Official Event Advisory Panel of the 3rd annual Australian Domestic Gas Outlook 2015 conference held in Sydney in March
The expert advisory panel has worked with Quest Events to ensure timely, in-depth coverage of the key topics in the industry. These well-known industry figures have lent their vast knowledge to the event to ensure the right, high level speakers are there providing attendees with the information they need.
Quest Events would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the panel members below who are contributing their valuable time and expertise to ensure the conference agenda is timely and relevant for all stakeholders in the domestic gas sector.
Keith Orchison
Director
Coolibah Pty Ltd (Panel Chair)
Keith has been involved in Australian resources and industry policy issues management and communications for 34 years. He has been a communicator for 55 years, starting as a journalist in South Africa in 1959 and emigrating to Australia in 1970. He served for four years in the 1970s as public affairs manager of Associated Pulp & Paper Mills Limited and for three years as head of public relations at La Trobe University, Melbourne. He was chief executive of what is now APPEA for 11 years and of the Electricity Supply Association of Australia for 12 years. From 2003 to 2007 he chaired the energy committee of the Critical Infrastructure Advisory Council for the Howard government. He has also been chairman of the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network and of the CSIRO Energy Technology Advisory Committee. Today he runs his own energy advisory business as Coolibah Pty Ltd and is publisher of the blog “This is Power” and of the Coolibah monthly newsletter. He is also the editor of the “OnPower” website and yearbook and he contributes a commentary on energy issues regularly to “Business Spectator.” He was editor of the “Powering Australia” yearbook from 2007 to 2012. Keith is also engaged in the organisation and chairing of a series of energy outlook conferences. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2004 and in 2012 was recipient of AusIMM’s Sir Willis Connolly Memorial Medal for outstanding communication about the mining and resources sectors.
"Having worked with Jamie Turmanis from Quest Events for many years, I have confidence in his ability to stage worthwhile conferences on energy issues -- and I am committed to helping to build the communication of understanding of Australia's energy policy, potential and problems at a critical time in the national investment cycle. There is a huge amount of talk in the media about energy issues, but not enough understanding of the underlying pressures and needs."
Rob Wheals
Group Executive Transmission
APA Group
As Group Executive Transmission, Rob is responsible for both the commercial and operational performance of APA Group’s transmission and gas storage assets. Rob joined APA Group in 2008 as General Manager - Commercial and moved into the position of Group Executive - Transmission in 2012. He has been responsible for managing the organic expansion of APA Group’s gas transmission and storage portfolio, totalling in excess of $1 billion of capital projects over this time. Rob’s previous experience is in the telecommunications sector where he covered areas such as operational and financial performance, business development, regulatory, mergers and acquisitions and strategic developments. He is passionate about ensuring a strong customer focus, as well as improving service performance and business operational efficiency. Rob has tertiary qualifications in finance and management and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Directors.
Clyde Russell
Asia Commodities and Energy Analyst
Thomson Reuters
Clyde Russell is Asia Commodities and Energy Columnist at Reuters. He writes about trends in commodity and energy markets, with a particular focus on the rise of China, and its impact on oil, coal and metals markets. He has been a journalist and editor for 25 years covering everything from wars in Africa to the current resources boom. Born in Glasgow, he has lived in Johannesburg, Sydney, Singapore and now splits his time between Tasmania and Asia. During a decade in living in Australia, Clyde covered the rapid development of liquefied natural gas projects and the increasing focus on exploiting coal-bed methane for export. He also wrote on the impact of the massive expansion of coal and iron ore projects by companies such as BHP Billiton Ltd. on the Australian economy. Prior to returning to Reuters in 2011, Clyde ran Bloomberg’s energy coverage for Asia and Australian financial markets for Dow Jones. Prior to moving to Sydney in 2000, Clyde worked as an editor for Reuters in Johannesburg covering gold and precious metals as well as the development of post-apartheid South Africa. Before becoming a financial journalist in 1996, Clyde covered civil wars in Angola, Mozambique and other African hotspots for Agence-France Presse.
Barry Goldstein
Executive Director Energy and Resources
South Australian Department of Manufacturing, Innovation, Trade, Resources and Energy
Barry Goldstein has more than 30 years international experience in energy businesses.
He is Executive Director for South Australia’s Energy Resources Division, leading a team of geoscientists, engineers, licensing and royalty specialists, and support staff. This is a team of both hunters and games-keeper e.g. both attracts and regulates investment. This team is focused on the delivery of regulatory nirvana for resources projects and published a roadmap for unconventional gas projects in December 2012. This team is also responsible for developing policies for, auditing and collecting petroleum and mining royalties.
He serves on several national (Australian) government committees focused on the deployment of leading practice regulation, the direction of research and investment attraction for petroleum, geothermal energy, and greenhouse gas storage – providing advice to State, Territory and Commonwealth Minerals and Energy Resource Ministers.
Prior to joining the South Australian Government, Barry was Exploration Manager and Chief Geologist for Santos, Chief Geologist - Bridge Oil, and Chief Geologist – Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Corporation after starting with Phillips Petroleum. He has explored for and discovered energy resources the North Sea, Indonesia, Australia, PNG, and South America.
Barry serves as the American Association of Petroleum Geologist’s Asia-Pacific EMD Councillor, AAPG House of Delegates representative for the Asia – Pacific region, member of the Australian (Federal) Government Expert Panel for geothermal energy, and also serves on the South Australian Centre for Geothermal Energy Research and the Australian School of Petroleum.
Barry is also the Chairman of the organising committee for the World Geothermal Congress 2015 in Melbourne, the Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee of the International Energy Agency’s Geothermal Implementing Agreement, the Chairman for the 2015 World Geothermal Conference, a member of the Board for the Geothermal Resource Council (USA) and Chairman of the Australian Geothermal Energy Group.
He is a past President of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia (PESA), and has served on the Boards of PESA (2001-7), the Australian Geoscience Council (2004-7), and the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technologic Societies (2004-7). He is a Coordinating Lead Author for the IPCC’s 2012 Special Report on Renewable Energy (Geothermal), provided the entry covering geothermal energy in Springer’s Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology and was a member of Australia’s Carbon Storage Task Force. In recognition of his work for the betterment of geoscience, Barry received the AAPG’s Distinguished Service Award in April 2008. He graduated from the University of New York (Bachelors – Geology, 1975) and the University of Missouri (Masters – Geology, 1977). Last, Barry has a sense of humour.
Joel Grant
Corporate Affairs Manager
Origin Energy