OUR TEAM

FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN & CEO

Dr. Columba Yeung

Vision: “Sustainable Development of Oil sands (and extra-heavy-oils) to Produce Premium Crudes Customized for Broad Spectrum of Global Refining Industry, at the Lowest All-In-Costs and Enhanced Environmental Performance”.
Relevant experience includes transformation of 2 project prospects to Flagships of Shell Canada:
- Unique Refinery synergistically designed to process Synthetic Crudes; for well over 2 decades, Scotford Refinery has remained the best performer in its class, in America (by Solomon).
- Novel technology innovations transformed the economics of First Shell (AOSP) OilSands Mining – Upgrading project, with unique synergies with Scotford Refinery.
Development of the China strategy for Royal Dutch Shell, and led business development of the eventual CNOOC-Shell Mega Petro-Chemical Complex at Huizhou, Guangdong
PhD Chemical Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada; numerous scholarships, fellowships and awards

Over 12 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, six of which were with Shell Canada, where he was responsible for refining technology research and development.
Extensive high level social-political networks in China / Hong Kong; Chair or Vice-Chair of Chambers of Commerce
PhD Chemical Engineering; Princeton University

Bovornrat Darakananda

Over 27 years experience in the energy industry
Served as director or senior officer in various affiliated companies of Saha-Union Public Co (Thailand)
Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Management Engineering and Master’s Degree in Electrical and Management Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Dr. John Lacey

Is founder and President of John R. Lacey International Ltd., an oil and gas consulting company formed in 1970, and has very extensive experience in the international oil and gas industry with both government and major private sector clients, with an emphasis on Australasia, Russia, the CIS and Europe.
He has extensive experience in many sectors associated with oil and gas exploration, production, transportation and marketing.
He is a member of the Alberta Securities Commission Petroleum Advisory Committee.
He is the Honourary Consul-General for the Kingdom of Thailand and has been elected to the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences

Julio Leung

Over 40 years of business experience spanning public accounting, consulting, international banking, capital markets deals, electronic manufacturing, IT/ software services, and bio-science products
Direct responsibilities include board memberships, CFO, COO, profit center leadership, and executive advisory committee
Geographical responsibilities in U.S., Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China and ASEAN
MBA from Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania; CPA certification in New York State

Dr. Liming Liu - Vice President, COLF-Technology

Over 20 years of experience in fundamental and industrial technology research & development
Team Leader in the development of ADC™ and COC™ technologies
Lead member in design team
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of Alberta

David Searl - Sr VP, Commercial

Over 30 years of broad based commercial experience in the energy industry
Business development in oil sands, offshore, Northern Territories and Western Canada conventional
Previously held senior commercial management roles with ExxonMobil Canada and North American Oil Sands / Statoil Hydro Canada

Nazeef Muhammad - Legal Counsel

Dr. Swapan Das, P.Eng. VP – Resource Development, Productivity Management

Over 30 years of experience in the oil patch, in the area of reservoir and production engineering, new technology development, pilot plant design and implementation and commercial operations. Expertise includes process optimization, surface-subsurface synergy, secondary and tertiary recovery, CO2 EOR, CO2 capture and sequestration, etc.
Dr. Das is a pioneer in the area of solvent recovery of viscous oil and holds three Canadian patents on thermal solvent recovery processes. He has operated and managed several thermal and solvent pilot projects, has been involved in design, development and operations of multiple SAGD and thermal recovery projects around the world with Suncor Energy Inc., ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil Co.
He received B.Sc. Chemistry and B.Tech. Chem. Eng. from the Calcutta University, M.Tech. Chem. Eng. from IIT Kanpur, India and Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Calgary.
Dr. Das has served as technical committee member for the International CO2 capture project, World Heavy Oil Congress and SPE Heavy oil conferences. He is a reviewer for SPEJ, JCPT, FUEL and JPSE.

Gary Wang - Geologist

Over 30 years industrial experience in China, Mid-East, Africa, and Canada. Including 17 years of working experience on the “Medium/Heavy Oil/ Bitumen Corridor” straddling the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Previous hold position, include Director of Exploration Planning Department, G&G Manager with CNPC, CNODC, Vital Energy Ltd.
Extensive experience on geological evaluation, project management and execution through the conception and completion of the conventional and unconventional project development
Broad exposure to planning and execution of various field and lab test program of geological evaluation. Geomechanics studies and hydrogeology investigation.
Registered memberships with APEGA and APEGS.