Gunther graduated from Manchester University with a BSC & MSC in Geology and joined BP in London as a geologist in 1980 after working for 3 years as a well-site engineer and geologist.

Assignments followed in Germany, China, Aberdeen, Norway, Indonesia, Houston and Venezuela with Gunther experiencing all aspects of geology ranging from frontier exploration utilising satellite and field geology to reactivation of oilfields in the Orinoco delta of Venezuela.

In 1996 Gunther returned to the North Sea taking on a number of business management roles in the Central North Sea, West of Shetland and finally running BP’s onshore terminals and pipeline business.  In 2004 Gunther was posted to Baku as HSSE VP supporting BP’s operations in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Eastern Turkey.  In October 2007 Gunther returned to the North Sea to lead a newly established team accountable for BP’s North Sea decommissioning programme which included NW Hutton, Miller and Don Field projects. In September 2009 Gunther was made VP Decommissioning for BP E&P, a role which has a global strategic and planning remit

David Brown, General Manager of Downhole Operations for the Offshore Division of TETRA Technologies, Inc., will be speaking at the conference. At TETRA, David is responsible for overseeing the Downhole Services Group, which provides services for offshore well plug & abandonment, land plug & abandonment, inland rigs, wireline, and topside & subsea cutting.

David has over 28 years of experience in the areas of operations, project management, sales management, and general management for offshore oil and gas operation services. His international experience includes working in North America, South America, West Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Before TETRA, David spent 23 years with FMC Technologies, Inc. and formally FMC in the positions of Life of Field Manager in the Subsea Group, Surface MFT Manager, Mid-Continent Sales and Operations Manager, Project Manager, District Manager, Base Manager, Support Services Manager, and Senior Service.

Mr. Jan Olav Algarheim is the deputy president of AF Decom Offshore AS, a Norwegian company specializing in decommissioning of abandoned petroleum installations in the North-Sea, either with the use of heavy machinery at the offshore installations or with the use of HLV.

Jan Olav graduated as a Civil Engineer from the Norwegian Institute of Technology in 1978 and has later supplemented with a degree in economics and business administration. Since education he has gained 32 years of national and international experience from business and project management onshore as well as in the off-shore industry. Throughout his career he has held positions in business administration, marketing, sales, strategy development, engineering and project management as well as contract tendering and negotiations of major on-and offshore contracts. His experience embraces the businesses of oil and gas, metal smelters, power supply, high speed trains and property services.

From 1983 – 1992 Jan Olav worked for Statoil, working his way from Senior Project Engineer at the Gullfaks B up to assisting project manager for the Europipe project and the landing of the second gas pipeline from Norway to Germany. He has since held senior positions in large companies within Norway and Europe, such as ABB, Elkem ASA, Akershus Energi AS / Hafslund ASA and ISS Norge AS.

In AF Decom Offshore AS he has held the positions as Platform/Site Manager for the offshore demolition and removal of the Ekofisk 2/4 T Platform (the tank), proposal manager for the Ekofisk Cat.2 project and tender manager for the Shell Inde Field Structures Pre-Lifting Works, Piece Small Removal and Dismantling. Today he holds the position as Deputy President responsible for business development and project sales outside Europe and market development in UK.

Since moving to Malaysia in 2007, Ingeborg has been involved in preparing BPEO tools for representatives of the oil and gas industry in Thailand and regulatory authorities as well as taking an active role in the Brownfield Working Group of the Malaysian Oil and Gas Services Council (MOGSC) including presenting at seminars on the Environmental Issues associated with decommissioning.