Opportunities for Geoscientists in the Energy Transition - Green & Natural Hydrogen & Helium

Energy Transition Strategic Science Theme Lead, The Geological Society

Bas has over 32 years of geoscience experience in the Energy Industry, having worked for Shell, Woodside and CNOOC International in a variety of senior management roles in Exploration, Appraisal, Development, Commercial and Business Development. His last role with CNOOC was as Vice President Exploration for Europe & Africa, based in London. 
Since leaving CNOOC in 2022, Bas has been a Business Development Consultant for EnQuest UK, via his own company Superb Energy. Bas has a B.Sc. in Physics (with Geophysics) and a PhD in Lower Crustal Seismology from Imperial College.

For the last 5 years, Bas has also volunteered as a mentor for A-level students at Surrey SATRO, a STEM educational charity. He runs an annual project on “The Global Energy Transition”. Earlier this year, he became the Energy Transition Theme Lead for The Geological Society, which is a part-time voluntary role.

Bas has a passion for the Earth Sciences and developing people to maximise their impact on the Energy Transition.

Co-Founder

Tom is co-founder of Hotspur Helium, a frontier exploration company establishing a new, globally significant primary helium supply. A specialist in greenfield exploration, he brings operational and corporate expertise to the acquisition and development of large scale helium acreage positions. Under his leadership, Hotspur has secured around 20,000 km² of world class exploration acreage and is advancing a technically driven exploration strategy delivering long term, reliable helium supply to markets in the Middle East and Europe.

A Chartered Geologist, Tom has more than a decade of experience delivering exploration and drilling campaigns in complex operational environments. His work has included geothermal exploration and development projects in East Africa and Indonesia, where he has managed large scale field programmes and multidisciplinary technical teams. Tom builds high performing teams and maintains strong community and stakeholder relationships to ensure responsible project delivery.

Chief Business Development Officer, getech

Max Brouwers is Executive Director at Getech, where he drives growth in low-carbon sectors spanning natural hydrogen, critical minerals, geothermal, and carbon storage. With over 25 years of international energy leadership, he is committed to accelerating the global energy transition by transforming innovation into commercial impact.

Over more than two decades at Shell, Max held various senior leadership roles, including Vice President Exploration for Europe, Russia, and the Caspian. He oversaw exploration and energy transition activities across 17+ countries, secured multi-billion-dollar commercial agreements, and spearheaded industry-wide digital innovation such as the Open Subsurface Data Universe and a successful digital start-up.

Renowned for forging strategic partnerships with governments, national oil companies, boards, and cross-sector leaders, Max also serves as President of AAPG Europe and is a member of the UK Subsurface Taskforce. He holds an MBA and an MSc in Geology.

Senior VP Strategy & International Growth, Moeve  

Rik Sneep serves as the SVP Strategy & International Growth for Moeve's Clean Energies business and is based in Madrid since September 2023. At Moeve, Rik champions the development of the commercial models and future international value chains that underpin the company’s transformational growth strategy ‘Positive Motion’. On behalf of Moeve, he is a member of the executive committee of the Global Impact Coalition, in which world leading chemical companies co-invest in critical innovation. Rik is part of the WEF's Clean Fuels Expert Panel and regularly participates in high level government and industry engagements on the development of future energy markets.

Prior to his current role, he spent 18 years at Shell in a variety of key leadership positions, including Vice President of Integrated Gas Ventures, Program Director of Sectoral Decarbonization and General Manager of Strategic Integration. Rik holds a BSc and MSc in Geophysics from the University of Utrecht, an MBA from Duke University and completed the World Business Council for Sustainable Development Executive Program at Yale. He also sits on the advisory board of Safe Water Gardens, aiming to bring safe sanitation to remote communities in Asia.

Senior Geophysicist & Hydrogen Explorer, H2Au

Yessine Boubaker is an Exploration Geophysicist at H2Au, with a strong oil and gas background in seismic reservoir monitoring and 4D seismic project delivery. He has worked across the full 4D seismic workflow, supporting development projects and improving subsurface understanding. He also contributed to research on lighter and smarter seismic monitoring solutions. Building on this experience, Yessine has transitioned into natural hydrogen exploration, applying subsurface expertise to an emerging and fast-evolving sector. His work now spans the full project development chain, from early technical screening through to licensing, stakeholder engagement, and execution planning.