BIOGRAPHY

Mr. Ahmad Shams has held the highly responsible position of Vice President for the past 12 years and brings 27 years of extensive experience across technical and managerial roles at various site locations of ADNOC Gas. Currently, in his role as Acting Senior Vice President, Engineering & Optimization, under ADNOC Gas’ Projects & Engineering Organization, he leads a wide portfolio of critical functions. These include the Central Engineering, Technical Projects, Optimization, Long-Term Planning, and Project Studies divisions, all focused on achieving ADNOC Gas' strategic vision of becoming the world's leading integrated gas company.

Mr. Shams is widely recognized for his ability to lead, inspire, and build high-performing teams, fostering collaboration across a diverse workforce drawn from a wide spectrum of nationalities and cultures. His strong technical acumen is complemented by an in-depth understanding of human capability development, as well as commercial, legal, regulatory, and information security dimensions specific to the oil and gas industry.

Throughout his career, Mr. Shams has demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities, achieving challenging targets in dynamic and complex business environments. Known for his strong influencing and negotiation skills, he has consistently delivered operational excellence while navigating technical challenges and budgetary constraints. A passionate advocate for people development, he has been instrumental in mentoring and supporting talent, including promoting gender balance within the workplace.

Mr. Shams earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California in 1997. Born on April 1, 1973, in the United Arab Emirates, he holds UAE citizenship. Outside of work, he enjoys photography, traveling, and paddle tennis, reflecting his dynamic and well-rounded personality.

BIOGRAPHY

Rob Marriott is the Alberta Sulphur Research Ltd (ASRL) Director of Research (DOR) and the ASRL Research Chair in Applied Sulfur Chemistry. He is responsible for guiding the ASRL Core research program and teaches as a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Calgary. His current research interests range from applied chemical thermodynamics of complex systems, souring of reservoir fluids, sulfur deposition, hydrate formation, sulfur recovery, heterogeneous catalysis, adsorption, sulfur products and high-pressure fluid purification. He has authored over 100 published research papers, more than 130 conference presentations and over 230 confidential research contract reports.

BIOGRAPHY

Professional Engineer currently working in Saudi Aramco Jazan Refinery as Process Engineer with 14 years of experience in refining industry and educational background of Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering. As professional engineer Specializing Sulphur recovery and tail gas treating Units with expertise spans across Design and operational phase of refinery projects involved in two Refinery Mega projects commissioning and startup.

BIOGRAPHY

Edward Vera Douglas is a seasoned Senior Process Engineer with over 23 years of experience in Upstream and Downstream facilities. His expertise lies in Amine Treating and Sulphur Recovery Units, with a proven track record of delivering technical excellence in mega-scale projects, including the Ultra Sour Gas Shah project in Abu Dhabi. Currently, Edward provides critical technical support as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Gas Treating and Sulphur Recovery to ARAMCO's Global Manufacturing downstream facilities, leveraging his hands-on experience spanning the entire project lifecycle, from Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) to Operations phase. His extensive expertise and collaborative approach make him a trusted advisor in the industry.

BIOGRAPHY

Since 2005 Jan is with Sulphur Experts after spending 15 years with Duiker Combustion Egnineers specialising in combustion equipment for SRU’s.  Jan is involved in all aspects of the operations support and process engineering consulting work conducted by Sulphur Experts.  

He has provided expert advice and consulting services in the area of SRU and TGTU conceptual designs, reliability studies, troubleshooting, incident investigations, plant testing and plant optimization for the sour gas and oil refining industries.   Jan is one of the primary speakers at the internationally-recognised Sulphur Recovery Technical Training Course and has conducted over one hundred fifty on-site training courses.   Since joining Sulphur Experts Jan has worked in more than 40 countries and provided technical support, conducted performance testing and assisted with RCA’s for all ADNOC facilities.

BIOGRAPHY

Mohamad Azahar Ahmad is a professional engineer at PETRONAS (Group Technical Solution) in Malaysia. Experienced and had proven track record in equipment fabrication, engineering consultancy, and refinery plant operations. Currently, he serves as a Mechanical Subject Matter Expert, focusing on facilities optimization and resolving plant reliability issues.

BIOGRAPHY

Jochen Geiger was in charge of Business Development at AMETEK Process Instruments. At the beginning of 2025, Jochen set up his own consulting agency. In this new rule he continues to support AMETEK Process Instruments.

Jochen is a specialist in Process Analytical Applications at Refineries, Oil & Gas Production facilities and Chemical plants. His main focus is on optimizing Instrumentation of process optimization and energy savings. He is a specialist of process control instrumentation in Sulphur Recovery Plants. Jochen is frequently invited as guest speaker at various International Seminars and Meetings such as SulGas (member of the advisory team) and MESCon. Mr. Geiger has published multiple technical articles in industrial magazines.

BIOGRAPHY

Stefaan Gouhie is a mechanical engineer who currently serves as the Regional Sales Manager for CSI Ametek, where he focuses on solving heat-related plugging and corrosion issues in the European refining and petrochemical industry.

He has developed expertise in good heating practices through numerous site visits and hands-on installations over more than a decade in the sulphur industry.

BIOGRAPHY

Elmo Nasato is a process engineer specializing in sulfur recovery, amine treating, and sour water processing, with 38 years of industry experience. He has worked on design, retrofits, startups and optimization of sulfur recovery, amine and tail gas clean up units. He holds a B.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and is president of Nasato Consulting Ltd. Elmo is the lead moderator for the Brimstone Sulfur Symposium and serves on multiple advisory boards. He holds eight patents, has published 42 papers, and has presented at over 74 conferences worldwide on sulfur recovery technologies.

BIOGRAPHY

Johann Le Touze works for Axens as Lead Sulphur Recovery Technology Engineer, within the Acid Gas Group – Low Carbon Solutions & Gas Product Line. He started his professional career in 2013 as R&D engineer and then as a Marketing & Business Line manager for a world leading TiO2 manufacturing company. He holds an Advanced Master degree in Chemical Engineering from ESPCI - Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la ville de Paris (Paris Industrial Physics and Chemistry Graduate Engineering School) and a Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering & Materials Science from Doshisha University (Kyoto, Japan).

BIOGRAPHY

Saeed AlBlooshi graduated from Higher College of Technologies with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. With 8 years of experience in inspection engineering within ADNOC Sour Gas, Saeed has managed multiple process units as Senior Inspection Engineer, including the Sulfur recovery units, Acid Gas Recovery units and Sour Gas Sweetening & Condensate Stabilization units.

Saeed is an API 510 and 570 certified engineer, and has dedicated his time to ensure asset integrity and reliability of assets by implementing the codes & standards guidelines, fostering new innovative technologies and leveraging on the network and best practices in the industry.

BIOGRAPHY

Saood Almarzooqi is a Shift Controller at ADNOC Sour Gas with five years of experience in sulfur production and handling. Based at the Sulfur Station, he plays a key role in ensuring safe, efficient, and optimized operations within one of the largest sulfur production plants. Saood holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University and a master’s in Engineering Management from Abu Dhabi University. His expertise bridges both technical operations and strategic process management, bringing valuable insights into sulfur handling best practices and innovation across the value chain.

BIOGRAPHY

Jacobus (Cobus) has over 23 years’ experience in the Oil & Gas and Petrochemical industry, in both operations and design.  Currently he is working for Saudi Aramco as a Sulphur Recovery Subject Matter Expert focusing on Operation and Project support, as well as identifying / developing of New Technologies.  Prior to joining Saudi Aramco he was the Technical Director at WorleyParsons for the Sulfur Technology group in London and the Chief Technology Engineer for the Process Engineering group in KBR (Greenford, London). His sulfur experience include delivery of licensor design packages, operations training and pre-commissioning and commissioning of Sulphur Recovery Units with Tail gas treatment units. Jacobus is a Chartered Engineer with the IChemE in the UK and a registered Professional Engineer in British Columbia, Canada.   Headshot photo (paste below or send attachment in an email)     Please include a short one to two-sentence introduction for announcing you onto the stage at the start of the session. Introduction Cobus has over 23 years of experience in the Oil & Gas and Petrochemical industry, with expertise in operations and design. He currently works as a Sulphur Recovery Subject Matter Expert at Saudi Aramco, and previously held senior roles at WorleyParsons and KBR, with a strong background in sulfur technology and a professional engineering registration in the UK and Canada.    

BIOGRAPHY

Varun Mathur is the Market Manager for subsidiary of IPCO International AB in Middle East Market covering GCC and Iraq. Varun looks after IPCO business in the region and manages sales & after sales services from Abu Dhabi, UAE. Varun has been employed with IPCO & its predecessor for 12 years and has been involved in several projects in the Sulphur, Petrochemical & Fertilizer industries. Varun is a B. Tech Mechanical Engineer from UPTECH University in India. Prior to joining IPCO he worked as site engineer and sales engineer in Bahrain and will complete 20 years of working in Middle East this year.

BIOGRAPHY

Husain Al Hashimi is a PhD graduate from the University of Maryland, College Park and he has a long experience in research, which spans various applications, including HVAC, chemical looping combustion, photolithography, and phase change heat transfer. Mr Al Hashimi is currently working for ADNOC Sour Gas as a senior reliability engineering, where he is involved in tackling the plant reliability issues and production deferment events. In addition, he is actively involved in maintenance optimization workshops, as well as in introducing new technologies, which enhances both the equipment and the operation uptime.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Cooke has been responsible for sulphur dust and acidity control technology for over 15 years at DuBois Chemicals, in both technical and commercial roles.  Previously IPAC Chemicals, DuBois Chemcials is the world leader in sulphur dust control chemicals and equipment.

BIOGRAPHY

Khalid S. Ghazal - KFUPM Graduate in Applied Chemical Engineering - is a Technical Staff Process Engineer (Sulfur & Amine Specialist) at Samref Refinery Saudi Arabia with +23 years experience in Gas Treating and Sulfur Forming (this period includes his 4 years’ experience in the Caustic Incinerator, LPG Merox, MTBE & HF Alkylation Units). He supported Samref’s 2006 SRU Debottleneck Project part of the LSADOP (Low Sulfur Automotive Diesel Oil Project). Khalid was the Start-up and Commissioning Process Engineer for Samref’s New CFP (Clean Fuel Project) GR ARU/SRU & Decvo Forming Units in 2014. Was involved since the early design of Samref’s TGCU EuroClaus Pre-commissioning, Commissioning and Project deployment. In 2015 was assigned as the TGCU Technical Start-up, lead the PEMS & RATA Validation Tests in which Samref achieved the highest SRE for EuroClaus technologies up to date. As of 2017 have been supporting Samref’s Sulfur Port and ShipLoading Facilities Enhancement and Sulfur Dust Mitigation. Throughout his career, Khalid worked on several Sulfur Forming Technologies both Wet Forming (HUMPHEREYS & GLASGOW, Devco/Matrix and Enersul) and Dry Forming (BERNDORF and SANDVIK AccuDrop Pastillation) in which he identified areas of Sulfur Product Quality Improvement, Mechanical Strength (Friability) Enhancement and Fines & Sulfur Dust reduction and control. Khalid took part in Samref’s last 5 Turnarounds, support neighboring J.V. on SRU and Sulfur Product related challenges, presented several papers in Saudi Aramco’s SRU Roundtable, MESPON (Middle East SOUR Plant Operations Network), MEPEC (Middle East Process Engineering Conference and Exhibition), Axens SRU Seminar and co-authored with Jacobs in two technical publications, he currently holds the position as Samref’s Technical Staff Process Engineer (Sulfur & Amine Specialist).

BIOGRAPHY

Ibrahim Alali serves as a Shift Supervisor at the Sulphur Handling Terminal in Ruwais. He thrives on challenges and remains optimistic about future opportunities.