Speakers

Topic 1: US Asphalt Statistics: Trends and the 2009 Picture

- US and regional supply/demand figures for 2009
- Trends in demand, production, imports and exports

Topic 2: Asphalt Prices in a Changing Environment

- Types of asphalt prices
- Challenges in pricing asphalt
- How do global asphalt prices compare to the US?
- New environment, new pricing techniques

Over twelve years ago, Nasreen Tasker was hired by Argus to create the first international report on weekly asphalt pricing called the Argus Asphalt Report. The report is still the only weekly report on international asphalt pricing today. The report has global circulation and is used by many companies in contracts. Nasreen is the Editor of the report.

Prior to Argus, she headed the asphalt department at consulting company, Poten & Partners, Inc. Her consulting responsibilities included giving presentations to major overseas and domestic clients on industry fundamentals, trends and prices. She performed special market studies for clients to determine the feasibility of entering new markets and was responsible for the editorial content of all the asphalt publications.

Prior to Poten, she worked at Phibro Energy Inc. in the Planning and Business Development Department where she performed acquisition and joint venture opportunity analysis on foreign and domestic energy companies.

Her petroleum industry career started with Conoco Inc., in the management development training program in their supply and distribution department.

She has chaired five Asian Bitumen Conferences, has done numerous presentations on asphalt, and has written several articles on the asphalt market. In November 2008, she chaired and presented at the first-ever India bitumen forum in New Delhi, which included government officials, suppliers, buyers and construction companies.

Topic: US/Canada Construction Outlook

Subtopics:

- US/Canada economic outlook overview
- US/Canada construction starts and spending outlook for asphalt using projects
- US/Canada hot and cold growth regions in 2010

Jim Haughey is Chief Economist at Reed Construction Data (RCD), a Reed Elsevier Company. RCD provides the construction industry with detailed construction project and cost information

He has over thirty years experience as a business economist, including twenty years monitoring the construction market. He has previously worked in government, corporate and consulting roles and has taught at the University of Michigan, Ohio University, Michigan State University and the University of Massachusetts. He has a Ph.D. degree in economics from the University of Michigan.

Haughey prepares detailed construction market forecasts that appear in many Reed construction magazines, including Building Design & Construction, Professional builder and Construction Equipment and online at reedconstructiondata.com/market-insights. He is a frequent speaker on the construction outlook at events sponsored by trade associations, trade unions and construction suppliers.

Topic: US Highway Funding, Overview of 2009 Stimulus and Future Expectations

Jay Hansen serves as the Vice President of Government Affairs for the National Asphalt Pavement Association.

Jay joined NAPA in November 1998 after more than 12 years working in the U.S. Congress and two years as the senior transportation lobbyist for the American Consulting Engineers Council (ACEC).

Jay serves on The Road Information Program Board of Directors and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Jay also serves on the Americans for Transportation Mobility (ATM) Coalition Management Committee and manages NAPA's involvement in the Transportation Construction Coalition.

Topic: Canadian Asphalt Market Overview

Subtopics:

- Canadian provincial asphalt supply and demand
- Imports and exports
- Grades of asphalt used
- Future outlook.

John Berti is the Manger of Asphalt and Lubricants Marketing for Husky Energy and is responsible for marketing all asphalt, emulsions, lubricants, drilling fluids and heavy fuel oils for Husky Energy and the operations of 9 asphalt facilities in Canada. He has 29 years of asphalt industry experience including the last 23 years with Husky.

John has a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and a Management Certificate. He is a member of the Canadian Technical Asphalt Association, Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists, Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta and a Director with the Asphalt Institute.

Topic: Asphalt Coatings – What Does the Future Hold?

Subtopics:

- What asphalt coatings consist of and what they are used for
- Why asphalt?
- Primary categories of asphalt coatings
- Historical volume trend
- Factors affecting the future of asphalt coatings

David Brown is the Vice-President of The SWT Group. In this capacity he oversees the supply, manufacture and marketing of various asphalt products to the roofing and coating industries. He has over 30 years experience with SWT and in the asphalt business. During this time he has been involved in all aspects of the business from formulating, supply, manufacturing, quality systems and marketing. SWT is a member of the Asphalt Institute as well as the Roof Coating Manufacturers Association.

Topic: The Asphalt Binder Business: A Necessary Evil or A Godsend? -- From a Refiner's Perspective

Subtopics:

- Why have major refiners reduced their presence as an asphalt binder supplier?
- Why can’t we predict asphalt binder prices any better than we do?
- Why do inventories fluctuate so much?
- Does “winterfill” make since these days?

Austin Miller serves as the Senior Manager of Asphalt Supply & Trading at Valero Energy Corporation. Austin has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a Master of Science in Finance from the University of Texas at San Antonio. He has worked for Valero Energy for 10 years working in many different fields including Gasoline Retail, NGL, and Petrochemicals. In 2007, he joined the Asphalt Group and has been actively involved in the development and growth of Valero’s asphalt business. This involvement has encompassed strategic planning and analysis, market analysis, operations, technical development, and asphalt supply and marketing functions. He also represents Valero with its membership in the Asphalt Institute, serving on several committees, including the Public Policy and Marketing Committees. Austin is also actively involved in community outreach and presently serves on the Board of Directors for Young Life in Boerne, TX. He is married and has 3 children.

Topic: Mexico Asphalt Overview

Subtopics:

- Mexican asphalt supply & demand
- Historical demand trends
- Asphalt pricing
- How to or how not to buy and sell asphalt in Mexico

Property owner of an industrial manufacturing company dedicated to produce a full line of products for the Roofing and waterproofing industries. About 70% of the manufacturing capacity is exported to the markets all over the United States (California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and Florida), supplier of important retail stores, such as Home Depot, ABC Supply, Co., Roofing Wholesale, Bradco Supply Co. Etc. Also with distribution warehouses in Tijuana, Ensenada in the State of Baja California and in other important cities in Mexico like, Cd. Juarez, Hermosillo, Monterrey and covering northern Mexico.

Business man with a high degree of involvement in a range of education, charitable, community, banking and city development organizations.

Topic: Roofing Asphalt Industry: Facing Challenges, Discovering Opportunities

Subtopics:

- Impact of crude slate changes on the quality of flux
- Availability of roofing flux
- Demand for flux in a weak economic environment
- Changes in the flux industry longer term

Bill is a leading consultant to the roofing and industrial asphalt manufacturing community. He has provided consulting services on market analysis, asphalt supply strategies and sales training and development for several roofing manufacturing companies and asphalt processors.

Bill has over thirty five years of roofing asphalt and residential roofing manufacturing management experience, sales and marketing experience and consulting in all aspects of the industry.

In his current position he is the Business Development Director for Copano, Ltd. Copano manufacturers and markets modified shingle adhesive, laminate adhesives, modified coating asphalt products to the roofing industry as well as soft asphalt for roofing oxidation and base asphalts for modified asphalt blending as well as basic asphalt saturants. Under Bill’s leadership, Copano, Ltd. provides consulting services in asphalt supply, manufacturing and sales training.

Topic: USA Inland Barging

Gene’s background includes twenty-eight years with British Petroleum as Vice President of Supply and Trading for the western hemisphere, Senior Vice President of Mitsubishi’s wholly-owned subsidiary PetroDiamond, responsible for heavy oil trading Atlantic Rim, including the United States, Europe, Mediterranean, West Africa and South America, President of Gulf International Holding Company with several oil-related businesses in the United States, President of Trifinery and Managing Director of Neste-Trifinery Petroleum Services. Neste Oil is the national oil company of Finland (thirty thousand barrels per day refiner). Gene was President of American International Refiner (twenty-five thousand barrels per day refiner) located in Lake Charles, Louisiana and is currently Vice President of Supply and Marketing for Martin Asphalt Company, Houston, Texas.

In addition, Gene served the petroleum industry as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Asphalt Institute and served on the Board of Directors of the National Petroleum Refiner’s Association for nine years.

Topic: Post Recession Refining Environment

Stephen Jones is a Vice President with Purvin & Gertz, Inc. Stephen has a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Tulane University and 22 years of industry experience. He began his career with Exxon at the Baton Rouge Refinery where he held a variety of technical, business planning and operating management assignments. He transferred to Exxon's supply trading and refining headquarters in Houston where he spent a number of years analyzing crude oil trade and refinery economics. Stephen joined Purvin & Gertz in 2000 and has lead numerous assignments involving crude oil and refined products logistics, pricing and trade. Stephen is the manager of the Purvin & Gertz' short-term market advisory services that includes the firm’s Crude Oil & Refining Outlook service from which he shares his broad experience and insights to forecast and analyze market conditions for clients worldwide.

Topic: North American Coker Projects Update

Subtopics:

- Coking units online in 2010 and 2009
- Other active coking projects
- Projects cancelled, delayed or put on hold due to the economy—exact status
- How is the economic recovery impacting these future expansion plans by refiners?

David Love has been with Argus for 16 years, and has been the editor of the Energy Argus Petroleum Coke report since its inception in September 2001. He has also covered daily oil markets for Argus, focusing mostly on residual fuel oil. Love holds a BBS degree from Hardin-Simmons University in
Abilene, Texas.

Topic: Crude Oil Markets Overview and Outlook

Subtopics:

- Impact of economic recovery on the oil market
- Oil supply constraints and "peak" demand
- Relationship between heavy and light crude oil prices
- Crude oil ceiling and floor price levels

Dr. Van Vactor is President of Economic Insight, Inc., a firm of consulting economists. He has advised many public and private organizations on energy issues, including the American Petroleum Institute, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Bonneville Power Administration, Pacific Gas & Electric Corporation, Sempra, the Western Interstate Energy Board, Sasol, Tokyo Electric Power Company, the Mitsubishi Research Institute, Tokyo Gas, Gaz de France, Gas Natural, the State of Alaska, and the Government of India. Dr. Van Vactor has counseled a variety of major oil and gas companies, including Chevron, Texaco, Exxon, Mobil, BP, and Shell and is the author of many articles about the energy industries. He has appeared as an expert witness in international arbitration, tax hearings, civil disputes, antitrust cases, and regulatory proceedings. Dr. Van Vactor is the author of The Petroleum Industry: Markets, Pricing, and its Future, forthcoming from Pennwell Publications.

Before his present activity, Dr. Van Vactor was an officer on destroyers in the U.S. Navy, an economist at the U.S. Treasury, a senior economist at the International Energy Agency of the OECD, and head of energy planning for the State of Oregon. He has lectured on energy and economics subjects at the University of Maryland (European Division), Portland State University, University of Southwest Australia, Cambridge University, and Columbia University. Dr. Van Vactor designed and developed the Energy Market Report on electricity prices, now published by Argus Media. He has also conducted seminars on oil and gas pricing, contracting and risk management in Singapore and Kula Lumpur. His web site is www.econ.com and email is sam@econ.com.

Topic: Canadian Market Expansion Implications

Subtopics:

- Current Western Canadian crude market snapshot
(Current supply volume, current market disposition, major ongoing crude pipeline projects)

- The next target market - U.S. Gulf Coast
(Competing sources of heavy sour crude)

- TransCanada's Keystone XL Project
(Route, size, timing)

- Market implications
(Light-heavy crude differentials, implications for asphalt refiners)

Neil K. Earnest is a Vice President and Director of Muse, Stancil & Co. with 28 years of experience. Muse provides customized consulting services to the downstream energy industry, focusing on offering an integrated combination of technical and business expertise.

As a consultant, he has worked on a broad range of assignments in the downstream sector around the world. Neil has also headed most of Muse’s recent Canadian engagements related to market analysis and development of business strategy. He has provided expert testimony in several jurisdictions regarding Canadian crude market issues.

Prior to joining Muse in 1991, Neil was with Phillips Petroleum Company for 11 years in a variety of refinery and headquarters positions. Neil holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from Michigan State University and an M.B.A. from University of Houston - Clearlake. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Texas.

Topic: Lake Asphalt of Trinidad & Tobago

Subtopics:

- Overview
- Grades of Asphalt
- Export Locations
- Lake Asphalt as a suitable source for US and Canada

Mr. Nigel Minors is Team Leader of the International Business Unit at Lake Asphalt of Trinidad & Tobago.

With over fifteen years experience in sales and marketing, he is involved in all aspects of strategy development and the promotion of Lake Asphalt’s range of products throughout the international market.

Before joining Lake Asphalt, Mr. Minors worked in the USA, where he earned his BBA in Management, and MBA in International Business in New York.

In the USA Mr. Minors worked with the Taiwan Trade Center in New York City as a Trade Marketing Specialist.

At Lake Asphalt, Mr. Minors is currently in charge of maintaining current partnerships and developing new ones in the asphalt industry, as the company continues its expansion into the international market. His assignments in China, India, Brazil, Panama, and the USA have included distributor negotiations, and providing support for distributors and customers.

Topic: Asphalt Emulsions – Today and Tomorrow

Topic: Overview of Rail Legislation: Potential industry changes as a result of S. 2889 - The STB Reauthorization Act of 2009

Subtopics:

- Content of the bill
- Status of the bill in both chambers of Congress
- Implications for shippers, including rates and ability to access other railroads

Mike McBride focuses his practice on litigation, especially that involving transportation and environmental issues, and nuclear regulatory matters.

A former President of the Association of Transportation Law Professionals and Program Committee Chairman of the Transportation Law Institute, Mr. McBride represents the Edison Electric Institute, various electric utilities, and other entities in transportation-related litigation and regulatory matters before the Surface Transportation Board, as well as in negotiation of and dispute resolution involving transportation contracts.

Mr. McBride also maintains a substantial environmental practice, including counseling on nuclear regulatory issues and litigating civil and criminal cases under the National Environmental Policy Act, the "Superfund" statute, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and Clean Air Act. In environmental matters, his clients have included electric utilities (both in nuclear and non-nuclear capacities), the American Petroleum Institute, National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, a paper company, a chemical recycling company, and individuals.