Ricardo Silva, is an Attorney, and a Partner at Miranda & Associados (Miranda Law Firm) in Lisbon, Portugal, and one of the Firm’s Co-Heads of Energy and Coordinator of its Timor-Leste branch office.

Ricardo is qualified to practice in Portugal and Timor-Leste, and has significant experience in advising both private clients and sovereign States on oil & gas projects and regulatory matters, as well as in petroleum contract negotiations, and drafting of legislation. Major projects Ricardo has been involved in include: advising major and independent International Oil Companies (“IOC”) in negotiating Production Sharing Contracts (“PSC”) and Risk Services Contracts (“RSC”) in various African and Asian jurisdictions; advising investors and sovereign nations in the structuring of various Liquefied Natural Gas (“LNG”), CCUS and renewable energy projects in East and West Africa; advising a sovereign State in S.E. Asia on the structuring of an LNG Project; advising an Asian oil & gas regulatory authority in the structuring of its downstream sector, including drafting of the overarching legislation and respective regulations, and presenting workshops and teaching training sessions to the agency’s staff; advising a S.E. Asian State in the drafting of a new Mining Code; advising an Asian NOC in reviewing the country’s oil & gas statutory, regulatory and PSC framework; representing a West African State before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and advising the State of Timor-Leste on petroleum matters related to the Maritime Boundary Delimitation process with Australia.

He is a graduate of the Lisbon University School of Law, where he also attended the curricular program of the Master’s Degree in Juridical-Political Sciences. Ricardo has been active in lecturing, providing training, making presentations, and writing articles on oil & gas matters for national and international publications and institutions. He is currently the President of the Association of International Energy Negotiators (AIEN) and previously held various positions with the American Bar Association, including Vice-Chair, and Co-Chair of the ABA’s Section of International Law Africa Committee, Vice-Chair of the International Energy & Natural Resources Committee, and Liaison to the Portuguese Bar Association.

From 2006 to the end of 2008 Ricardo was the Head of Miranda’s Houston Liaison Office. He is a national of both Portugal and Australia.

Dr. Andy Butler, is the founder and Managing Director of SundaGas, and Director Asia-Pacific of its shareholder Baron Oil Plc. A geologist by training, Andy has been in the E&P business for almost 30 years and in Asia since 2011. His primary focus nowadays is on Timor-Leste, where he is leading the initiative to bring the Chuditch gas field towards development. 

Gualdino do Carmo da Silva, is an Engineer by training, having graduated from RMIT in Melbourne, and has been the President of the Timor-Leste Oil & Gas Regulator, the National Petroleum Authority (ANP) since September 2023, having previously held the same role between the date of the ANP’s creation in July 2008 and August 2020. Prior to the creation of the ANP, Mr. Gualdino da Silva served first in a technical role, and later as Executive Director of the Timor Sea Designated Authority, which was responsible for supervising and managing the Joint Petroleum Development Area (JPDA) created under the Timor Sea Treaty.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Timor-Leste Petroleum Fund Investment Advisory Board and has held various other roles both in the public and private sector, and in non-governmental organizations. He was a member of the Petroleum Sector Team during the United Nations Conciliation between Timor-Leste and Australia and the subsequent Maritime Boundary Treaty negotiations and was the leader of the Timor-Leste team responsible for negotiating the transition of petroleum projects to the exclusive jurisdiction of Timor-Leste upon coming into force of the Treaty and dissolution of the JPDA.

David Perks, co-leads the Corporate and Commercial team in Perth and has over 25 years experience advising some of Australia’s leading energy and resources companies.

David has a broad range of corporate experience with particular expertise advising ASX 200 clients on large, complex, and innovative transactions.

As a highly regarded corporate and commercial lawyer, David has been consistently ranked as one of Australia’s leading energy and resources lawyers in various directories. Recognized by his peers in The Best Lawyers in Australia for his work in Corporate/Governance Practice, Energy Law, Mining Law, Oil & Gas Law, Natural Resources Law, and Equity Capital Markets (2013 to 2023), David is also ranked in The Asia-Pacific Legal 500.

David also has expert knowledge of the Corporations Act, ASX Listing Rules, the petroleum legislative regime, the mining legislative regime and foreign investment regulation.

Caleb Jongeling, has close to 20 years financial and commercial experience with large multinational consulting and resource organisations, in addition to nearly a decade of experience in construction and industry.

Caleb is the Senior Commercial Manager APAC for Exploration & Development at Woodside. In this role he leads and negotiates exploration and development opportunities for Woodside across Australia and the Asia Pacific region. He has prior experience with mergers and acquisitions, valuations, advice and negotiations across a variety of areas in addition to global exploration including construction and operational oil and gas assets, carbon and new technology and corporate roles. As well as being a member of AIEN, Caleb holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Computing from the University of Tasmania and a Graduate Diploma of Chartered Accounting from the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Carlos Liborio Frans Alves, is a Board of Directors member and has over nine years of working experience at Autoridade Nacional do Petróleo (ANP), a Statutory body regulating the petroleum sector in Timor-Leste. His prior experience includes more than six years of professional experience working in various international agencies such as the World Bank, USAID and AusAID-funded projects in Resource Governance, Land Research, social science research, and Market Research. Carlos has a Master of Laws - LLM, Energy and Natural Resources Law from Queen Mary University of London, a Master of Business (By Research) from Charles Darwin University, and a Bachelor of Laws-LLB (Hons) Business Law from London Metropolitan University.