Speakers
Michiel Heuven
Peter Wallace PE, CEng, CMarEng, FIMarEST
Pavan Nimmagadda
Oghenekevwe Ovbije
Panel Discussion
This session will be moderated by Peter Wallace.
Michiel Heuven is Vice President, Key Accounts at SBM Offshore. He joined SBM Offshore in 2011 as Project Manager where he acquired experience in international projects. In 2015 he then took roles in Operations Readiness and Operations Management and in 2018 he was appointed Head of Operations North America & Guyana. He then moved to Commercial management in 2022 where he held positions as Global Operations Commercial Manager and VP Business Development. Michiel has over 25 years of experience in the Energy industry, having held positions for SBM offshore in the US, Singapore and Nova Scotia, Canada.
Prior to being at SBM, he worked at various Keppel shipyards around the world managing large oil and gas construction projects. Michiel has a degree in Naval Architecture from Hogeschool Inholland, Netherlands.
Peter Wallace, PE, CEng, CMarEng is Principal Engineer in the Maritime Performance Services--Applied Technology Group of Lloyd’s Register, based in Houston Texas. He is a practicing naval architect working in the technology development, risk, and regulatory spaces in maritime and offshore in such topics as decarbonization, dynamic positioning, and structural digital twins. Peter holds a BSc in naval architecture and marine engineering from Webb Institute of Naval Architecture and an MBA from Tulane University. Peter is a Member of Corporation at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and an Executive Committee member of the IMarEST Gulf Coast Branch.
Mechanical Engineer with 13 years experience in the offshore oil and gas industry. Core expertise includes Hull and
marine design for FPSO’s/FSO/FLNG’s projects. Familiar with all major CLASS, IMO, OCIMF rules, NFPA and
API standards for offshore facilities. Worked on 25+ FPSO proposals/ projects at various stages not limited to
concept selection, Pre-FEED, FEED and EPCI. Worked on 2 New build hull developments and multiple
conversion projects. Hands on experience in interfacing with shipyard commercial and contract execution such as
Bid strategy, SOW definition, commercial evaluation etc.
Certified subsea engineer with knowledge of Subsea Risers, Flowlines and Flow assurance. Familiar with on
vessel SURF interface systems such as riser pull-in and Mooring systems.
Oghenekevwe Ovbije is Director, Energy Business at Energia Core. She has over 15 years of international experience in the energy industry, having worked across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and North America. Her background spans oil and gas production systems, energy operations, and infrastructure advisory. She began her career in oilfield operations, managing artificial lift installations across frontier and mature basins. At Baker Hughes, she progressed into leadership roles, overseeing field operations and capital projects for both offshore and onshore assets. She later served as a consultant at Wood Mackenzie, advising global clients on infrastructure resilience, post-M&A integration, and energy investment strategies.
Oghenekevwe holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), an MSc in Oil & Gas Engineering from the University of Aberdeen, and a B.Eng. in Chemical Engineering from Igbinedion University Okada. She holds additional professional certifications in sustainability, digital product management and has completed the Certified GeoExchange Designer course.
Charles, Maringineering’s Senior Advisor since 2016, is co-founder of both Frontier Deepwater Appraisal Solutions LLC and ezNG Solutions LLC. He is a Naval Architect (UMich’75) with a Mechanical Engineering Masters (UHou’83) who has served as SNAME’s regional chairman. He worked for major oil companies for over 20yrs as a project manager and deepwater technology leader. Since 2000, he has worked primarily on deepwater and natural gas industry projects and technology development. In 2010, Charles managed creation of the Compliance Division within West Engineering, developing tools and providing certification for deepwater MODUs enabling drilling operations to restart in the US Gulf of Mexico after the Macondo disaster. Before joining Poten & Partners (the world’s largest LNG consultancy) as a Senior Advisor in 2014, he served as Lead Engineer for detail design of the world’s deepest tension-leg platforms installed for Petrobras in waters >2000m deep off Brazil and as Global Director of Enhanced Field Development Services for Worley (INTECSEA).
He has led multiple large joint industry projects as well as the API global task forces in writing the FPS and riser design RPs. He co-chaired creation of the first probabilistic riser design code and helped ABS, DNV, and BV write codes for shipping pressurized gas cargos. He has written many technical papers and has been awarded numerous US & international patents.