Argus Methanol Forum

Zina Skoufa

Managing Director, Methanol, Johnson Matthey

Zina is a Chemical Engineer, with a PhD in heterogeneous catalysis. After a short stay in academia as a post-doc researcher, she joined Johnson Matthey in 2015, initially working in Johnson Matthey’s Technology Centre on several step-out catalysis programmes. In 2019, Zina joined the Business Development and Innovation team, leading early stage programmes on plastic waste and biomass valorisation, moving on to Power-to-X business development activities, with a focus on sustainable methanol. In February 2024, Zina was been appointed as Managing Director- Methanol, leading JM’s Methanol Licensing Business Unit globally.

Jeff Brimhall

Chief Financial Officer & Co-Founder, HYCO1

Enric Montserrat

Director Intermediate Chemicals Division, Ercros

Yasuhiro Sazuka

President, Mitsui O.S.K Lines (Americas)

Amanda de Jager

Senior Licensing Manager , Topsoe

Matthew Cole

Technology Manager, Methanol to Jet, Honeywell UOP

Jess Cole

Chief Financial Officer, Nacero

Jess is the CFO of Nacero. In addition to managing the finance and accounting functions of the business, Jess leads the commercial effort in obtaining feedstock, offtake, and power as well as the regulatory, policy, sustainability, and government affairs functions navigating the regulatory landscape in the U.S., Europe, and internationally. Jess is currently focused on procuring long term methanol offtake contracts for Nacero’s methanol production out of its first facility located in the Gulf Coast. Jess has a background in energy and infrastructure finance, holding various roles in debt financing, capital markets, M&A, private capital raising, and other advisory work within the energy industry, including a few years in Jefferies’ energy investment banking group in Houston, Texas.

Shoko Arai

Director Project Finance, Mizuho Americas

Nick Gazzillo

Renewable Natural Gas Trader, STX Group

Anita Gajadhar

Executive Director Marketing, Logistics and Shipping, Proman

Anita Gajadhar is Executive Director Marketing, Logistics and Shipping at Proman. She oversees Proman’s worldwide shipping, marketing and logistics strategy and activities. She is also a member of Proman’s five-person Executive Leadership team, responsible for Proman’s group-wide corporate strategy.
Anita has over 21 years of experience in the energy sector in Trinidad and Tobago and Europe. She has worked for companies in the Proman family of companies for over 19 years, including as Commercial Manager at Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Limited.
Anita sits on several Boards within the Proman family of companies, including MHTL, CNC and N2000. Until recently, she was the Chairperson of the Methanol Institute Board of Directors.
Anita holds an MBA from Heriot-Watt University and a BSc (Hons) in Management and Finance from The University of the West Indies.

Louise Hannecart

Director of Business Development & Strategy, M2X Energy

Geoffrey Dietz

Director, Federal Government Affairs, Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas

Saifur Khan

Commercial Licensing Manager, Johnson Matthey

Ben Padilla

Executive Director, FPG AIM

Matthias Schwab

Head of New Business Development & Sustainability, BASF

Les Gingell

VP Marine Sales, MAN Diesel

Nelson Vasquez

North America Business Development Lead, Hinicio

Dario Formenti

System Manager Sustainable Fuels, International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC)

Dario has worked for global certification body the ISCC since 2022, focusing on the maritime and aviation sectors, and biofuels and power-to-liquid technologies in particular. He previously worked as a researcher at RWTH Aachen University in Germany, specialising in sustainable and green chemistry and power-to-X technologies. Dario has a PhD in chemical science from the University of Milan and the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis.

Gregory Dolan

Chief Executive, Methanol Institute

Oleksiy Tatarenko

Senior Principal, Climate-Aligned Industries, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)

Oleksiy Tatarenko is a Principal of the Climate-Aligned Industries Programme at US non-profit Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). Oleksiy leads RMI’s Green Hydrogen Catapult, a joint initiative with the UN’s Climate Change High-Level Champions scheme. The programme promotes global adoption of green hydrogen at a scale needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C from pre-industrial averages — the most ambitious pathway under the Paris climate agreement. Oleksiy has 17 years of experience in roles focusing on systems-level transformation of the energy sector and pioneering business models. He previously led the energy transition programme at Shell, spearheading new initiatives in hydrogen and decarbonisation strategies, as well as providing thought leadership as part of Shell’s leadership team. Before that, Oleksiy founded and led a venture that piloted projects to reduce methane gas leakage in Ukraine. As an advisor to the Ukraine’s energy minister, he helped develop national policy on energy security to promote international investment in the sector.

Denis Arguin

VP Strategic Relations, Enerkem

Mr. Arguin brings over 30 years of experience in industrial process/product development, new technology commercialisation, engineering and operational management experience. He led over 20 plant start-ups across the globe in a wide range of industries from oil & gas refining, petrochemicals, biofuels, process minerals and metallurgy. Mr. Arguin held several management roles in Canada, USA and Europe with increasing responsibility, including Gulf Canada, Union Carbide, Kemtec (now Parachem), Minerals Technologies, Technologies Orbite and CelluForce. Mr. Arguin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering as well as an Executive MBA from Western University in London, Ontario.

Hassan Modarresi

Head of Section, Technical Director, COWI

Larry Navin

VP External Affairs, Methanol Institute

Lawrence Navin joined the Methanol Institute in June 2013. Lawrence's background includes having worked for the US Chamber of Commerce's US-India Business Council, the US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and in the US Senate. Lawrence’s role with MI includes managing the Institute’s government and public affairs activities in the Americas and Europe, and to direct the Institute’s communications and social media activities. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from the University of Delaware, and a Master of Arts degree in International Commerce and Policy from George Mason University.

Peter Keller

Chairman, SEA-LNG

Dave McCaskill

Vice President, Methanol and Derivatives Service, Argus

Dave McCaskill has been invested in the petrochemical industry for over 35 years. Beginning his long career with Celanese Chemical in 1975, Dave started as a chemical engineer at their Pampa, Texas plant, and steadily progressed through a series of positions ranging from planning, supply chain, field sales and marketing within the organization. Noted positions included Business Manager Ethylene Oxide/Ethylene Glycol and the last several years with the company as Business Manager Methanol & Derivatives. In 2000, Dave moved into the consulting sector and worked with another leading industry consulting organization, heading their Global Methanol service for 10 years. Joining DeWitt & Company in 2010, as Vice President Methanol & Derivatives, Dave continues to be focused on all commercial aspects of the methanol industry—supply, demand, capacity, pricing, cost structure, etc. Dave graduated from the University of Kansas, with a degree in chemical engineering, in 1975.

Becky Zhang

Editor, Olefins and Methanol, Argus

Becky Zhang works for Argus in a role of Asia petrochemical analyst, mainly covering Asia’s olefins and methanol markets. She has over ten years of real-time market editor work, familiar with chemical market dynamics particularly on China market and has wide industrial networks. She has also spent two years particularly in consulting service as a project manager focusing on China market and led projects in various industries, including refinery, olefins, polymers, coal and methanol. Becky is also a regular presenter at olefins and methanol conferences and forums. Becky is a chemical engineering graduate from East China University of Science and Technology, and holds two masters’ degrees in Environmental and Energy Engineering from the University of Sheffield (2001-2002) and Entrepreneurship from the University of Nottingham (2002-2003).

Victoria Baghdjian

Head of European Methanol, Argus

Victoria Baghdjian joined Argus in 2020 and is Head of European Methanol. She contributes to market reporting and pricing, as well as supply and demand analytics for the Argus Methanol and Argus Fuels and Octanes services.
Victoria has around 15 years of experience covering the methanol and fuel octanes markets, across various roles at commodity pricing and consulting firms. She holds MA and MPhil degrees from Trinity College, University of Cambridge.

Steven McGinn

Senior Reporter, Argus

Chuck Venezia

SVP Chemical Markets, Argus