Gabrielle Finger, is Senior Commercial Advisor for Chevron New Energies (Houston, TX) working on Carbon Capture and Sequestration projects along the US Gulf Coast. Previously, Gabrielle was international commercial advisor at Noble Energy for 10 years, working on various west Africa assets in Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon. Her most recent project there were monetizing the Alen gas field through the EG Gas Mega Hub and the Yoyo-Yolanda cross border development. Commercially, Gabrielle has negotiated a wide range of agreements, including farmout agreements, unitization contracts/bilateral treaty, joint operating agreements, condensate/LPG/LNG sales agreements, joint venture agreements, capture and sequestration agreements, and various government granting instruments.
Gabrielle is a member of the Emerging Leaders Program at Chevron, has an MBA from University of Houston, and a BA from Washington University in St Louis. She is fluent in Spanish, knows enough French to be dangerous, and is the co-chair for the AIEN IES 2023.
Julian Cardenas, joined the University of Houston Law Center in 2012 as an Energy Scholar and a Visiting Professor affiliated to the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Center (EENR Center), focusing on transnational petroleum law and arbitration. Since October 2022, he is the Director of the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law working on bilateral legal affairs between the two nations and promoting exchanges among academic institutions.
As a visiting professor, he has also taught the investment law of major industrial projects (energy, mining, and construction), arbitration, and oil and gas industry practices at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) in Brazil; the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL) in Monterrey, and the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México – ITAM, in Mexico City, Mexico; the University Externado, in Bogota, Colombia; and the University Paris Sud, France.
Julian frequently works with companies, public authorities, and governments in various areas of oil and gas law and policy. At the EENR Center, he is the coordinator of the "Inter-American Hydrocarbons Regulators Dialogue," an initiative conceived to create a nexus between national hydrocarbons agencies, the private sector, and the academia. Since June 2019, he sits on the Ad Hoc Administrative Board of Directors of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the Venezuelan National Oil Company.
He is a conference speaker on transnational oil and gas law, investment law, international arbitration, best oil and gas industry practices, and oil and gas geopolitics. He has been a guest speaker in conferences related to these issues in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Scotland, the Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Gabon, and Kuwait. Also, Professor Cardenas is frequently interviewed by media outlets on Latin American affairs and oil and gas industry matters.
Professor Cardenas has been retained as an independent expert in international arbitrations regarding the upstream petroleum sector in Venezuela and has also been involved in ICC, AAA, and ICSID arbitration cases concerning downstream petroleum transactions, direct foreign investments, and international construction projects.
Before joining the EENR Center, he worked as a foreign legal clerk at the Arbitration Department of Dewey & Leboeuf in Paris and served for nearly six years as a career diplomat for the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, working on multilateral affairs with the Organization of the American States (OAS) and the United Nations (U.N.), and bilateral affairs related to sovereign boundary issues. He works effectively in Spanish, French, and English, and has some working proficiency in Portuguese.
He holds a law degree and a B.A. in International Relations from the Universidad Central de Venezuela; a Master of Laws in Arbitration and a Diplôme Superieur d'Université in Business Law from the Sorbonne University Paris II Pantheon-Assas; and an LL.M. with a Certificate in Energy, Environment & Natural Resources Law from the University of Houston Law Center. He was a Doctoral Fellow at the Research Center for Investment and International Trade Law (CREDIMI-CNRS) at the University of Bourgogne, Dijon, France.
Professor Cárdenas is an accomplished violinist who has played with different symphony orchestras in Venezuela, France, and the U.S. He holds a “Professional Amateur” Diploma from Pro Violin Institute in Frankfurt, Germany. Prof. Cárdenas was awarded the First-Place Prize winner, Amateur Category, in the 2023 American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition at the Carnegie Hall, in New York City. He has performed as well at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Sorbonne Amphitheatre, the Teatro Teresa Carreño, among other renowned music venues.
Phillip Lau, is a partner in Mayer Brown's Houston office and a member of the Corporate & Securities practice. His practice centers on energy-related commercial transactions and construction, primarily in the midstream and downstream segments. He has represented US and foreign energy companies in drafting and negotiating crude oil and natural gas gathering agreements; natural gas processing, fractionation and transportation services agreements; natural gas liquids purchase, sale and export agreements; source water supply agreements; produced water disposal agreements, and storage and terminalling agreements for various bulk hydrocarbon products.
Phil has also worked on engineering, procurement and construction contracts for natural gas pipelines and processing plants, chemical production facilities and storage terminals. Finally, he has represented both buyers and sellers in the acquisition and divestiture of crude oil, natural gas and produced water midstream assets and has worked on the development of greenfield and brownfield energy projects, including pipelines and export terminals.
Sergio Guerra, visiting Researcher by Yale Law School, holds a Post-PhD in public administration from Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (FGV/EBAPE). He has a Doctorate in Economic Law from Universidade Gama Filho (UGF) and a Master's of Laws from Universidade Candido Mendes (UCAM). Sergio is a full-time Professor of Administrative Law and Dean of Rio de Janeiro Law School of Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV Rio de Janeiro Law School). He is also a Yale University Ambassador in Brazil, editor of Revista de Direito Administrativo (RDA), and a member of the State Coordination for Brazil-China Relations of OAB-RJ. He has professional experience of over 35 years, focusing on administrative, regulatory, and environmental Law, working mainly on the following topics: regulatory agencies, regulation of public services, infrastructure and economic activities, contracts and administrative processes, PPP, arbitration, and public administration control. He is an author of several books and legal articles.