Mehmet ÖĞÜTÇÜ
Chairman, London Energy Club
An internationally recognised authority on infrastructure, energy, geopolitics finance, and investment, Mehmet has more than 30 years of successful track-record in energy business, investment, development, diplomacy, and international organisations, with particular geographic focus on Europe, Turkey, Central Asia, Russia, the Middle East and China. His professional career has included high-level government, energy business, and public diplomacy engagements.
Mehmet has a good understanding of the oil, gas and power business along the value chain. He has deep experience of complex restructuring and special situations, M&A, debt/equity capital markets, as well as ability to balance seemingly unresolvable conflicting interests is impressive. He has been a trusted advisor to many Boards and Governments over many years.
Currently, Mehmet chairs Global Resources Partnership, a UK strategic advisory group and serves as Special Envoy of The International Energy Charter for MENA Region and Chair of The Bosphorus Energy Club and The London Energy Club, which are exclusive gatherings of the senior executives and leaders in finance, energy and politics across the world.
In his early career, Mehmet was Turkish diplomat, having worked on critical “economic and energy diplomacy” dossiers in Ankara, Beijing, Brussels and Paris, and later as an advisor to the late Turkish Prime Minister, Turgut Ozal, 1986-1994. He was instrumental in expanding trade and investment between Turkey and China while in the Embassy in Beijing.
After leaving the Foreign Service, Mehmet joined as a senior staffer at the International Energy Agency (IEA) heading Eurasia and Asia-Pacific programme, and the OECD in Paris as principal administrator managing international investment outreach over 11 years. At the IEA, he established the Agency’s first China, Russia and India programmes of co-operation and collaboration, organised a series of dialogue events and technical assistance programmes on energy security, efficiency, technology deployment, finance, climate change and natural gas market development.
In compliance with the G-7 mandate, Mehmet established the OECD-MENA and Africa Investment and Governance Programme, the Central Asia Private Sector Development Center, the South East Europe’s Investment Compact, raised funds to implement these programmes, and helped achieve several trackable policy reforms. Developed OECD’s New Horizons for Foreign Direct Investmentprogramme, 2000-2005.
As Director of BG Group (now part of Shell) he opened the way for BG’s entry into China, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Oman, and Brazil for exploration, power generation and refineries, and managed the dispute settlement with Kazakhstan and Algeria, 2005-2011. Mehmet served as Chairman, International Advisory Board for Invensys plc, a FTSE 100 technology company, and helped win several high-profile contracts including four nuclear power plants in China, Jeddah-Mecca railway signalisation, Marmaray automation and safety project and Kazakhstan’s Kashagan pipeline project.
He helped engineer the reverse takeover in 2011 of Genel Energy, an Iraqi E&P group, by Vallares, an LSE-listed company and since then, sat on its board of directors, overseeing engagement with Iraqi authorities, new business, refinancing of bonds as well as audit, nomination and health and safety committees. He also worked as an independent board member on the boards of Sisecam Group and Yasar Holding Group, listed in Istanbul Stock Exchange. He was senior advisor to the Saudi Crown Investment Holding.
As an entrepreneur, he created his own boutique investment advisory group, Global Resources Partnership, with senior fellow experts around the world, and served clients such as Chevron, SOCAR, CNPC, Gazprom, KMG, BG Group, Shell, Gunvor and Petronas on asset due diligence, stakeholder engagement, and risk mitigation, 2011-present.
He is a graduate of Turkey’s “Mulkiye,” London School of Economics (MSc) and College d’Europe (MA), Bruges. He has taught as an occasional lecturer at LSE Enterprise Executive Programme, Harvard University, Dundee University, University of Reading, Peking University’s School of Government, and Koc University since 2005.
Mehmet has effective media communications, writing and speaking talents, and built an extensive public roles profile. He often speaks at key international and regional conferences around the world. A regular contributor to CNN, BBC, CCTV, France-24, Israel’s i24NEWS, Bloomberg, Sputnik, TRTWorld, HürriyetDaily News, Euroactiv, Moscow Times, Capital, and OECD Observer. Authored scores of books and articles including most recently The New Geopolitical and Economic Journey Over the Next Ten Years (Bilgesam, October 2018).
Mehmet speaks Turkish, English, French, Central Asian dialects and conversational Chinese mandarin. He holds Turkish and French citizenship, and is UK permanent resident.