Annual Petroleum Economics Conference 2026

Lars Erik Aamot has more than 25 years of experience from the oil and gas industry, mainly from different roles in the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. Since 2009 he has been the Director General for Oil and Gas in the Ministry. Mr. Aamot obtained his Cand Oecon degree from University of Oslo, Norway in 1996. After graduation he started in the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy working with issues related to Norwegian petroleum and environmental policies.

In 2000 he worked with Statkraft as Senior Economist. In 2001 he joined Norsk Hydro AS as a Senior Investment Analyst working with business development and follow-up of its activities in US, Libya and Russia. Mr Aamot returned to the Ministry as the Deputy Director with responsibility of Economic Analysis in 2002. Between 2004 and 2007 he was the Counselor for Energy at the Norwegian embassy in Washington DC, before returning to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

Nadia Martin Wiggen is Director at Svelland Capital. She has 15+ years of experience in commodities, including analysis (oil liquids, gas, power, coal, renewables, emissions, agriculture, metals and freight) and origination (power, renewables and oil liquids) at Pareto Securities, Rystad Energy, Morgan Stanley and Phibro as well as trading (crude oil) at Phibro. Prior to Svelland Capital, she was Partner in energy and chief oil analyst at Pareto Securities. At Rystad Energy, she was SVP and Head of the Markets Team (oil, gas, renewables). She was also product manager of Rystad Energy’s Oil Market Analytics service. Nadia holds an MSc degree from the Stockholm School of Economics and a BSc from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She is an active public speaker and mentor to young professionals.

Torbjørn Kjus has 25 years of experience in analysing the global energy markets. He currently works as Chief Economist in Aker BP, but has also worked for Norsk Hydro, BP, DNB Markets and Aker ASA. For the Oil & Gas sector Torbjørn was by institutional investors ranked as the number one financial analyst during his last four years in DNB, and as number one independent of sector when he left DNB in 2018. He regularly briefed the US Treasury in Washington D.C. on the global oil market and provided consultations about the market to the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum, to the Norwegian Pension Fund (NBIM) and to the Norwegian Central Bank. Torbjørn is particularly known for having predicted the oil price crash as a consequence of the US shale oil revolution, first published in the report “The fat lady has started to sing”.

Bjarne has more than 25 years’ experience from commodity markets. He has worked with analysis, market modelling, structured deals as well as trading of commodities for large commodity trading companies like Enron Nordic Energy and Cargill in Geneva with primary focus on energy derivatives. He worked as a carbon market analyst for Point Carbon from 2005 to 2008 when the EU carbon market came to life. He has since held the position as Chief Analyst Commodities in SEB covering energy, emissions, metals, agricultural products as well as precious metals. Bjarne has a Master of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Oslo.

John Olaisen is the Head of Research at ABG Sundal Collier, with extensive experience in equity research and corporate finance. He began his career as a Corporate Finance Analyst at International Capital Growth / Abacus from 1997 to 1999, before moving into equity research. From 1999 to 2002, he served as Head of Equity Research at Terra Securities, and subsequently held the same role at Carnegie from 2002 to 2012. Since 2012, he has continued to lead equity research at Carnegie.

John holds a Siviløkonom degree from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and brings over two decades of expertise in financial analysis and investment research.

Tormod Heier is professor at the Norwegian Defence University College in Oslo. He has previously served more than 30 years as officer in Norway’s Armed Forces, with assignments in the Army, Intelligence Service, the defence Ministry and Afghanistan. Heier has edited numerous books on Hybrid Threats and Crisis Management Operations in the High North, Ukraine, Libya and Afghanistan.

Stian Jenssen is currently with Aker ASA. He is former chief of staff at NATO where he was instrumental in navigating some of the key geopolitical events of recent years.

Hege has more than 20 years of experience from the oil and gas industry and extensive management experience. Among other things, she holds the equivalent of a master's degree in petroleum physics and has substantial expertise in the subsea disciplines in the oil and gas industry

Anders has more than 30 years experience from oil & gas as petroleum engineer with Shell and management consultant with McKinsey and Rystad Energy and has a degree in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial C and a MBA from INSEAD. His current work is independent strategy and business development consultant for oil companies in Norway, including CCS and expert witness work. Anders presents regularly at conferences on Norway oil & gas.

Jarand Lønne is Head of Oil & Gas Investment Banking at SB1 Markets, with 16 years of transaction experience in the energy sector. He has advised on more than 50 transactions, including several high-profile M&A deals. Jarand holds an MSc in Investment Management from Cass Business School.

Petter Osmundsen is Professor of Petroleum Economics at University of Stavanger, Section for industrial economics. He has a Ph.D. from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH). In 1992/93 he was a Research Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has previously held positions as Associate Professor at NHH at the Department of Economics and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Finance and Management science. His research topics are tax design, valuation, contract theory, and incentive design - applied to the petroleum and the renewable sector. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Petter-Osmundsen

Kristoffer Gjerde is Director of Robotics Strategy at Cognite, where his work focuses on applying autonomous inspection robots in oil and gas. He joined Cognite in 2021 and, from 2022 to 2025, was based in Riyadh as Head of Robotics at CNTXT, Cognite's joint venture with Aramco. He holds an MSc in Computer Science with a specialization in Artificial Intelligence.

Åshild Hanne Larsen is seconded from Equinor into the role as CEO of CoOper8 AS. She is an award-winning technology executive with broad experience as global CIO, VP HR and VP Subsurface Excellence & Digital. She has successfully led corporate-wide IT & digital transformation programs and large-scale organizational change projects, resulting in extensive leadership experience. Åshild holds several board roles and is also widely recognized as a speaker, thought leader and advocate for diversity and inclusion in tech. She holds an MBA from Heriot-Watt University and an MA from Universität Bielefeld.

Dr. Cecilie Hellestveit is a Norwegian lawyer, social scientist, and expert in international law, armed conflict, and geopolitics. She holds a PhD in international law from the University of Oslo and conducts research on war, hybrid threats, emerging technologies, and the regulation of modern warfare. In 2025–2026, she leads a Norwegian Ministry of Defence–funded research project on Ukraine and international law, focusing on energy infrastructure targeting, neutrality law, and frozen Russian assets.

Hellestveit has held research positions at institutions including PRIO, the Atlantic Council, and the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. She teaches and supervises students in war studies and international law, serves as an independent expert in international fora, and has held several prominent public appointments in Norway related to ethics, extremism, migration, and human rights. She is also a columnist and author on war, international law, and geopolitics.

Daniel has over 10 years of experience in the upstream oil and gas sector, in both technical and analytical roles.
Daniel joined Wood Mackenzie as a Senior Analyst in 2021, delivering analysis and insights on company and asset developments across the North Sea, particularly Norway. He forms opinions on the impact of the energy transition, corporate strategies, supply chains, M&A activity and the upstream business landscape in the region.

Before joining Wood Mackenzie, Daniel was the lead analyst covering the European oil and gas sector at GlobalData. Daniel also worked as an Exploration Geoscientist at Petronas, working on exploration opportunities and drilling campaigns across the Asia-Pacific region. Daniel holds a BSc and MSc in Geoscience related degrees.

Ola served as Norway’s Minister of Petroleum and Energy in the Stoltenberg government from 2011 to 2013, and as Minister of Research and Higher Education in the Støre government from 2021 to 2023. He also served as Deputy Leader of the Centre Party from 2011 to 2023 and represented Sør-Trøndelag in the Norwegian Parliament until 2025. He recently joined Norsk Kjernekraft as Project Director.

Professor Jon Lereim has a background from both academia and industry.
• The academia track consists of having held a professorship in marine structures at NTNU, part time professorship at Norwegian Business School BI in project management, quality management & risk management, Associate Dean for the International Executive Master of Management in Energy at BI, visiting professorship at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, visiting professor and faculty member, at Lorange School of Business in Zurich, Switzerland.
• The industry track covers extensive industry experience in various senior management positions in the oil & gas industry, such as DNV, Saga Petroleum, Aker Maritime & DONG Energy
• Currently Project Manager for the Coopetition R&D Project.

Jovana Simic is Vice President of Business Development & Strategy at Worley, where she drives commercial growth and leads strategic initiatives across the Nordics energy sector. With more than 20 years of industry experience, she has held senior roles spanning engineering, project management and execution, with a strong track record across complex FEED and EPC developments. Jovana brings extensive expertise in energy transition, digitalization, and sustainable delivery. She holds a Master’s degree in Process Technology and has further specialized in offshore wind energy.