Takeshi Soda

Director, Oil & Gas Division

Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry (METI)

Mr. Soda has served as Director, Oil and Gas Division since December 2019. He has long and rich experience of energy and climate change policy. Most recently, he served as Director, International Affairs Division since July 2019. Prior to that, he transferred to the U.S. and served as the Special Adviser to METI and Director of JETRO New York between 2016 and 2019. As a senior liaison between METI and the US government, he devoted himself to create Japan-US Strategic Energy Partnership (JUSEP), agreed between two top leaders of both countries in November 2017. As of now, JUSEP is the core of Japan-US economic cooperation and of Indo-Pacific strategy of both countries.
Before transferring to the U.S., Mr. Soda, serving as Executive Secretary to the Special Advisor of the Cabinet Office Minister in charge of overcoming population decline and revitalizing local economy, led the policy-making process and coordinated the government-wide activities related to revitalizing local economy between 2014 and 2016.
Mr. Soda joined METI in 1997. He spent almost his years in the field of energy, international economy, and financial affairs. He served to plan energy policy of Japan by deciding and allocating all energy budgets of METI for two years, which made him an expert of energy policy.
He also oversaw the long-term strategy of international trade policy for four years, contributing to form Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI), Export Credit Agency of Japan, in 2001.
Mr. Soda received an MBA in 2004 from the Goizueta Business School of Emory University in Atlanta, GA, USA. He obtained a BA in philosophy from the University of Tokyo in 1997.

Hitoshi Nishizawa

Executive Officer, Senior Operating Officer, Optimization Dept.

JERA

Toshi Nishizawa is Executive Officer, Senior Operating Officer, Optimization Department, in charge of LNG procurement of JERA. Toshi has been with JERA (and formerly TEPCO) for more than 30 years.  Prior to taking the current role in May 2019 he was Managing Director of JERA Australia and affiliates in Perth, where he managed several LNG upstream companies and investments there.  Throughout his career Toshi worked for various aspects of LNG businesses: numbers of long/short-term/spot procurement negotiations, LNG upstream businesses including the first participation in the history by TEPCO, and related JV/commercial/financial/corporate aspects.  He has an MBA from Cornell University and a BA from University of Tokyo.

Jonty Shepard

Head of Global LNG

BP

Jonty joined BP Oil in 1992, undertaking several roles in operations, trading and refining. Appointed global head of LNG for BP in 2006, Jonty heads the global LNG trading business with offices in Houston, London and Singapore. This comprises a responsibility for the management of upstream contracts in Trinidad, Egypt and North West Shelf, merchant supply from Freeport in the USA and Coral LNG in Mozambique, a fleet of 16 LNG carriers, Regas facilities in the USA, UK, Spain and Italy, the development of the Acu integrated Regas & Power project in Brazil as well as long term customer contracts globally.

Yukari Niwa Yamashita

Managing Director

The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ)

Yukari Niwa Yamashita is the IAEE President for 2020 and she is a Board Member for the Institute of Energy Economics Japan (IEEJ) and Director, in Charge of the Energy Data and Modelling Center. She is responsible for quantitative and qualitative analyses on energy policy issues. In the aftermath of the tsunami and nuclear incident, her team’s analyses and recommendations contributed greatly to the electricity saving campaign and debate regarding a national energy mix for Japan. Annual IEEJ's Outlook is globally recognized for its timely analyses and pragmatic approach towards climate change.

Gen Kunihiro

President & COO

Diamond Gas International Pte. Ltd

Gen Kunihiro is newly appointed President/COO of Diamond Gas International Pte. Ltd, wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation covering Global LNG marketing. Gen joined Mitsubishi Corporation in 1992 and initially was in charge of Steel Products export business. In 2003, he moved to LNG business and worked on various LNG related projects in Russia, PNG and Australia. Most recently he was a head of Diamond Gas International Pte. Ltd Japan Branch.

Tetsuya Furuhata

Director General, Research & Analysis Department; Director, LNG Information Team

JOGMEC

Tetsuya Furuhata joined former Japan National Oil Company, JNOC (now Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, JOGMEC) in 1990 and is currently Director General, Research and Analysis Department. He also leads the LNG information team which was newly established last year, in order to provide up-to-date information on global gas and LNG market.  He has extensive experience in Washington D.C. office and Japanese trading company.

Tetsuya Furuhata is a graduate in economics from Hitotsubashi University and earned a masters degree in Energy Management and Policy from the University of Pennsylvania / Institut français du pétrole.

Manabu Kato

Deputy Director General - Oil & Gas Finance Department

JBIC (Japan Bank for International Cooperation)

Education
B.A. in Law, Keio University, Japan, 1996
MSc (Politics), University of London (SOAS), 2008

Professional Career　　

Nov 2017-Present: Deputy Director General & Director of Division 3, Oil & Gas Finance Department

June 2013: Chief Representative in Moscow (for Russian and all CIS Countries)
April 1996: Loan Department Ⅳ, The Export-Import Bank of Japan
(reorganized as Japan Bank for International Cooperation in October 1999)

Daniel Mallo

Head of Energy, Infrastructure & Metals & Mining, APAC

Societe Generale

Daniel is responsible for Société Générale’s Natural Resources and Infrastructure practice in Asia Pacific. The team’s activities include conventional and renewable power, oil & gas, LNG, base and precious metals, transportation and social infrastructure. He is based in Hong Kong. Daniel has over 18 years of experience in structured finance and has focused on the Energy and Natural Resources sectors for the past 15 years.

Daniel worked on the financing of several large-scale LNG projects in the world, including the Tangguh LNG train 3 expansion in Indonesia, the Peru LNG project, as well as the Sabine Pass LNG project and the Cameron LNG project, both in Louisiana, USA. 

Daniel graduated from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) in Paris.