Qatar’s Energy Management Development Programme

The Qatar Finance & Business Academy (QFBA) and Pricewaterhouse Qatar (PwC) jointly held a conference on a wide number of key themes affecting the Energy industry.

The event held at QFBA’s learning premises in West Bay Tuesday, June 19th attracted senior level panellists including His Excellency John Groffen, Her Majesty’s Dutch Ambassador to Qatar; Dr Abdulaziz Al-Horr, QFBA Chief Executive Officer; Mr Roger Hickman, Executive Director of Finance at Tasweeq; Mr Garry Looker, Chief Operation Officer Finance in QatarGas; and Mr Jeroen van Hoof, PwC’s Global Power & Utilities Leader.

The panel was moderated by Mr Christopher Box, PwC’s Middle East HR leader. Energy experts present also included Professor of Economics & Energy Jan Willem Velthuijsen and Mr Paul Navratil, PwC’s Middle East Energy leader. The audience was comprised of attendees from Shell, Qatar Petroleum (QP), QatarGas, PwC, Tasweeq, QFBA amongst others.

Highlighted in the discussions were the global energy demand developments as well as the biggest challenges faced by the Oil & Gas (O&G) industry; the fight for talent in the Energy market globally; the imperative and barriers of international co-operation and Qatar’s challenge between maintaining its leading position in the O&G industry versus its high efforts to diversify its economy in line with the 2030 National Vision. Panellists also provided their insights of the impact of the euro-zone crisis and the impact that political instability in Arabic countries has had on the oil and gas market.

The Panel of Experts session was held as a key element of the Energy Management Development Programme (MDP) which is targeted at high potential Qataris working in the Energy Industry in Qatar. This annual programme, now in its second year, is delivered by PwC Qatar, in partnership with QFBA, as part of an ongoing strategy to address the needs of the Qatari and GCC business community within the Oil and Gas sector.

The programme covers a wide variety of topics including Oil and Gas Supply Chain Management and Logistics, Corporate Finance, Risk Management, Tax and Governance, Ethics and Compliance. Many high-profile companies participated in this programme including QP, Shell, Maersk Oil Qatar, QatarGas and PwC.  The next MDP will commence in late 2012.

Dr Al-Horr stated: “Our continuing partnership with PwC to deliver this unique programme directed at high potential managers in Qatar within the oil and gas industry demonstrates our strong commitment to underpin the State’s ambition of building a knowledge-based economy. We strongly urge professionals in this sector to participate in the next MDP.”

Christopher Box stated: “PwC is committed to supporting Qatar with its strategy of enhancing the skills and capabilities of its people, per the 2030 National Vision. The energy sector is ripe for the expansion of the next generation in financial management. This unique programme, led by Professor Jan Willem Velthuijsen from PwC Netherlands, is the first step in delivering the learning associated with this advancement. The MDP provides the energy industry with a specific programme that addresses and increases the skills of finance professionals.”

Those interested in participating are requested to contact Peter Gordon, the programme manager at peter.gordon@qa.pwc.com for more information.

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