Australia: Latest Queensland International Gas Symposium Speakers Announced

The line up for the Queensland International Gas Symposium to be held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on 7 & 8 December has been bolstered with the announcement that Al Hirshberg, Senior Vice President, Planning and Strategy for ConocoPhillips and Dick McIlhattan, Senior Vice President and General Manager of LNG, Bechtel Oil Gas & Chemicals will speak at the event.

The two Texans bring an extensive amount of international experience and knowledge to the event that already includes an impressive array of international and domestic speakers.

Al Hirshberg, ConocoPhillips

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, ConocoPhillips operates in more than 30 countries and has nearly 30,000 employees worldwide. Its assets have been valued at $160 billion and it is ranked 4th in the 2011 Fortune 500 annual list.

In Australia, ConocoPhillips is the operator and the majority equity holder in the Darwin LNG Plant. It also holds 42.5 per cent in a joint venture partnership in the US$20 billion Australia Pacific LNG project, currently under construction in Queensland.

A mechanical engineer, Al Hirshberg has 28 years of oil and natural gas industry technical and executive management experience. Mr Hirshberg’s presentation at the Queensland International Gas Symposium will focus on International Investment Partnerships – why partnering is better than going alone and will elaborate on why partnerships between local and international firms are critical to developing commercially complex large scale projects.

Dick McIlhattan, Bechtel Oil Gas & Chemicals

As one of the world’s premier engineering and construction organisations, Bechtel has worked on more than 22,000 projects in 140 countries. Signature Bechtel projects include Hoover Dam, the Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia, the Channel Tunnel connecting England and France and now the QCLNG, GLNG and Australia Pacific LNG liquefaction plants currently under construction in Gladstone.

Mr McIlhattan joined Bechtel in 1972 as a cost engineer in project controls. Today, he is an established 38-year veteran of Bechtel Corporation and has gained domestic and international exposure in all phases of engineering, construction, and project management.

Dick is responsible for overseeing Bechtel’s LNG business interests and will address the Queensland International Gas Symposium on the topic of supplying to LNG projects domestically and globally. The presentation will inform local businesses of the key qualities and capabilities large engineering, procurement and construction, companies look for when sourcing suppliers for local and international projects.

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Source: qld.gov.au, October 20, 2011