SPEAKER PROFILES

Director, Middle East, Ricardo Gulf Technical Consultancy LLC

Akin Adamson is the Middle East Director for Ricardo Clean Energy & Environmental Solutions - a global strategic engineering and environmental consultancy with offices across the GCC. Ricardo advises public and private sector organisations on Air Quality, Energy, Water, Waste, Sustainability and Mobility strategies, technologies, and operations.

Previously, he was the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory’s (TRL’s) Regional Director for the Middle East. Before that, he held senior Director level roles at Nokia Siemens Networks, Telstra and A.T. Kearney.

He began his research career at London Business School in the energy sector and has lectured at both London Business School and the London School of Economics. He was educated at LSE, LBS and the University of Michigan, USA.

Bunker Trader, O Bunkering

Business Development Manager, Hormuz Marine

Harbour Master, SOHAR Port and Freezone

Batti joined SOHAR in 2004, just when the port began its operations. With 20+ years experience in the nautical and maritime industry, he specializes in navigation, seamanship, maritime communication, maritime safety, port operation, ship construction, cargo handling, meteorology, ship handling and manoeuvring, marine law and marine environmental law, logistics and supply chain.
 
In 2014, Batti was appointed as Harbour Master, for the marine department, and as member of SOHAR management team.

Global Head of Bunkering, TFG Marine

Kenneth Dam joined Trafigura’s fuel oil team in 2017 and in May 2019 became Co-Head of its newly formed bunkering team. In 2020, Kenneth was appointed Global Head of Bunkering for TFG Marine, a joint venture created between Trafigura and ship owning companies Frontline and Golden Ocean to supply quality marine fuels to ship owners at global strategic bunkering hubs.

Before joining Trafigura, from 2011 to 2016, Kenneth worked for Monjasa and played a key role in developing its West Africa bunkering operations. Before entering the marine fuel supply and shipping industry, Kenneth was a financial advisor for leading Danish financial services company Nykredit.

TFG Marine is a leading international marine fuel supply and procurement joint venture between physical commodity trading company Trafigura Group Pte and ship owning companies Frontline Ltd and Golden Ocean Group Ltd. Formed in 2020, the company provides modern, simplified and transparent services that bridge every stage of the bunkering process for its customers, supplying over 10 million metric tonnes of marine fuels per annum across 35 strategic bunkering hub locations globally.

General Manager, GTT Middle East LLC

Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Yemen

Chief Executive Officer, SOHAR Port

Emile Hoogsteden is an entrepreneurial executive with experience of over thirty years in developing global business partnerships in commercial shipping, ports, and the logistics industry. He will lead SOHAR Port into the next stage of expansion, robust business growth and energy transition towards becoming a fully integrated industrial port and logistics hub.

Results-driven with a focus on global trading and shipping lanes, the industry veteran will aim to accomplish SOHAR Port and Freezone’s potential as an engine for economic diversification, sustainability, and investment to meet Oman’s development goals. He boasts a strong track-record in the Senior Management Teams at P&O Nedlloyd B.V, APM Terminals International B.V and most recently the Port of Rotterdam where he was Vice President Commercial.

In conjunction with a commercially orientated mindset, as well as experience in dealing with international governmental authorities, Emile also possesses considerable expertise in defining and executing Commercial Digitalization strategies. During his career, Emile has been i.a. Member of the Board of the Sohar Industrial Port Company, Sohar International Development Company, Rotterdam Port Promotion Council, International Logistics Promotion Council, Greenport Venlo and Blocklab (Rotterdam Blockchain Fieldlab).

Emile holds a Master’s degree of Corporate Law from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and a host of diplomas in management and leadership. 

General Manager - B2B, Oman Oil

Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Oman

Managing Director, Marine and Energy Consulting Limited

Robin Meech is Managing Director of Marine and Energy Consulting, an independent consultancy established in 2001 focusing on the marine industry with an emphasis on the transport of energy. He has a particular interest in the bunker sector. He advises companies on environmental issues, forming alliances, purchasing strategies, organisation, new business ventures, credit insurance, logistics, IT systems and e-business. He has undertaken a number of assignments for the Major oil companies, suppliers, purchases and service organisations related to marine fuels as well as for the national oil companies, the EU and IMO. After two decades of pursuing lower sulphur emissions from shipping he is now immersed in the de-carbonisation the marine sector. He has been a director of an independent tanker company where his responsibilities included managing the purchasing of bunkers.  He is co-author of the book “Bunkers – An analysis of the Technical and Environmental Issues”. He is a past chairman of the International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA).

Managing Director, Middle East, Facts Global Energy

Dr Iman Nasseri, Managing Director - Middle East, is based in Dubai. He received his PhD in Economics in the United States, focusing on energy economics, in 2013.

In FGE, he is primarily focused on downstream oil and NGLs. Iman is responsible for Middle East oil research; he also works closely with the refining team and has been involved with FGE’s Annual World Refining Outlook since 2014.

Since Jan 2018, as MD of Middle East, Iman has been in charge of the FGE analysis and coverage of the Middle East for oil, NGLs, and power.

Iman holds a Master’s degree in Energy Systems Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in Iran, and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. He previously worked for Iran’s Institute for International Energy Studies (IIES), the research arm of the Ministry of Petroleum.

Before relocating to FGE-London in 2014 as a full-time consultant, Iman joined FGE's Hawaii office in 2009 on a part time basis, where he was involved with several refining and gas-related projects.

Managing Director, Metcore International Pte Ltd

Darrick is the founder and Managing Director of Metcore International Pte Ltd, a leading conformity assessment body in the marine bunkering, with over a decade of industry leadership.

Drawing on over 30 years of experience in supply chain, technical and operational areas at a major international oil and gas company, Darrick played a crucial role in pioneering the introduction of mass flow metering (MFM) systems to Singapore’ bunkering industry, which became mandatory in 2017.

Darrick served on the Singapore Technical Committee for Bunkering and contributed to the development of Singapore’s Standard for Mass Flow Metering Systems (SS648:2019). He is currently the convenor for the upcoming SS648:2024 edition.

Actively involved in the industry, he participates in the SSA Marine Fuels and Energy Committee, InterTanko’s Bunker Sub-Committee and IBIA’s bunker licensing & MFM workgroup.

Vice President - Sustainability, SOHAR PORT AND FREEZONE

Analytics Engineer, Metcore International Pte Ltd

Ting Jun has been an Analytics Engineer at Metcore International Pte Ltd, a leading specialist in bunker mass flow metering system since 2022. He is part of the expert team providing Coriolis MFM evaluation services to over 400 bunker tankers in Singapore and other major international ports.

With a background in Applied Physics, Ting Jun is an Authorised Verification Officer appointed by the Singapore Weights & Measures Office. He also serves as a signatory for Metcore’s Certification Schemes for MFM systems, accredited under ISO 17065:2012 Conformity Assessment – Requirements for Bodies Certifying Products and Services.

Captain Superintendent & Head of Department, Department of Maritime, National University of Science and Technology, International Maritime College Oman

Vice President – Commercial, SOHAR Port and Freezone

Managing Director, Shipping Strategy Limited

Mark Williams is founder and Managing Director of Shipping Strategy Ltd, a management consultancy based in the UK providing data-driven actionable insights on maritime and energy industries to clients including governments and regulators, ship owners, investors and charterers, trading houses and other actors in and around the shipping industry.

Mark is also Contributing Editor of Ship.Energy, the leading free-to-view website covering shipping’s path to zero carbon, and presenter of the popular ship.energy podcast. He is a Course Director at Lloyd’s Maritime Academy where he teaches four shipping related courses. Mark has 27 years’ experience in ship finance, broking and consultancy with companies like Informa, HSBC and Braemar Shipping Services. He is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers.