Lima, and The Graduate Institute in Geneva.
Monaldi is a leading scholar on the politics and economics of the oil industry and oil wealth management in Latin America and developing countries. He has consulted with numerous international institutions, governments, and corporations.
Monaldi has authored numerous academic publications, including “The Cyclical Phenomenon of Resource Nationalism in Latin America” in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia (2020). He holds a Ph.D. in political economy from Stanford University, an M.A. in international and development economics from Yale University and a Bachelor’s in economics from Universidad Católica Andrés Bello.
Enzo Aconcha
Enzo has crafted a 21+ years career helping subsurface multidisciplinary teams finding, characterizing and delivering petroleum-based energy resources. Enzo is also very well motivated in continuing helping organizations to improve their energy resources management capacities while strengthening sustainable pathways. In the last 6 years, he has worked with Ryder Scott Co. implementing oil and gas resources management tools and providing resources and reserves booking, auditing and certifications. More recently, Enzo is contributing to reserves/resources committee activities of several professional and multinational organizations such as the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), the Society of Exploration Geophysicist (SEG) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). Enzo is pursuing an MBA in Renewables from Beuth University of Applied Sciences in Berlin (Germany) and holds a M.Sc. in carbonates stratigraphy from University of Texas at Austin, a M.Sc. and Engineering in petroleum geology from Institute Francais du Petrole (France), and a B.Sc. in geophysical engineering from Universidad Simón Bolívar (Venezuela). During his first 15 years of work experience within the oil & gas industry, Enzo built a sounded expertise in the geophysical and geological aspects of exploration, prospect delineation and reservoir characterization while working for Chevron, Afren Resources, Schlumberger and the Bureau of Economic Geology of Texas (BEG).
Lino Carrillo
Lino Carrillo received his MSc. and BSc. in Chemical Engineering from The University of Oklahoma. He has 40 years of experience in the oil and gas industry in Venezuela, the US and Canada.
He started his professional career in PDVSA at the Cardón refinery. He held executive positions leading the operations team both at Cardón and Amuay refineries, and the start-up of Sincor, a joint venture with Total and Statoil. He was the New Business Manager for the Refining, Supply and Trade division. In 2004 he served as Director of Reliability Engineering for Suncor Energy in Canada. He then served as Vice President of Technology and Business Development and Chief Operating Officer of a private equity firm where he successfully restructured the company after it had filed for bankruptcy. He then returned to the operational area as General Manager of Operations of Nexen Energy Inc. and later as General Manager of the bitumen upgrader business unit. In 2017, he ventured into the petrochemical industry as a plant general manager to produce specialized industrial greases and lubricant additives until the end of 2019. At this time, he is engaged in professional and executive consulting through Optimance, Inc. founded by him.
Juan A. Chacin
Mr. Chacin is the President of the Ad Hoc Administrative Board of the Corporación Venezolana del Petroleo, S. A. (CVP, wholly-owned subsidiary of PDVSA).
Prior to this position, he held various board and leadership roles as executive as well as in management with Schlumberger, McKinsey & Company, TD Williamson and Aspen Technologies, with direct responsibility in global operations, business development, joint ventures and alliances, sales management, strategy, turnarounds, project management, technology investment, management consulting, regulatory compliance in Asia, Middle East, the Americas with IOC’s, NOC’s, and multinational oilfield products and services. He was a core team member in Argentina oil & gas industry privatization.
He holds and MBA form the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, Massachusetts
and a Bachelor of Science (Mechanical Engineering), Simon Bolivar University, Caracas, Venezuela.
He is a past director of the Venezuelan Petroleum Chamber, member of the Petroleum Industry Affairs Commission of Fede-Camaras (Venezuela) and member of the Latin American Chamber of Commerce, Singapore.
Mr. Chacin is based in Houston, Texas.
Tyrone Perdomo
Chemical Engineer, Universidad Central de Venezuela; Master in Petrochemical Processes, Universidad Central de Venezuela; Master in Advanced Chemical Engineering at the University of Manchester, Manchester, England.
He has more than 40 years of experience in downstream sector of the Oil and Gas industry. This includes an active participation in areas of Supply and Trading. He was responsible for PDVSA Heavy and extra Heavy crude sales in the United States and Europe. Sales of products in the United States, Caribbean, Central and South America.
Crude purchases for PDVSA obligations in the Ruhr Oel System in Germany. Substitution of Venezuelan crude oil by foreign crude oil in the mother company refining system in Venezuela, Curaçao and German Refinery System. Purchases of third-party production for the sale of crude oil and products both within the United States (CITGO, Exxon, Shell, BP among other refiners), and to the international market. Installation of the PDVSA Trading Office in Houston. Foundation and installation of infrastructure and commercial risk management in PDVSA.
Presently, President of Syn Oil-Chem LLC, a Consulting Company registered in Texas in 2003. Consultant services are accomplished by participating in activities downstream the purchase and sale of crude oil and products. Benefit can be added through project financing by attaching financial instruments to crude sales contracts.
Luis A. Pacheco
Dr. Pacheco has 40 years of experience in the energy sector, including 17 years in the Venezuelan oil industry (1986-2003) where he held a number of senior positions including: CEO of BITOR (PDVSA’s heavy oil affiliate) and Executive Director of Corporate Planning. From 2008 to 2016, he held the position of Senior VP of Strategy and IT in Pacific Exploration and Production, the largest private oil & gas company in Colombia and Peru. Dr. Pacheco got his first degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Zulia, Venezuela (1974); he also holds a M.Sc. degree from Manchester University (1976) and a PhD from Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London (1980).
From 2019 to 2020 Dr. Pacheco was president of the Administrative ad hoc Board of PDVSA, a board appointed by the Venezuelan National Assembly to have oversight of overseas assets. He is currently a Nonresident Fellow at the Baker Institute in Rice University and has lectured at Universidad Simon Bolivar in Venezuela as well as guest lecturer at IESA, UNIANDES, Universidad Sergio Arboleda, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Harvard University and Georgetown University.
Luis Stefanelli B.
Is a civil engineer graduated with honors from the Carabobo University where he worked for several years as a professor in the advanced structures area, occupying the same position at the Francisco de Miranda University in the state of Falcón.
At the age of 21, he held the position of municipal engineer in the mayor's office of Puerto Cabello, his hometown, and then at the age of 24, he held the position of Public Works of Edo Director, Carabobo. A position which he would also occupy years later and for a year in the Falcón state government.
He was elected deputy to the Congress of the Republic by the Falcón State for the period 1993/1998, being reelected for the period 1999/2004, during that year, he led the approval of two very important laws for his state: The Law of Special Economic Assignments and the Law of Creation and Regime of the Paraguaná Free Zone. Elected deputy to the National Assembly period 2016/2021, he consigned before this body the Law of Reform of the Law of Creation and Regime of the Paraguaná Free Zone, the Organic Law of Tourism and the Organic Law of Hydrocarbons projects that rest in the bosom of the National Assembly for its approval when the conditions of the country allow it.
In his parliamentary exercise he held the positions of: President of the Youth, Recreation and Sports Commission of the Congress of the Republic, President of the Media Commission of the same Congress and vice president of the Internal Policy Commission of the National Assembly, as a member of The Energy and Petroleum Commission of the National Assembly. He was responsible for coordinating the drafting of the New Organic Hydrocarbons Law.
In the private sector he has worked in various areas. As president founding of the INSICA Company dedicated to the measurement of public opinion, general manager of Pesquera Punto Pesca fishing company, Principal Director of Stefanelli Inc., processor and exporter of Shrimp, Vice President of the INCONASA company dedicated to shipyard and metalworking activities in general, partner and director of development Las Cumacas, a company dedicated to the construction of urban planning and housing.
He has held various political positions since his inception as Secretary General of Copei in Falcón State, to Regional Head of the Popular Will party in the same state. He is currently a member of the National leadership of the same VPa party and president of the Energy Board for the VP proposal in the area of energy and oil.