Industry Breakfast: Offshore Russia Oil and Gas Opportunities

Wednesday, 3 May 2006

The US Department of Commerce and the Offshore Technology Conference organize the Industry Breakfasts. Industry Breakfast tickets are US $25 each. Seating is limited, so participants are encouraged to purchase tickets with registration.

Russian government officials and other experts will describe Russia's new plans for developing the oil and gas resources on its continental shelf, possible opportunities for foreign companies, and Russia's fiscal and regulatory regime for such development. According to the Russian government, about 4 million square kilometers of Russia's continental shelf are suited for development and could produce up to 320 billion cubic meters of gas and 95 million tons of oil per year.

Participants and Topics

Moderator
Joseph Neuhoff III, Director, Office of Energy & Environmental Industries, U.S. Department of Commerce
Joseph Neuhoff is director of the Office of Energy and Environmental Industries, part of the International Trade Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce. As a member of President Bush’s administration, Neuhoff works closely with government and industry leaders worldwide to advocate for US industry on issues of domestic and international competitiveness. During his tenure at Commerce, Neuhoff has represented the Department at a number of senior-level policy discussions and participated in the inaugural Ministerial for the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate. Before joining Commerce, Neuhoff worked in both the manufacturing and oil and gas sectors. He has a broad background in management and business development, including identification of new commercial opportunities, negotiation of alliances and joint ventures, as well as strategic planning. His last role was business development manager for a medium-sized Dallas, Texas metal fabricator, where he engineered a corporate turnaround of four consecutive quarters of profitability.

Neuhoff holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the University of Dallas.

Russia’s Plans for Offshore Oil and Gas Development
Sergey Feodorov, Director of the Department for State Policy and Regulation of Natural Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation

Julia Nanay, Senior Director, PFC Energy
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Julia Nanay is a senior director at PFC Energy and heads up the Russia and Caspian Service, where she provides clients with risk analyses for investments in the oil and gas industry concentrating on Russia and the Caspian region. Nanay works closely with clients on identifying the political, economic and oil and gas sector risks in countries from the ground-up, with in-depth contacts inside many of the countries she works on. She focuses on the oil and gas sectors of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. She has worked in the oil industry in various capacities since 1976. Before joining PFC Energy, she was a vice president of The Charter Oil Company, a Jacksonville-based refining/marketing concern, heading their Washington office. Previous to that, she was the xecutive assistant to the vice president for international of Northeast Petroleum Industries, Inc., a Boston-based independent marketer. She received a BA from the University of California at Los Angeles and an MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Frequent Legal Issues for Contractors on Sakhalin Offshore Oil and Gas Projects
Jonathan Russin, Managing Partner, Russin & Vecchi
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Jonathan Russin is managing partner of the Russin & Vecchi’s Russian Practice Group and is a resident in Moscow where he directs the firm’s offices in Moscow, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Vladivostok. He has been advising clients about Russian legal issues since 1988. In 1997 Russin became counsel to Mobil New Exploration & Production Ventures for the development of offshore oil and gas resources under the Sakhalin III PSA. He and the Russian Practice Group now provide advice to the PSA operators and their contractors and suppliers doing business on Sakhalin. Russin specializes in international commercial and investment matters and practiced law in Latin America for two decades before establishing the firm’s Russian operations. He is a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School and a member of the bar of the District of Columbia.