Speakers

Hon. Kerenga Kua

Minister of Petroleum and Energy

Papua New Guinea

David Manau

Secretary

Department for Petroleum & Energy

Dairi Vele

Secretary - Treasury Department

Papua New Guinea

Mr Dairi Vele is the Secretary for the Papua New Guinea Department of Treasury, a position he has held since August 2013. Interestingly, Dairi is the first Secretary for Treasury in PNG to have occupied the position his father the late Morea Vele held twice before. Dairi studied Economics at the Australian National University where he attained his Bachelors Degree in Economics in the year 2000. Prior to joining Treasury, Mr Vele was twice the Director of the Gas Projects Coordination Office from 2007 to 2010 and 2012 to 2013 where he was heavily involved in the successful negotiation of the PNG LNG project on behalf of the State. He was also the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Company of PNG (NPCP) from 2010 to 2011.

Wapu Sonk

Managing Director

Kumul Petroleum Holdings Ltd

Mr Sonk is the Managing Director of Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited (Kumul Petroleum), formerly National Petroleum Company PNG Holdings Limited.
Since his appointment as the Managing Director of NPCP in January 2013 and transitioning through to Kumul Petroleum, Mr Sonk has been the driving force behind building the Kumul Petroleum Holdings Ltd (formerly NPCP), where the highlight has been the successful legislative reforms that has lead to the birth of Kumul Petroleum as Papua New Guinea’s National Oil and Gas Corporation. The legislation now gives the NOC a strong foundation to grow and move forward.
Mr Sonk has over two decades of experience as a Papua New Guinean leader in the oil & gas industry. His career matured with the industry itself maturing from being an oil exporting country to now LNG exporter.
He has occupied numerous leadership roles in the Petroleum Industry of PNG since beginning his career with Chevron Nuigini Pty Ltd in 1997. These roles include Director – PNG LNG Project at IPBC, Chairperson of Society of Petroleum Engineers (PNG Section) (2011), Technical Manager at NPCP (Kroton), Drilling & Completions Engineer at Oil Search Head Office, Sydney, Drilling Rig Operations Supervisor, Field Coordinator - PNG to QLD Gas Pipeline Project FEED Team (2005) and Petroleum Engineer for Chevron.
Mr Sonk continues to be a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (Worldwide), and Institute of Engineers PNG.
Mr Sonk holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree (Mining Engineering) from the University of Technology, Lae, Papua New Guinea; a Diploma of Business (Business Management) from the Melbourne Business School, Mt Eliza Centre for Executive Education, Australia.

Douglas Mageo

Acting Chief Executive Officer

PNG Power

Augustine Mano

Managing Director

Mineral Resource Development Company (MRDC)

Mr Augustine Sanga Mano was appointed the Managing Director & CEO of Mineral Resources Development Company in March 2008. MRDC is a state owned entity that manages all Royalties and Equities for Landowners and Provincial Governments in Mining and Petroleum Projects in PNG. Mr Mano has been involved in both mining and petroleum industries for the last ten years. He has been actively involved in various capacity in construction, transport, finance, insurance, aviation and the hospitality industry. He is the Chairman of The Star Mountains Plaza, The Pearl Resort in Fiji, Taumeasina Hotels in Samoa and Inspac. He currently serves on the Boards of all MRDC Group of Companies namely, Mineral Resource Star Mountains, Mineral Resources Ok Tedi No.2, Petroleum Resources Kutubu, Petroleum Resources Moran and Petroleum Resources Gobe and many other subsidiaries of MRDC. He is also on the boards of Hevilift, PNG Air and Bank South Pacific (BSP).  

Paulus Ain

Commissioner & CEO

Independent Consumer & Competition Commission (ICCC)

Mr. Paulus Ain has sixteen (16) years of experience working within the ICCC as a senior staff member of the economic and competition regulator, since its creation in 2002. Of the 16 years with the ICCC, he has had 10 years of senior management experience and exposure.

Mr. Ain is an experienced and seasoned regulator and has played an important role in the evolution of effective competition and economic regulation in PNG since the introduction of competition frame work and economic regulation in PNG. He has been at the cutting edge of the development of the reformed competition frame work and has been intimately involved in some of the strategic developments in opening up other key sectors to competitive pressures resulting in the largest improvement in economic efficiency for the PNG economy as a whole.

He has been appointed to be the Commissioner of the ICCC in 2015 and has been in this role for 4 years.

Peter Koim

Director

Gas Project Coordinating Office 

Mr Peter Koim is a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Papua New Guinea, graduating in 1987. He has worked in the oil and gas sector in PNG for 22 years, 6 of which were focused in the downstream and 16 upstream. Peter has held senior positions at both ExxonMobil and Chevron and is now the Director, Gas Projects Coordination Office for the Government of Papua New Guinea.

Dr Fereidun Fesharaki

Chairman

FGE

Michael Binnion

Chairman of the Board

High Arctic

Michael Binnion is the President and CEO and founding shareholder of Questerre Energy, established in November 2000. Questerre is a public oil and gas production company with operations in Alberta, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Jordan. He has been a leader in the campaign for hydrocarbons in Quebec as Chairman of the Quebec Oil & Gas Association.

Mr. Binnion is a seasoned entrepreneur with a history of starting, financing and managing companies and not-for- profits. He has extensive experience as a board member for several high-tech companies in Canada. Additionally, he is the Executive Director of Rupert’s Crossing Ltd., a private merchant banking firm.

He is also Chairman of both High Arctic Energy Services and the Manning Foundation. Most recently he founded the Modern Miracle Network, an organization of Canadians wanting adult conversations including the benefits and not just the impacts of energy use.

A fifth-generation Albertan born in Calgary, Mr. Binnion is not only passionate about entrepreneurship but also a community-minded individual concerned with the prospects for future generations of Canadians. He is the founder and chairman of the Lesley Binnion Foundation for Disabled Sports, helping hundreds of kids and families make the extraordinary achievement of learning to ski a reality.

Mr. Binnion has published a peer reviewed geological paper in Marine and Petroleum Geology as well as two climate policy papers in Policy Options.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce with a major in Finance from the University of Alberta and is a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants of Alberta.

Andrew Tan

President & CEO Oceania

Chiyoda

Andrew  is  an  established  senior  executive  with  more  than  twenty  years  of  experience  ranging  from  various  leadership  capacities  spanning  project  engineering,  operations  and  business  development  across  Oil  &  Gas,  Mining,  Pharmaceutical  and  Semiconductor  industries. 

Andrew’s  exposure  to  international  markets  in  Australia,  Thailand,  Malaysia,  Vietnam,  Brunei,  Singapore,  Middle  East,  Papua  New  Guinea and  Diego  Garcia  enables  him  to  appreciate  and  manage  across  diverse  cultures.    Andrew’s  current  role  at  Chiyoda  involves  managing  the  operations  in  the  Oceania  Region which  currently  comprises  of  Papua  New  Guinea,  Australia,  East  Timor  and  New  Zealand.

Mairawesi Pulayasi

Senior Director Strategy & Innnovation

PNG Power

Anthony Nagul

Operations & Programs Manager

Kokoda Track Foundation

Anthony joined KTF in the capacity of Operations & Programs Manager in January 2019. Holding a Bachelor of Science, Anthony possesses over 8 years of experience in program management, resource and environmental management. He has provided technical assistance and advice, both permanent and consultancy roles, to organisations such as UPNG, CEPA, CCDA, NFA (Fisheries), Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), WorldFish, ADB, Wildlife Conservation Society, as well as multiple Provincial Governments. During this time, he has managed and implemented multiple community-based livelihood initiatives throughout PNG.  

Anthony hopes to value-add and continue the great work KTF is doing in the aid and development sector to improve the livelihoods of remote and marginalised communities around PNG.