Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United Kingdom based CEO’ operating in the Oil and Gas space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Lorenzo Simonelli
Founder, Chairman & CEO of Baker Hughes
Lorenzo Simonelli is President & CEO of GE Oil & Gas, an advanced technology equipment and services company that serves all segments of the oil and gas industry from extraction to transportation to end use. The business employs 43,000 people around the world. Before joining GE Oil & Gas, Lorenzo was President and CEO of GE Transportation, a global transportation leader in the rail, mining, marine and energy storage industries. During his five-year tenure, he expanded and diversified GE Transportation by focusing on advanced technology manufacturing, intelligent control systems, and a diverse approach to new propulsion solutions to solve the world’s toughest transportation challenges. Lorenzo has also served as CFO Americas for GE Consumer & Industrial, as well as General Manager, Product Management for GE Appliances, Lighting, Electrical Distribution and Motors. He joined GE’s Financial Management Program in 1994, where he worked on assignments in GE International, GE Shared Services, GE Oil & Gas and Consolidated Financial Insurance. Originally from Florence, Italy, Lorenzo is is a Business & Economics Graduate from Cardiff University in South Wales.
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About Baker Hughes: Baker Hughes is an energy technology company that provides solutions for energy and industrial customers worldwide.
Anand Verma
Founder & CEO of Expect. (trading name of Exponential Climate Technologies Ltd.)
Anand Verma @anandverma Anand is the Founder and CEO of climate tech startup Expect. A London-based company committed to decarbonising greening companies, profitably. Prior to my recent ventures, I was the Owner, Founder and CEO of Brilliant Basics (acquired by Infosys), an award winning Global Digital and Innovation company headquartered in London with studios all over the world. Successfully acquired by Infosys in 2017 to accelerate Design and Innovation for Infosys and its clients globally. I also led Infosys’ digital capabilities in EMEA and was a part of the Infosys leadership team. I am also deeply involved with leading design school and university partnerships for Infosys. I am a digital visionary, innovator and successful entrepreneur who understands new products and services, revenue growth, operations and people. I have over 20 years’ experience in management consulting, digital and tech businesses. I have built a successful career by consistently delivering value through digital and customer-centricity. I love creating value by reducing complexity in the digital world at both speed x scale. Prior to founding Brilliant Basics, I was one of the youngest Presidents and CEO’s at Interpublic Group (IPG) leading IPG Mediabrands Ventures in EMEA, a global advertising and media conglomerate where I led digital Operations, Innovative Products and Services and M&A. And previous to that I held leadership roles at Sapient (now a part of Publicis), AKQA (now a part of WPP) and Modem Media (now a part of Publicis). I am an active investor, adviser, non exec board director, academia, podcast host and speaker. Related Information: – Anand was a co-founder of atp.io in 2012, a Marketing Tech Platform. – Anand was a cofounder of Everpress, a product incubator. – Anand was a co-founder of haberdash app, a digital textile printing startup. – Anand was a co-founder of Weekly, a media startup. – Anand was a co-founder of Mesmerise, a VR and AR Tech Platform. – Anand was the Founder and CEO of Brilliant Basics (acquired by Infosys) – Anand was INED for HML Holdings Plc, next generation Property Management company. Exited to Harwood Capital PE. – Anand was a Senior Leader at Infosys, Sapient, Publicis.Sapient, Interpublic Group IPG, AKQA…
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About Expect. (trading name of Exponential Climate Technologies Ltd.): Expect. is the decarbonisation management platform for large enterprises and heavy industries.
Neil Bradford
CEO of General Index
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About General Index: The new alternative to traditional Price Reporting Agencies. Founded in response to industry demand for more transparency within the market.
Alexander Guslisty
Founder, CEO of BIG Atom
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About BIG Atom: Recycling company on a mission to end polymer waste. They develop, build and operate new generation infrastructure for processing waste.
Reda Bennis
Co-Founder and CEO of Zebra Fuel
Reda Bennis (@reda_zebra) is the CEO & Co-Founder @ Zebra Fuel
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About Inside Capital, Zebra Fuel: Zebra Fuel is a mobile fuel delivery service that delivers fuel into a vehicle directly at a preferred delivery time.
Chris Blackford
CEO & Co-founder of Sky-Futures
As COO, Chris drives the strategic development of Sky-Futures’ operational and technology frameworks and the development of new partnerships with leading companies across a range of markets. Chris combines extensive drone experience with a strong understanding of the technical and operational complexities and, indeed, the capacity of drones to provide cutting-edge solutions across industries.
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About Sky-Futures: Sky-Futures is a provider of drone-based inspection and data services to the industrial inspection market.
Phil Caldwell
Chief Executive Officer of Ceres Power
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About Ceres Power: Ceres Power Holdings PLC is a world leading developer of low cost, next generation fuel cell technology.
Aniruddha Sharma
Co-founder & CEO of Carbon Clean Solutions
Aniruddha Sharma is responsible for all day-to-day operations and leads the company’s product and customer development strategy. While pursuing his Masters Degree in Statistics at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, Aniruddha co-founded Carbon Clean Solutions in the year 2009. Selected as one of the Top 50 Brightest Young Climate Leaders, he was a part of the youth delegation to COP15 and COP/MOP5 (Kyoto Protocol), held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the fall of 2009 (December 7th to 18th). He has also been selected as one of the top 27 entrepreneurs working on accelerated commercialization of Technology & Innovation by Accelerator India. Currently working towards tying partnerships for ‘Carbon capture and reuse/sequestration’, he was invited to the esteemed World Economic Forum’s India summit in 2011. Aniruddha works closely on all policy issues related to CCS and also looks into hiring talent for the company.
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About Carbon Clean Solutions: Carbon Clean Solutions develops CO2 separation technology designed for industrial and gas treating applications.
Steven Boyle
Chief Executive Officer of HCS Control Systems
Steven Boyle is the chief executive officer of Integrated Cloud Group and HCS.
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About HCS Control Systems: HCS Control Systems designs, manufactures, assembles and tests direct hydraulic production systems for the oil and gas industry.
Amjad Bseisu
CEO of EnQuest
1981, BSc (Hons) in Mechanical Eng., Duke Univ.; MSc and DEng in Aeronautical Eng., Stanford Univ. 1984-98, with Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), latterly as Head, Int’l Marketing, Negotiations and Business Development, then President, ARCO Petroleum Ventures and ARCO Crude Trading. 1998, Founder and CEO, Petrofac Resources International and Member of the Board, Petrofac; 2007, renamed Petrofac Energy Developments International. 2010, formed EnQuest and appointed to the Board. Former founding Non-Executive Director, Serica Energy and Stratic Energy Corporation. Non-Executive Chairman, Enviromena Power Systems, a private company and the leading developer of solar services in the Middle East and North Africa.
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About EnQuest: EnQuest is an independent oil and gas development and production company.
Florian Thaler
Oil Strategist, CEO and Co-Founder at OilX of OilX
Florian is Oil Strategist, CEO and Co-Founder at OilX, a startup that is innovating oil trading analytics through deep empirical knowledge and state-of-the-art data science. Florian has >15 years’ oil experience at Shell, Citibank and Och-Ziff. He completed a doctorate at Vienna University of Economics and Business and a business administration degree at Bocconi University. Florian is one of 100 Future Energy Leaders of the World Energy Council.
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About OilX: OilX is a oil sector that provides a global real-time oil supply-demand balance.
Roland Wessel
Chief Executive Officer of Trans European Oil & Gas
Roland is a geology graduate from University College London and has over 40 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. Initially involved in the drilling services sector, he has undertaken managerial roles in most of the active oil and gas regions of the world including West Africa, the Middle East, the North Sea and North and South America. Leaving his position as Eastern Hemisphere Manager at Teleco Oilfield Services in 1992, Roland founded Integrated Drilling Services in 1992 backed by 3i Group plc. Roland sold Integrated Drilling Services in 1998 before founding Star Energy, a leading onshore UK oil and gas producer and developer and operator of gas storage facilities. Star Energy acquired and developed gas storage projects in the UK (Humbly Grove, commissioned 2005), Denmark, UK North Sea, Holland and Ireland (subsequently Kinsale Energy under Petronas ownership). Star Energy became the largest onshore UK oil and gas operator in terms of wells and fields (25) and second largest producer after BP with daily production of c. 3500 bopd. Star Energy was purchased by Petronas, the Malaysian state oil company in 2008 and Mr Wessel continued as CEO of Star Energy until late 2011. Roland jointly managed an oil and gas technology fund and subsequently was EVP at APS Technology Inc. in Connecticut USA before returning to London to found Trans European Oil & Gas. Roland held a number of non-executive positions in the oil and gas sector, including Dominion Petroleum for four years until the sale to Ophir. Roland has been involved in the development of several key oilfield technologies including the Schlumberger PowerDrive rotary steerable system, multi-lateral drilling systems, electromagnetic prospecting technology and wireline drilling systems. Mr Wessel has participated in several patents and is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
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About Trans European Oil & Gas: A new platform from the founders and former management team of Star Energy
Linda Bell
CEO of MIRICO
Linda holds a DPhil in Chemistry from Oxford University and an MBA, she has had extensive experience of leading and growing science-based international businesses in a range of industrial and process industries. She served as managing director of Servomex Group Ltd, part of Spectris, where she was involved in the supply of gas analysis instruments to blue-chip companies in petrochemical, chemical, laboratory, environmental and healthcare fields.
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About Downing LLP, Fera Science Ltd, MIRICO: Transformational gas measurement
Lee Cowles
CEO of BoilerJuice
Lee has spent more than a decade growing consumer-facing internet businesses. He joined Nutmeg from Blurb, where he was Managing Director, Europe, and Betfair, where he was Managing Director, UK. A key part of his decision to join Nutmeg was his own dissatisfaction with the levels of customer service in the financial services industry. An engineer by training, he has an MBA from INSEAD.
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About BoilerJuice: BoilerJuice was created by a group of friends who wanted to make ordering heating oil easier
Shravane Balabasqer
Founder | CEO of Carbon Analytics
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About Carbon Analytics: A granular asset focused carbon intelligence & offsetting platform for active industrial decarbonisation across the value chain.
Matthew Timms
Chief Digital and Technology Officer & CEO of E.ON
Matthew Timms is the chief digital and technology officer at E.ON.
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About E.ON: E.ON is an international, privately owned energy supplier.
Trygve P. Munthe
Co-CEO & Founder of DHT Holdings
Trygve P. Munthe is the Founder & Co CEO of DHT Holdings Inc.
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About DHT Holdings: DHT operates as an independent crude oil tanker company.
Svein Moxnes Harfjeld
CEO of DHT Holdings
Joined DHT in 2010. He has over 20 years of experience in the shipping industry. Before DHT he was a partner in Munthe & Harfjeld AS. Prior this, he came from the BW Group were he held several positions; Group Executive Director, CEO of BW Offshore, Director of Bergesen dy and Director of World-Wide Shipping. He previosly served as Managing Director with Andhika Maritime Services, Director at Coeclerici and General Manager with Mitsui O.S.K. He started his shipping career in shipping with the Torvald Klaveness Group of Norway.
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About : DHT operates as an independent crude oil tanker company.
William Burton Blair Ainslie
Chief Executive Officer of Seajacks
Blair holds a BSc in Physical Geography from the University of London and has significant experience of the offshore industry. Workfox UK employed him from 1999 to 2006 as Business Manager, responsible for marketing, contracts and commercial and general management of the Seafox fleet. He has also been a Contracts Manager at Kvaerner Oil and Gas from 1995 to 1999 and Senior Quantity Surveyor at Babtie Group from 1986 to 1995.
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About Seajacks: Seajacks owns and operates self-propelled jack-up vessels that safely and efficiently install and maintain offshore wind farms worldwide.
Bernhard Schmidt
Chief Executive Officer of RDG GmbH & Co. KG
Bernhard Schmidt is a senior Energy Executive with more than 30 years of industry experience. He is a former member of the Executive Board and head of Exploration & Production of Wintershall, Germany’s largest Oil and Gas company. He began his career at Shell International, with operational roles in the Netherlands, UK and Oman. He joined Honeywell Europe in 1992, where he then became General Manager of Honeywell China from 1995 to 1999 and Vice President for Honeywell Industrial Europe from 1999 to 2001. He holds a Master’s degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Leoben, Austria, and an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau.
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About Petroleum Equity, RDG GmbH & Co. KG: RDG core business combines traditional oil and natural gas production with renewable energy generation and storage.
Les Thomas
Chief Executive Officer of Ithaca Energy
Les became Ithaca’s Chief Executive Officer in October 2013. He has over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, in various subsurface, engineering, operational and senior management positions. Until June 2012, Les served as a main Board Director of Wood Group and Chief Executive of its Production Facilities business and Group Director responsible for HSE. Prior to this, he spent 22 years with Marathon Oil, including four years as European Business Unit Leader, responsible for Marathon’s upstream business in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands and Norway.
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About Ithaca Energy: A North Sea oil and gas operator focused on the delivery of lower risk growth through the appraisal and development of UK
Andrew Toumazi
CEO and Founder of BLOC-X
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About BLOC-X: BLOC-X is a provider of electronic trading software for OTC Oil Block Future markets that reduces your transaction costs by up to 90%.
Alistair Phillips
CEO of SSE
Alistair has been with SSE since 1997, and possesses a detailed knowledge of the operations of each business area having held a number of senior roles throughout the Company. Prior to joining the Board in 2002 as Energy Supply Director, Alistair was Director of Corporate Finance and Business Development. In 2010, he became Generation and Supply Director, before Deputy Chief Executive in 2012, then Chief Executive in 2013. Alistair’s career progression has supported the development of sound leadership skills and a detailed understanding of the energy markets in Great Britain and Ireland, including the implications of EU membership and the increasingly global context in which they operate. Through his role, Alistair has initiated significant focus on people development and efficient operations in order to develop SSE’s capabilities for future growth. Alistair is a Chartered Accountant and prior to 1997 worked for HSBC and National Westminster Bank.
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About SSE: SSE, provider of energy and related services in a low-carbon world.
Denis Saussus
Chief Executive Officer of Ikon Science
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About Ikon Science: Global Energy Knowledge Management — Make Smarter Decisions from Complex Data
Rotimi Alabi
Founder & CEO of RAB Microfluidics
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About RAB Microfluidics, University of Aberdeen: RAB-Microfluidics is a Research & Development company developing cutting-edge microfluidic technology to solve oil analysis problems.
Alfie Cheyne
CEO & Founder of ACE Winches
Alfie is CEO and founder of ACE Winches. Graduating with a Marine Engineering Apprenticeship, Alfie worked as a Downhole Valve Specialist in the oil industry. In tandem he opened a marine and hydraulic engineering workshop manufacturing deck equipment, to service the fishing industry. As the fishing business took a down turn, Alfie looked to new markets, primarily offshore oil and gas for ACE winches and deck machinery. ACE Winches is the trading name of Alfred Cheyne Engineering Limited and over the last fifteen years Alfie has seized opportunities to establish engineering, hire equipment, hire personnel, service and winch academy divisions. Alfie was named Scottish CEO of the Year 2013 at the Scottish Business Awards and the 2012 Institute of Directors’ Global Director of the Year. A series of prestigious awards for ACE Winches has been attained over the years including two prestigious Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in International Trade.
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About ACE Winches: A global leader in the design, manufacture and hire of winches.
Alexandra Cameron
Founder & CEO of Decarb Connect
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About Decarb Connect: Decarb Connect organizes a community that promotes decarbonisation on energy-heavy businesses.
Iain McLean
CEO of Zilift Limited
Chartered Engineer with 25 years’ experience in oil and gas product development. Previously Engineering and Technology Director with Baker Hughes, ProductionQuest. Also Engineering and Technology Director at Quantx and Engineering Manager at Expro.
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About Zilift Limited: Zilift develops innovative artificial lift solutions for the upstream oil and gas industry.
Chris Smith
CEO of G-volution
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About G-volution: G-volution provides Multi-Fuel technology, which enables engines to simultaneously combust diesel with gas and other fuels.
David Fletcher
Group Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of GEV Global
David Fletcher is the Chief Executive Officer & Group Managing Director at GEV Wind Powe
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About GEV Global, GEV Wind Power: GEV GROUP is one of the UKs leading specialist engineering and access companies
Kevin Donaghy
Chief Executive Officer of AuditComply
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About AuditComply: AuditComply is an Integrated Risk Management platform.
Simon Illingworth
Managing Director and CEO of Blue Ocean Seismic Services
Simon Illingworth is the Managing Director and CEO at Blue Ocean Seismic Services.
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About Blue Ocean Seismic Services: Blue Ocean Seismic Services specializes in low cost and reduced carbon emission ocean bottom seismic acquisition.
Chris Fleming
CEO of CYBERHAWK Innovations
Chris Fleming is recognised as a pioneer in the drone inspection industry. Having personally carried out over 150 live flare inspections to date, he still leads field teams on the most technically challenging projects for Cyberhawk. As an offshore Inspection Engineer, Chris has spent the last 20 years working around the globe in Australia, Norway, the North Sea, the Middle East, Malaysia and Brunei. Prior to joining Cyberhawk, Chris specialised in FPSO operations with his last seven years on the Captain FPSO.
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About CYBERHAWK Innovations: Cyberhawk provides aerial inspection and surveying by using Remotely Operated Aerial Vehicles (ROAV).
Adam Kingdon
CEO of Utonomy
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About Mobeus Equity Partners, Utonomy: Utonomy provides smart gas grid technology to increase network efficiency, reduce methane emissions and increase biomethane injection.
Tom Thorp
CEO of Foresight Metering
Tom is a chartered accountant and graduate of Edinburgh University. Tom spent several years with KPMG within Transaction Services in London and Munich advising on a wide range of industries and performing financial and vendor due diligence prior to joining Foresight. While at Foresight, Tom has worked across both the Environmental Infrastructure investments and more recently the Private Equity investments at Foresight. Tom is responsible for portfolio companies: TFC Europe (distributor of fasteners, clips and springs), @Futsal (leading indoor 5 aside football arenas in Birmingham, Leeds and Swindon) and Industrial Engineering Plastics (Fabricator and distributor of plastic venting and piping throughout the UK).
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About Foresight Group, Foresight Metering: Foresight Metering is a second generation Meter Asset Provider (MAP) in the smart metering space.
Shamir Jiwa
CEO of MAXIMeyes Group
Founder @ MAXIMeyes Group, involved in energy, communications, utility infrastructure, recruitment, technology, property investment and management. An award- winning self-made entrepreneur
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About ASPIRE, MAXIMeyes Group: MAXIMeyes is an award-winning energy and telecommunication consultancy.
Neill Ricketts
Chief Executive Officer of Versarien
Neill Ricketts joined Versarien as CEO in 2011.
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About Versarien: Versarien is an engineering materials company, provides engineering solutions for various industry sectors.
Phil Foster
Chief Executive Officer of Love Energy Savings
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About Love Energy Savings: Love Energy Savings is an online platform that provides instant, free, and online energy comparisons for homes and businesses.
Marcel Kooter
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Marcel Kooter Ltd.
Marcel is a highly experienced senior business leader who specialises in commercial strategies for the downstream oil industry. He has great depth of knowledge in lubricants and fuels, ranging from molecule to consumer working across both B2B and B2C business models and has worked across all market segments including Power, Industrial, Automotive, Marine and Aviation. During a career path spanning general management, strategic and operational sales, and brand and marketing expertise Marcel has demonstrated an impressive track record of business growth and bottom line income delivery through innovative and astute commercial strategies. He has a particular strength in forming successful partnerships as part of the sales strategy, defining win-win solutions which drive revenue leading for example to award of the prestigious ‘supplier of the year’ award at Ford Motor Company and enabling development of partnerships to supply first fill and service fill business in challenging markets including Turkey, China, South East Asia and South Africa. An energetic and focussed individual, Marcel has a collaborative leadership style, inspiring and motivating teams to deliver outstanding results within a clearly defined framework that empowers colleagues and rewards success. Following a global career, he has become adept at working across multi-cultural stakeholders both internal and external to the organisation, building the type of relationships that underpin successful leadership
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About Marcel Kooter Ltd.: Helping companies operating in the oil and gas industry create value and pursue strategic growth in a complex and volatile market.
Tony Edwards
CEO & Co-founder of StepChange Global
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About StepChange Global: StepChange Global is a leading partner in driving business change in the Oil and Gas and mining industries.
