Wednesday 11th May 2011 Leo Koot, Managing Director of TAQA Bratani

Leo Koot was born in the Netherlands on 6th March 1963. After completing a Masters Degree in Petroleum Engineer at Delft University, Leo joined Shell International as a Petroleum Engineer, quickly working his way to a senior position in project management in UK, Holland, West Africa and the Far East.

He joined the Shell & Halliburton JV, WellDynamics in 2000, with responsibility for the portfolio in Europe, the Former Soviet Union and the Middle East, before moving to EDP as Chief Executive Officer, establishing the company as a private equity energy fund and an E&P operator in the UK.

Early 2008 Leo joined TAQA Bratani Limited, a fully integrated upstream Exploration and Production company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PSJA (TAQA). He has managed the transition of four major UKCS offshore North Sea operated assets from Shell U.K. Limited and Esso Exploration and Production (U.K.) Limited into the TAQA portfolio and has taken the company from a small office with 7 personnel to purpose-built headquarters in Aberdeen employing some 800 personnel, directly and indirectly, within a year.

TAQA aims to become a leading upstream company in the UK by building a balanced portfolio of initially upstream oil and gas assets, unlocking their true potential through the recruitment of the highest calibre of industry professionals.

Thursday 12th May 2011 Martin Rune Pedersen, Managing Director of Maersk Oil UK

Danish born Martin Rune Pedersen (39) joined Maersk Oil in 1997 as a well site engineer in the drilling department. In 1998 he was posted to Maersk Oil, Qatar, working with drilling activities offshore and onshore.

In 1999 he transferred to the petroleum engineering department in Denmark where he worked a reservoir engineer, team leader, and finally head of the Tyra gas assets until 2005, and then took over responsibility of reservoir management and development of the Dan, Halfdan, Kraka and Regnar fields. Martin transferred to Aberdeen in 2007 as director of petroleum engineering and took over as managing director in September 2010.

Martin holds an MSc in Engineering from Aalborg University, Denmark, and a diploma degree from Copenhagen Business School in Management Accounting and Process Management. He is married with two children.