BIO
Peter Balash – Peter C. Balash, Ph.D., is senior economist at the United States Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has followed energy markets, energy security, and technology issues for NETL since 2002, focusing on the interaction of upstream fuel market developments with downstream, or end-use, sectors. Current duties include studying the near and medium term economic impacts of climate change mitigation policy and assessing energy security options in a carbon-constrained world, inclusive of coal to liquids. He has also recently directed a study of scenarios to simultaneously reduce petroleum consumption and carbon emissions. These scenarios focus on linkages between the transport, electricity, and petroleum markets. Previously Mr. Balash worked for the Internal Revenue Service in Houston, Texas, engaged in multinational corporate audits and transfer pricing issues. Mr. Balash earned his doctorate in economics in 1992 from the University of Texas at Austin. He received a bachelor’s in economics from Xavier University, Cincinnati, in 1987. He resides with his family in McMurray, Pennsylvania.
Frits Eulderink – Frits Eulderink began his career with Shell in 1990. He spent a portion of his initial assignment working in the United States on Coal Gasification at the Westhollow Research Center and the Deer Park facility in Houston, Texas. In his current role as Vice President of the Unconventional Oil organization, Eulderink is focused on developing and leveraging in-situ conversion / upgrading technologies on a commercial scale to produce light oil and gas from deep oil shale and heavy oil deposits in an effort to meet growing future energy demands in an environmentally responsible and socially acceptable manner. Eulderink and his team bridge the full spectrum from research and appraisal through development and production of Unconventional Oil assets in North America and worldwide. Eulderink’s previous role was as the General Manager of Bapetco, Egypt, Exploration & Production. In his career with Shell, he has held various technical and management roles in the United States, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Eulderink was born in Leiden, Netherlands. He has Masters degrees in Astrophysics and Mathematics from Leiden University. While obtaining his Leiden Ph.D. in Astrophysics, he worked with the faculty of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
Gordon Pickering – Gordon Pickering, Navigant Consulting, Inc., is a Director in NCI’s Fuels Analysis practice, in Sacramento, CA. He has over 28 years of energy industry experience, mostly in the natural gas industry in the United States and Canada. Throughout his career, Mr. Pickering has worked closely with the electric generation sector as a natural gas marketer and commodity services supplier and most recently as a consultant. He has also provided valuation expertise to infrastructure projects such as storage operators and pipelines and has worked extensively in both the public and private sectors. A focus for Mr. Pickering has been in providing detailed market assessments as part of due diligence efforts supporting infrastructure investments and mergers and acquisition activity in the upstream and mid-stream sectors of the natural gas industry. He has also consulted to the LNG industry performing market studies supporting new regasification projects in North America. Mr. Pickering has expertise in physical and financial natural gas pricing and contracts including hedging and risk management. Mr. Pickering is co-author of the North American Natural Gas Supply Assessment study, a gas supply research project for the American Clean Skies Foundation. This widely distributed study updated the natural gas resource base in North America and was first issued in July of 2008, in Washington, DC. Mr. Pickering heads up NCI’s fuels forecasting and analytics team in Sacramento, CA.
Andre Plourde – Andre Plourde is Professor and Chair, Department of Economics, University of Alberta. He received his B.A. and M.A. in Economics from the University of New Brunswick, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of British Columbia. After serving as assistant professor and research associate at the University of Toronto from 1983 to 1987, he joined the Department of Economics at the University of Ottawa. In 1997, Plourde undertook a one-year assignment as Director of Economic Studies and Policy Analysis with the federal Department of Finance. He joined the University of Alberta in 1998, where he helped launch the Natural Resources and Energy specialization within the School of Business’s MBA program. During academic year 2003-2004, Plourde took a one-year leave from academic life and was appointed Associate Assistant Deputy Minister for the Energy sector at Natural Resources Canada. Plourde has served on numerous advisory committees. In 2007, he was appointed to the Province of Alberta’s Royalty Review Panel; he also served as President of the International Association for Energy Economics. His research interests have centered mainly on energy economics and on Canadian energy and environmental policy issues.
John Wimer – Mr. Wimer has worked at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory for eighteen years, providing engineering support to DOE’s Fossil Energy research and development programs, primarily in the areas of advanced coal conversion technologies. Presently, Mr. Wimer is the director of NETL’s Systems Division, which performs technology evaluation, systems engineering and economic analyses to inform policy makers and to guide NETL’s R&D programs. Mr. Wimer earned M.S. and B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and West Virginia University, and holds the Certified Energy Manager credential from the Association of Energy Engineers.
Disclosure (“none” means no position):