Alexander Mollinger is a petroleum engineer with fifteen years of upstream oil and gas experience in areas including asset management, commercial and M&A. Prior to helping found Discover Exploration, he was the commercial advisor to Cove Energy, where he guided the company through a monthlong bidding war and its sale to Thailand’s national oil company PTTEP for $1.9 billion. Prior to Cove, Alexander worked at Royal Dutch Shell in the Netherlands. He is currently also a visiting lecturer at the Institut Français du Pétrole in Paris where he teaches upstream M&A.

We’re pleased to announce that Alex will be joining us at a speaker at AOW 2020, participating in a “Wells to Watch” session on the Plenary Stage.

Why should people come and see you speak at AOW 2020? The Comoros are completely unexplored, despite 160 Tcf of recoverable gas discovered in adjacent Mozambique. Last year we shot the country’s first 3D seismic survey and are now gearing up to drill the country’s first oil and gas well.

What’s a recent oil and gas story you’re particularly excited about? From a macro perspective, 2020 is turning out to be the oil and gas sector’s most fascinating year since the Gulf War.

What new technology will make the most difference to your African operations in the coming years? FLNG, particularly if the current crisis results in a decrease in development and operating costs. In the long term, this could unlock significant resources in Africa.

Are you optimistic about the next year in African oil and gas? If so/if not, why? Given the current macro environment, 2020 is going to be a very challenging year for African oil and gas. I am, however, optimistic that things will start getting better by 2021.