TiE Houston’s May Event Panel Discussion on Future of the Oil & Gas Industry

 

HOUSTON: For the last 4 years, TiE Houston has put together a dynamic panel together to talk about the future of the oil & gas industry and this year was no exception. TiE Houston members and guests gathered at the HESS Club on May 30, to listen to, learn from, and network with panelists Bruno Courme, VP Exploration Americas for Total E&P Americas, LLC, Kirk Coburn, Head of Ventures for Shell, and Charles Leykum, Founder of CSL Capital Management. Moderating the panel were TiE Houston board members, Dr. Roopa Gir, President IEducate USA, and Vinita Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO, Apex Resources.

Before the panelists went on stage, guests had a chance to network with them. TiE Houston believes that the key to building a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem is to build a strong network so networking is always a part of their events. The crowd included students from UH, seasoned executives, and brand new entrepreneurs.

As everyone sat for dinner, Ana Rojas Bastidas, TiE Houston Executive Director, shared upcoming events and TiE Global Initiatives. This year, all chapters are focusing on growing their angel investor groups and seeing what ways they can promote women entrepreneurs in their community.

TiE Houston president, Dr. Arun Pasrija welcomed all of the guests and shared the TiE mission. TiE was founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley by a group of successful entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and senior professionals. There are currently 11,000 members, including over 2,500 charter members in 60 chapters across 17 countries. The newest chapter being TiE Miami! TiE’s mission is to foster entrepreneurship globally through mentoring, networking, and education.    

Dr. Gir opened the panel by introducing the panelists, and setting the stage by outlining recent events in the oil and gas industry – the advent of the shale revolution; the recent downturn in commodity prices; the increasing concern expressed by governments about climate change and carbon emissions; recent macroeconomic analyses about peak hydrocarbon demand because of growing traction of renewable energy sources; and the growing global demand for energy thanks to population growth.   

The first few questions posed by the moderators to the panelists were about then energy trends.  Charles Leykum was asked about the energy outlook and the focus of his company on US energy services company.  Kirk Coburn and Bruno Courme described the long-term strategic directions of their respective companies, and teased out some insights for entrepreneurs.   A second part of the panel session concerned technology directions and advice for entrepreneurs.  Charles Leykum emphasized the importance of first impressions and clear “value propositions on unit economics” explaining his company’s focus on energy services firm serving land US onshore production.   Kirk Coburn talked about the importance of entrepreneurs being able to demonstrate solid execution.   Bruno Courme emphasized the importance of innovation as something large corporations found difficult to do, and something that could help entrepreneurs distinguish themselves.   In closing, the general remarks from the panelists pointed to a period of increased opportunity for the energy sector, where there are many opportunities for entrepreneurs to be successful in the next 2-3 years.

To find out more about TiE Houston and how to get involved, visit www.houston.tie.org.

Their next event, Women Mean Business, will be in partnership with the Indo American Chamber of Commerce on June 20, 2018.