Petrad Faculty

Sjur M. Aasheim is a geologist with a cand.real. degree from the University of Bergen, 1977. He was employed with Statoil for 30 years, where his positions have included Exploration and Production Manager UK, Vice president for Exploration in Norway and Vice President for field development for parts of Norway’s offshore sector. He has been assigned to positions in the US, Greenland, Libya and Angola.  Towards the end of his career with Statoil and afterwards as an independent consultant he has been engaged in developing and providing learning experiences for the petroleum sector. To this end he worked with Simprentis, the firm which developed the OilSim educational simulation, and currently with Schlumberger NExT following its acquisition of Simprentis.  

Mr. Ernst Abrahamsen obtained a Master’s Degree in Economics in Project Management from the University of Agder in 1983. He worked for Statoil for more than 30 years and gained experience in the different disciplines, in project and line management and at the corporate level. His professional skills are in the field of project control – products/services in the field planning, evaluation, and execution of a development project. He has experience from working with different types of facilities in relevant geographical areas and has a good understanding and knowledge of the most relevant parties and stakeholders within business development, supply industry and business understanding. He has been chief engineer for project control and corporate controller.

Theophilus Nyarko Ahwireng is a geophysicist and a leader in natural resource governance. He has had extensive and progressive technical, management and business responsibilities across the Upstream Petroleum Industry (UPI) value chain. He is a former Chief Executive of the Petroleum Commission - the UPI regulator in Ghana – which also has mandate for sustainability within the sector. He led the development of key legislation in the UPI, including the Petroleum Commission Act (Act 821), Petroleum Exploration and Production Act (919) and the Petroleum E&P Measurement Regulations (LI2246) and developed and implemented strategies for the Local Content and Local Participation Regulations (LI2204) resulting in significant growth in Indigenous participation in Ghana. Theo holds a BSc (Hons) Physics, KNUST Ghana; MSc in Exploration Geophysics, International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences, Delft, the Netherlands; and an Executive MBA in Finance, University of Ghana Business School. 

Inge Amundsen is a political scientist at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI), a Norwegian research institute focussing on local and global challenges and opportunities facing low- and middle-income countries and their citizens. His research includes democratic institutionalization, parliaments, political parties, political corruption, and natural resources (petroleum resources management and revenue management). His main study area is Malawi, Bangladesh, Angola, Ghana, Nigeria, and francophone West Africa. Amundsen received his PhD in comparative African studies at the University of Tromsø in 1997. He has been Research Director at CMI and Director of the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre.

Erik Andersen is a lead engineer with Statoil. He holds a master (MSc) degree in mechanical engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He joined Statoil in 1997 after 3 years as a process engineer with Brown & Root. He is currently responsible for experience gathering and benchmarking within the cost estimating unit in Statoil. Previous responsibilities include cost estimation for international LNG and FLNG projects, field development and cost estimation related to business development projects, license rounds and asset acquisitions worldwide, and partner follow-up of Western Africa deep-water projects.

Mr. Johnny Auestad recently retired following 35 years of work in various positions at the Norwegian Ministry of Environment, the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority, the Norwegian Climate and Pollution Agency and the Norwegian Environment Agency. During the last decade of his career he was coordinating his agency's sharing of regulatory experience in environmental management under the Norwegian Oil for Development program. Mr. Auestad holds a BSc degree in Environmental Sciences and MA in Natural Resource Economics.

Kjetil Bjorvatn is a professor of economics at the Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen. His Ph.D is from the same institution. His research interests include economic geography and development, microfinance and entrepreneurship, corruption, resources and growth, and foreign direct investments. His research publications include several studies on economic  issues in Africa and Asia.

Per Blystad holds a Cand. Real (PhD) in geology from University of Bergen. After a few years working in a cross-disciplinary project connected to a huge hydro-electric development project in the south-western mountain area in Norway, the Ulla-Førre Investigations, he joined the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) for more than 30 years working on petroleum resource management and project management. His working experience includes exploration and licensing, annual reporting to government from companies in relation to the revised annual national budget, resource assessments and methodology development of yet-to-find potential of petroleum on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. He was engaged in developing NPDs database for petroleum prospects, important for overview and analyses of undiscovered petroleum potential.  For six years Per coordinated the international projects in NPD aiming at assisting countries in Asia and Africa to develop national petroleum resource management systems and capacities. These projects were financed by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD). After this Per was seconded as project coordinator in Cooperating Committee for Geoscience Programmes in East and Southeast Asia (CCOP) for two years in a project on Resource Evaluation and Planning. Per has been engaged in developing NPD’s petroleum resource classification system. In 2001 he joined what is now the UNECE Expert Group on Resource Managment (EGRM). He has been member of the Bureau and chaired the Petroleum group until 2004. He later chaired the EGRM Mapping Task Force prior to and necessary for developing the generic UNFC-2009 classification. He is member of the EGRM and the EGRM Communications group.

Reidar B. Bratvold is Professor of Petroleum Investment and Decision Analysis at the University of Stavanger as well as at the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. His research interests include decision analysis, project valuation, portfolio analysis, real-option valuation, and behavioural challenges in decision-making. Prior to academia, he spent 15 years in the industry in various technical and management roles. He is a co-author of the book Making Good Decisions. Professor Bratvold has thrice served as an SPE Distinguished Lecturer. He is the 2015 recipient of the North Sea Region SPE Management & Information award and was recently appointed Executive Editor of the SPE Economics & Management Journal. He is a fellow and board member of the Society of Decision Professionals and was elected to the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences in 2007. He holds a Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering and an MSc in Mathematics, both from Stanford University, and has business and management science education from INSEAD and Stanford University.

Anne Grete Ellingsen is CEO of GCE Node, a petroleum and martime techology cluster which has been promoted to a Global Center of Excellence, located around the town of Kristiansand. She holds a master (MSc) degree in petroleum engineering and an executive master degree in energy management. She has been a deputy minister for energy, offshore platform manager (first woman to hold such position in the North Sea), an executive with two electricity companies, managing director of the Norwegian Confederation for Trade and Industries and founder of her own consultancy firm Energy&Management AS. She has broad insights in the overall energy sector including the related global environmental challenges, as well as industrial development related to the energy sector.  

Aboubacar FALL is a member of the Senegal Bar and a former member of the Paris Bar(France). He is currently working as partner at the pan-African law firm of GENI & KEBE based in Dakar (Senegal) but with 15 affiliate offices in the francophone West & Central Africa. He holds a Master in International Maritime Transportation from University of Paris-1- Pantheon-Sorbonne, a Ph.D. in International Maritime Trade from University of Rouen (France) and a LL.M in Law & Marine Affairs from University of Washington (Seattle). He worked for over 10 years as Principal Legal Counsel for the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group where his responsibilities included, among other things, drafting development policies and strategies including governance related ones, drafting and negotiating loan agreements with both African governments etc. Aboubacar served also for 3 years as member and Chairperson of the Management Board of the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) with the mission to providing funding to African countries for the procurement of legal assistance in the negotiation of complex commercial transactions (including oil & gas, PPP, infrastructure etc.).His areas of practice include natural resources, maritime shipping/ law of the sea, infrastructure and international arbitration. Aboubacar FALL is a Petrad 8-weeks programme alumnus (2009).

Olav Fjellså is VP Communication Aker BP. He holds a Master’s Degree in Economics and Statistics from the University of Oslo, 1980. After four years with the Norwegian Research Council he joined the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, where he became the section head for petroleum economics. He has performed interdisciplinary and economic analyses covering all major stages of the petroleum resource life cycle. He has more than 25 years of experience in decommissioning including; drafting the Norwegian decommissioning legislation, development of IMO’s Decommissioning Guidelines, policy, and legal advisor to several countries, and was engaged by the United Nations to develop worldwide taxation guidelines for decommissioning. He has been responsible for business development, industrial relations, and external communication. Olav Fjellså is Chairman of the Board at Petrad.

Bjørn G. From is an investment director within the Norwegian Ministry of Finance. He holds a master degree in business and economics from the Norwegian School of Management and a post graduate degree in economics from a German university. Before joining the Ministry of Finance in 2004 he worked with a large accounting firm in Norway, as a consultant with McKinsey & Company in Germany and within investment banking in Germany

Otto Granli holds a Master in economics and statistics and have more than 30 years of experience in the energy sector (ministries, directorate, and Statoil).  His career in Statoil includes senior positions in several business areas of the corporation, both in line-management and project management. His experience and competence is focused on: Leading and executing transactions along the gas value chain; Acquisitions and divestments of assets; Organic and non-organic business development in most parts of the hydrocarbon chain; Establishment and liquidation of companies; Development of management systems and governing documents; Government relations.

In his last years in Statoil he was project manager and commercial lead for several large upstream transactions in Norway and internationally. These included closing of agreements and transfer of large operatorships. After leaving Statoil he established his own consultant company, advising several petroleum and infrastructure companies.

Ove Tobias Gudmestad is Professor of Marine Technology at the University of Stavanger. He holds a Ph.D. in wave force analysis. For 33 years, he was employed with Statoil with responsibilities in field development engineering and research. His research focuses on marine and arctic technology, on which he has written several papers and books, also addressing risks related to earthquakes and other risks affecting installations in marine and arctic environments. In addition to his main affiliation with the University of Stavanger, he is an adjunct professor at the University of Tromsø and visiting professor at the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas in Moscow. He holds honorary doctoral degrees from two Russian universities. Ove Tobias Gudmestad has been a key contributor to Petrad programmes since the early 1990’s.

Nils Gunnar Gundersen is an independent consultant in petroleum offshore operations, management of large offshore projects and risk management. He holds a Marine Engineering degree from the University of Newcastle. His 50 years of marine and petroleum industry experience includes operations management of offshore drilling rigs, construction and major conversion projects. He has been Offshore Installation Manager (i.e Platform Manager) on several North Sea installations. His former employers include Shell (12 years) and Amoco (8 years). He has taught statutory requirements to the offshore industry for 15 years. He has been a frequent lecturer at Petrad courses in Norway and internationally. He is a member of the Business Continuity Institute.

Sigurd holds a BSc from the University of California and a SM degree in Geotechnology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has also received formal management training at IMD, Switzerland on international management and High Performance Boards. Sigurd has spent most of his working life in Government and industry working on petroleum resources management and strategy, both as Deputy director of resource management responsible for development and production at the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, as Petroleum exploration advisor to the Minister of Water, Energy and Minerals of Tanzania and as a member of Statoil’s Corporate strategy team. He chaired the Oil and gas reserves committee of the Society of Petroleum Engineers when the SPE Resource classification that later became the SPE-PRMS was developed and the UNECE Expert group on resource classification when the UNFC-2009 classification was developed. He has also chaired the Bureau of the UNECE Intergovernmental Committee on Sustainable Energy. Sigurd has engaged in education by helping to form and build PETRAD. He has been a lecturer at the MIT Sloan Executive Education and at the University of Stavanger. He has been guest editor with MIT Professor Donald Roy Lessard of “Innovation in oil and gas through partnering”, Elsevier’s Volume 3 of Energy Strategy Reviews. He joined Petrad as a Project Director in 2017.

Bjørn Kristoffersen is an advisor on environmental management related to the petroleum sector through his firm Eco-Management Support. He holds a Master’s Degree (MSc) in Civil Engineering from the Norwegian University of Technology and Science with specialization in environmental technology and management, socio-economics and spatial planning. Throughout his career, he has held several leading positions, first spending 10 years within public sector management/planning and later, 25 years for the Norwegian energy company, Statoil, with operations in 36 countries. After a broad international career for Statoil, such as Vice President with responsible for environmental and socio-economic aspects related to project developments in the northern regions worldwide, he established his own independent consultancy firm in 2008. In this position, he has advised governmental and corporate clients on environmental management in many countries. He has, for example, been an international consultant for the Governments of Ghana and Uganda on petroleum related Strategic Environmental Assessments, and he has developed Environmental Impact Assessment guidelines for oil and gas developments in Myanmar and Tanzania. He has delivered numerous training programs on environmental management for governments, companies, organizations, and universities worldwide.

Mr. Reidar Kristensen is a reservoir engineer with more than 40 years at University of Bergen, Statoil, and Norwegian Petroleum Directorate as a subsurface manager and EOR specialist. He has ample experience with reservoir diagnostics and EOR application of WAG, silica gel and PASF in Gullfaks, as well as international experience with projects in Venezuela, China and other countries.

Bjørn Erik Leerberg is a Partner of the law firm Simonsen Vogt Wiig (SVW). He received his education at the University of Oslo, Faculty of Law, and the Academy of International Law at the Hague. He is a fully licensed lawyer and worked previously in the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy from 1991 to 1998. His last position there was Deputy Director General, Head of petroleum law and legal affairs. He has also served as an assistant district judge has held various positions in the Norwegian Ministry of Justice. Prior to joining SVW he worked for five years in the tax and legal services of PwC. As a civil servant and later as a private practitioner he has rendered legal advice on international law, on the petroleum industry, its governance and law. He has participated in and managed consultancy work on behalf of international organisations including the UN, national or regional governments, state owned and private international oil companies in Africa, Europe, FSU, Latin America, the Middle East and in the Far East

Bjørn Letnes is Managing Director at Center for Petroleum Management (CPM) and Associate Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), in Trondheim Norway. He holds a PhD in Political Science and a Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering from NTNU. After working ten years as a petroleum engineer on the Norwegian continental shelf, he spent two years working with clients in the Norwegian petroleum industry as a senior researcher for the Norwegian research institute SINTEF. Since 2009 he has developed the research and consultancy company CPM and has worked with clients to manage petroleum operations at a corporate level as well as petroleum resources at a national level. He contributes to Petrad’s courses within the fields of overall public management of petroleum resources and the political economy of petroleum resource management. He has co-authored the forthcoming book, entitled Managing Resource Abundance and Wealth: The Norwegian Experience (Oxford University Press, co-authored with Jonathon Moses).

Arne Maurits Martinsen holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Petroleum Technology from the University of Stavanger. Before joining Statoil in 1978, he worked at a petroleum research institute in Trondheim for three years. After retiring from Statoil in June 2015. Arne Maurits has worked as a senior advisor, mainly with emergency response systems and training. During his 37-year career at Statoil, Arne Maurits gained broad experience from the complete petroleum development value chain. This includes heading up the production laboratories, being responsible for logging, testing and seismic activities during the exploration phase, and working as OIM on the Statfjord and the Gullfaks fields. Arne Maurits has headed the Safe Behaviour Program (an HSE Culture Program) in Norway and in Algeria. During his last years at Statoil, Arne Maurits worked internationally in countries such as Brazil, Venezuela, Angola, Tanzania, Canada, and USA. His primary responsibility during this period was compliance monitoring, emergency response training, HSE Culture Programs and GAP analysis of Statoil Governing Documentation towards Brazilian rules and regulations.

Jonathon Moses is Chairman of the Board at the Center for Petroleum Management (CPM) and a Professor of Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), in Trondheim, Norway.  He holds a PhD in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and has been working at NTNU since 1993.  He is the author of several books and articles, most of which address the sundry challenges of economic management in a global economy.  Among these titles is a forthcoming book, entitled Managing Resource Abundance and Wealth: The Norwegian Experience (Oxford University Press, co-authored with Bjørn Letnes).  At NTNU, and at various universities and workshop locations around the world, Moses has been teaching petroleum management to students and practitioners from all walks of life: including engineers; social scientists; government officials; and oil industry representatives. 

Arnfinn Nergaard is a professor within offshore-, marine-, and subsea technology. He is presently engaged as an international specialist lecturer and consultant. He holds master (MSc) degrees within Naval Architecture and Petroleum Engineering, and a Ph.D in Petroleum Engineering from Ntnu, the Norwegian University of Technology and Science. He worked 10 years as a Project Engineer/Manager within offshore field development with oil company Norsk Hydro (now part of Equinor). He worked 18 years as a Technology Manager/Director with drilling contractor Smedvig (now part of Seadrill). He worked 14 years as a professor at University of Stavanger with special responsibility for offshore- and subsea technology. He was initiator for establishing UiS’ successful International Master of Offshore Technology, year 2008. In the period 2016 to 2018 he was engaged as a co-author of the Norwegian Subsea Technology history with the Norwegian Oil Museum. Throughout his industrial career his professional focus has been technology development in petromaritime disciplines and operations related to drilling, subsea production and underwater construction. He holds an Honorary Membership of FFU, the Norwegian association for subsea remote operations.

Willy Olsen is a special advisor with Norwegian Energy Partners (previously known as Intsok), an organisation which promotes international capabilities for Norwegian petroleum related businesses. He holds a degree in economics from the Univesity of Oslo. He spent his early professional years in journalism before joining Statoil in 1980, where he held responsibilities for public and governmental relations, corporate strategy, exploration and production in the countries of the former Soviet Union and as an advisor to Statoil’s CEO. He is a Governor of the Board of Oxford Energy Institute, and an Associate Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.

Vidar Ovesen is an independent consultant on revenue management of natural resources and is engaged among others by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and its Oil for Development Program. Ovesen has worked for Norad’s Oil for Development Program in various countries since 2007. From 2007 to 2010, he worked as Fiscal Policy and Petroleum Fund Advisor with the Ministry of Finance, Timor-Leste, and from 2011 to 2013 as Oil Revenue Advisor with the Ministry of Finance, Commerce, Investment and Economic Planning, South Sudan. Since 2014 he has been working with the Ministry of Planning and Finance in Myanmar, including as a residential adviser to the Ministry in 2015.

In these positions he conducted training and capacity building for government officials and civil society, advised the governments on issues related to petroleum revenue management and Sovereign Wealth Funds and implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). Since 2011, he has also provided short-term technical assistance to several other governments, including Uganda, Kenya, Mongolia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Paraguay and Lebanon.

Ovesen worked with the Ministry of Finance of Norway from 1996 to 2001. In 2000 and 2001, he was appointed as Deputy Minister of Finance with responsibilities for macroeconomic policies, including natural resource management, and budget and monetary policies. From 2001 to 2007, Ovesen worked with the Norwegian utility company Hafslund ASA.

Anthony Paul has spent 39 years in the oil and gas industry, in technical, commercial, managerial and leadership roles spanning the value chain (licensing, regulating, exploration, appraisal, development and production). He has worked with the Trinidad & Tobago Ministry of Energy, Petrotrin (the national integrated oil and gas company), Amoco & BP’s Trinidad & Tobago subsidiary, BP (based in London) and Exxon, Houston. Presently, as a consultant, he uses his unique experience of having worked at senior levels on both the government and investor sides, to find mutually beneficial ways of ensuring that more value from the full chain is retained in the countries and regions of oil and gas production. He has advised governments, companies, multilateral agencies and NGOs in several countries in the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa and Timor-Leste.

Anthony holds a BSc (Hons) in Geology from Imperial College of Science & Technology, University of London and an MS in Geophysics from the University of Houston, Texas. He is a member of the Advisory Council of the Natural Resources Governance Institute.

Odd Raustein a MSc in Chemical Engineering from The Technical University of Trondheim, Norway (1973). In addition, he took numerous courses within petroleum economics, geology, reservoir engineering and petroleum production. He had various positions at the NPD within petroleum resource management, environmental and HSE issues through all phases of the petroleum activity. During 2008 – 2010 he worked as Resident Programme Coordinator for the Oil for Development programme in Timor Leste, “Assistance in developing the management of the petroleum sector in Timor Leste” (in Dili). From 2010 he was Programme Manager for the petroleum resource management component of the Norwegian Oil for Development (OFU) programmes in Timor Leste (until 2013), Uganda and Myanmar. He also worked with the Norwegian Oil Industry Association during 1997 – 2007, as Manager of OLF’s activity within environmental issues and Manager License Policy.

Laura Robinson assists governments with natural resource risk management as the President of Swale House Partners Inc.  She is a Certified Public Accountant (US), a Certified Fraud Examiner and holds an international certificate in enterprise risk management and a master’s degree in public administration (MPA) in International Energy Management and Policy.  She worked as a corporate auditor and  senior civil servant with the US Government prior to advising teams from foreign government institutions.

Morten Saxvik is an oil market analyst with Statoil. He holds a master (MSc) degree in chemical engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He joined Statoil in 1982, where he has worked mainly in market analysis for oil and other energy products, providing price forecasts as basis for investment and trading decisions.

Mr. Rolf Skatvedt has an engineering degree in Process Control Systems from Horten Technical University in 1980. During his career Mr. Skatvedt has been involved in planning, designing and project execution of process control systems, particularly within the field of fiscal metering. His consulting work both as metering specialist and manager of various companies in the field of fiscal metering, has been for most of the operating oil companies on the Norwegian continental shelf. Various oil companies have engaged Mr. Skatvedt as their Technical Authority representative for fiscal and C02 tax based metering and also C02 quota regime handling.

Mr. Skatvedt has been frequently called to participate in allocation audits and advising in technical dispute on fiscal metering issues.  He has given metering specialist assistance to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) when they performed metering audit in Mozambique and South Africa on behalf of INP. Mr. Skatvedt has been heavily involved in fiscal metering training and capacity building in Norway, but also in Sudan, Iraq, Iran and Nigeria on behalf of NPD.

Mr. Odd Skontorp is a Reservoir Engineer with more than 40 years at University of Oslo, Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, and Statoil. He has ample reservoir management and IOR/EOR experience at NCS and internationally in Azerbaijan, Iran, and Sudan. He was Chairman of the SPOR IOR/EOR R&D Technical Committee and of European IOR Symposia.

Dr Nashater Deu Solheim holds a doctorate in Psychology from University of Surrey, UK and advanced studies in Negotiations from Harvard Law School, at the Harvard Negotiation Institute.  She is the CEO and founder of Progressing Minds AS specialising in negotiation and influence training, strategy leadership and organisational development. In her career, so far, she has gained over 23 years of business leadership experience in diverse, complex organisations and across industries including Government UK & Norway, Corporate, Private & Public Health, Oil & Gas and including building her own businesses. During that time, she has also moderated events and conferences at the national level, has been an executive coach for senior leaders and teams, and has trained on competence in strategic thinking and influence. In Norway, as VP of Learning and Development at Statoil, she was globally responsible for the strategic governance and operations of competence development across the company’s value chain. Later she became VP of Strategy and Organisation at Petoro AS leading HR, ICT, HSE, procurement, communication and was directly responsible for establishing and developing Petoro's business strategy.

Harald Stokkeland is a consultant and process facilitator through his firm, SIC ltd. He holds a Master degree in political science from the University of Oslo and advanced studies in action-oriented, inter-disciplinary social science topics. His career since 1977 has been devoted to developing organizational, leadership, team and project capabilities in Norwegian and international institutions. He has worked with Norwegian public institutions as a consultant. He spent 10 years as a university college associate professor. Harald Stokkeland has undertaken assignments in more than 25 countries for institutions which include WHO, ILO, World Bank, UNDP and other international organizations. He has also written and co-authored several publications in his fields. He contributes regularly to Petrad’s 8 weeks programmes. 

Mr. Henrik Due Tønnessen is responsible in TMF Energy as Audit Manager specializing in O&G accounting with special focus on charges and allocations to the licenses on behalf of the JV partners and the regulators.  He has more than ten years’ experience from working with international oil companies assisting with allocation set-up, cost treatment and understanding of the relevant agreements.

Henrik has a Master’s degree in Tax Consultancy from the University of Navarra, a Master in Audit and Accounting from the NHH Norwegian School of Economics and a Master in Business Administration from the Audencia Ecole de Management (France).

Kjell Traa is a consultant and lecturer in oil and gas developments and operations. He holds a master (MSc) degree in engineering from the former Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and started his professional career more than 50 years ago with Norsk Hydro. He became involved in Norwegian oil and gas activities from the very beginning, initially leading a national team of experts with mission to establish the deep water pipeline technology required for landing of oil and gas in Norway. He was technical manager and later managing director of the Norpipe companies, which had offshore oil and gas pipeline export systems and onshore terminalling facilities

Dr. Kim Chi Tran-Gulbrandsen holds a BSc (First Class Honours) and a PhD in Chemistry from Murdoch University, Perth, Australia. She worked as a petroleum chemist in Australia, research scientist in France, program specialist in UNESCO (Thailand, Indonesia and France) and associate professor in Japan. In 2005, Dr. Tran-Gulbrandsen moved to Norway where she worked as research scientist at the Norwegian Water Research Institute (NIVA), senior adviser at the Royal Norwegian Society for Development (Norges Vel) and senior adviser at the International Section of the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE). During her work with NVE, she was seconded to the Liberian Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy in Monrovia, Liberia for two years (2011-2013) as a resident adviser. In May 2014, Dr. Tran-Gulbrandsen joined PETRAD as a project director. She is associated with the Petrad Faculty as a project manager, advisor and lecturer.

Berit Tvedt has a broad petroleum industry experience, having worked more than 30 years in Norwegian government and NOC institutions. She holds a Master's Degree in Economics from the University of Oslo. She joined the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) in 1985 and had management positions within exploration/concession round economics and field development economics. She moved to Statoil in 1990, and has extensive experience from management positions in all phases of the exploration and production value chain, including 13 years abroad within exploration and business development, focusing on offshore opportunities in countries such as USA (Gulf of Mexico), Canada, Alaska, Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico and Azerbaijan. She returned to Norway in 2013 and joined Petoro at the end of the year. She worked for Petoro until February 2016 as licence manager and was in charge of a portfolio of Petoro licenses offshore Norway, including producing fields, on behalf of the SDFI (the State's Direct Financial Interest). She is a member of the Board of Petrad, and is currently acting as Managing Director of Petrad.

is associated with the Petrad Faculty as a lecturer. Lars Tveter is a Chemical Engineer (MSc) from the Technical University of Trondheim (NTNU) and also holds an MBA in International Management. He has held senior managerial and technical positions in the oil companies North Energy and Total and in several companies supplying engineering and drilling services to the oil industry. He has broad international work experience from assignments, and as a resident in, the UK, France, Argentina, Egypt, Libya, and other African countries.

Dr. Twomey has a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Birmingham, a dual MSc in Applied Mechanics and Composite Materials, and a PhD in Applied Mechanics from University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). As the Managing Director of Reverse Engineering Services Ltd, Manchester, UK, Dr. Brian Twomey is responsible for decommissioning and abandonment operations planning, decommissioning engineering, peer review work, and cost analysis. His varied and vast experience includes more than 30 years of work on oil and gas decommissioning and pipeline issues and he has carried out decommissioning studies/work on over 800 offshore facilities, numerous subsea systems, sub-surface and onshore installations worldwide. Dr. Twomey has assisted in writing decommissioning guidelines for over 12 countries and worked with the United Nations ESCAP on decommissioning in South East Asia. Dr. Twomey has made over 150 presentations on various decommissioning topics worldwide.

Mr. Jan Vedøe has a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stavanger, Norway. He has more than 40 years of experience from various oil companies and contractors. He has held key roles in Project Control / Project Services, but mainly within Field Development in general, both in Norway and internationally. He has considerable experience with decision-making processes and requirements. He has held managerial positions throughout most of his working life.