What the Low-Carbon Transition Means for Oil and Gas Demand

David Doherty

Oil Team Lead

BNEF

David leads BNEF’s oil team and is based in London. Prior to BNEF, David spent time as a trader with Citibank before joining Wood Mackenzie as a Senior Analyst, covering Europe, Africa and the Caspian region. David holds a BSc in Financial and Actuarial Mathematics from Dublin City University and an MSc in Finance from Imperial College London.

Julia Attwood

Head of Sustainable Materials

BloombergNEF

Julia Attwood leads the Sustainable Materials team at BloombergNEF. She writes about pathways to decarbonisation for heavy industry, focusing on the circular economy, CCUS, and sustainable materials.

Prior to this, she was BNEF's expert in lithium-ion battery technologies, costs and supply chain. Before joining BNEF, Julia researched advanced polymer composites. She holds a PhD in Materials Engineering from the University of Cambridge.

Bob Maughon, Ph.D

CTO and CSO; Executive Vice President Sustainability, Technology & Innovation

SABIC

Bob Maughon is the executive vice president, Sustainability, Technology & Innovation and Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer at SABIC. He oversees a global organization with 20 research centers around the world and a talented team focused on driving process, product and application innovation to support SABIC’s growth agenda. Additionally, Maughon has responsibility for Corporate Sustainability, Product Stewardship, Technology Licensing and Technology Ventures. Dr. Maughon joins SABIC after a 21 year career at Dow, where he most recently served from 2013-2019 as the R&D vice president for Packaging & Specialty Plastics and Hydrocarbons at Dow. Maughon serves as a board member of the University of Michigan Engineering Leadership Advisory Board and the AspenTech Executive Advisory Board. He holds nine U.S. Patents and has numerous publications and presentations at external conferences. Maughon earned his BA degree in chemistry from Rice University and his PhD in organic chemistry from the California Institute of Technology.

Bjorn Otto Sverdrup

Chair

Oil and Gas Climate Initiative

Bjørn Otto Sverdrup is Vice President in Equinor. Since 2007 he has been a Vice President and member of several of Equinor’s top Management Committees, including Exploration and Development Norway, Development, Production International and Senior Vice President for Sustainability. In 2021 he became Chairman of the Executive committee for OGCI. The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) is a uniquely CEO-led initiative that aims to accelerate the industry response to climate change. OGCI member companies include Shell, bp, Total, Saudi Aramco, Exxon Chevron, ENI, Repsol, CNPC. Petrobras, Oxy and Equinor, who all support the Paris Agreement and its aims. As leaders in the industry, accounting for almost 30% of global operated oil and gas production, OGCI aim to expand the pace and scope of the transition to a low-carbon future. Sverdrup is also a Board member of the OGCI 1bn USD Climate Investment fund. Following the 2011 terrorist attacks in Norway, Sverdrup served as chief of staff for the government-appointed commission investigating the attacks. Sverdrup also served at The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) as advisor and National expert to the EU Commission on corporate social responsibility. He was part of the integration planning committee for the merger between Statoil and Hydro Oil and Energy in 2007. Sverdrup is a member of the Board of Directors at Norway’s largest university, NTNU and a member of the advisory board at the master program of the Grantham Institute of the Imperial College in London. Sverdrup is a political scientist and former research fellow from the University of Oslo. He lives in Oslo and is the father of three children.

Dr. Leila Benali

Chief Economist

International Energy Forum

Dr. Leila Benali is an international expert in energy and infrastructure, strategic planning, investments, and energy diplomacy. She has extensive experience of managing masterplans, corporate strategy, finance and strategic acquisitions. She contributed to drafting a hydrocarbons law, a national economic strategy, creating a gas company, to several price and institutional reforms, in addition to multiple commercial transactions and major projects. She recently joined the International Energy Forum, the world’s largest energy organization with +70 countries, as Chief Economist. Before that, she was the Chief Economist and head of Strategy and Sustainability at the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP). Dr. Benali spent several years in Saudi Aramco where she led the company’s energy policy and its gas strategy. She was also director at IHS, a global research in security and energy, in addition to being visiting professor at Sciences Po and industrial engineer at Schlumberger. She holds a MS in Industrial Engineering from Centrale Paris, a MS in political science and PhD Summa Cum Laude in Economics from Sciences Po. In December 2019, she was appointed by Morocco’s King HRH Mohamed VI in the Special Committee for the Development Model. She was distinguished as future leader 2016 by the Petroleum Economist, as one individual most likely to shape the future of the industry in the coming years.