Board Meeting Update

8-13 September 2024 - Sorrento, Italy

The President, Roberto Castelli, was delighted to welcome the Board to the Annual Convention in Sorrento, Italy. The following highlights the main discussions and decisions made during their meetings at the Convention.

Safety Moment

Bruno Pomaré, outgoing HSE & CSR Committee Chair, offered the Board his final piece of advice regarding safety before stepping down from his role. He pointed out that commuting in his hometown of Paris comes with its own challenges, yet walking through the busy streets of southern Italy feels even more overwhelming. His advice for Sorrento: always use the pedestrian crossings and never assume that drivers will stop for you.

Minutes of the Cairo Board Meeting

The minutes of the previous Board Meeting were reviewed, and comments were made on the action items. It was noted that the HSE & CSR Committee was actively seeking a nonfinancial sponsor for the IPLOCA Quality Award.

Treasurer’s Report

The outgoing Treasurer, Adam Wynne Hughes, presented his third quarter report. He mentioned that both the costs and the income related to this year’s Annual Convention were higher than budgeted. On the other hand, the income generated from the arrival of new members was higher than planned. He pointed out that IPLOCA needs to look into how to keep the Scholarship Programme sustainable over the long term.

Membership

IPLOCA’ s membership stood at 78 Regular Members, 110 Associate Members and 34 Corresponding Members. The following membership applications had been approved: - AI Clearing , U.S.A. – Associate Member

- BROEN A/S , Denmark – Associate Member

- FRIEDRICH VORWERK SE & Co. KG. , Germany –Regular Member

- PROTEM USA LLC, U.S.A. – Associate Member

The following resignations had been received:

- Blue Sky Evolution

- Overgas Engineering

- OVERPIPE

- PETRA

- Swiss Approval International (as of 2025)

The following company has changed its name:

- Nesma & Partners Contracting Company Ltd. to Nesma & Partners Contracting Company UJSC

AGM and Changes to the By-laws

As per the By-laws, the agenda and the proposed changes to the By-laws were sent by Georges Hage, IPLOCA Executive Secretary, to members 30 days prior to the Annual General Meeting. The agenda includes the Year in Review by the outgoing President; the Treasurer’s Report and appointment of the auditors; the approval of the amendments to the Bylaws; the ratification of the 2024-2025 Board election results; and the objectives for the 2024-2025 term presented by the incoming President.

NextGen Network

The Project Lead, Saji Khoury, advised that he was looking for a co-chair for the IPLOCA NextGen Network. The purpose of the IPLOCA NexGen Network is to establish a collaborative forum that encourages the next generation of industry professionals to connect, share knowledge, and gain easy access to the IPLOCA community.

Scholarship Programme

In 2024, the Scholarship Programme, led by Saji Khoury, gave out 12 scholarships. One awardee was chosen per region with a total of eight awardees selected from the eight regions. The remaining four scholarships were awarded to the highest overall scorers. Students whose companies had not paid their membership fees and/or had not submitted their HSE statistics were excluded. No two scholarships were awarded to the same company.

Convening of the 2024-2025 Board of Directors

On the Friday of the Convention week, the retiring President, Roberto Castelli, stated that it had been an interesting year and thanked the Board and the IPLOCA Secretariat for all their hard work and contributions. He then thanked the board members who had finished their terms and the retiring directors left the room. The 2024-2025 Board convened. The retiring President, Roberto Castelli, tabled the 2024-2025 Officers’ names and the Board voted unanimously to appoint Yasar Giregiz as President, Saji Khoury as 1st Vice President, Bill Solomon as 2nd Vice President and Bruno Pomaré as Treasurer.

Elected Directors

- America North: Dean Cowling (Michels Corporation), Kent Wilfur (Gulf Interstate Engineering Company)

- East & Far East: David Lukas (AJ Lucas Services Pty Ltd.), Risal Mahmud (PEAL Engineering and Construction Limited)

- Europe Central: Giovanni Muriana (Max Streicher S.p.A.), Marcin Przywara (Gascontrol Polska Sp. z.o.o.)

- Europe Eastern: Yasar Giregiz (Fernas Construction Company), Hakan Göral (Tekfen Insaat Ve Tesisat)

- Europe Mediterranean: Leonardo Gravina (SICIM), Bruno Pomaré (Spiecapag)

- Europe Northwest: Wilko Koop (De Romein Group)

- Latin America: Pablo Brottier (SACDE)

- Middle East & Africa: Michael Fakhoury (Nesma & Partners), Saji Khoury (CCC)

- Associate Members: Andre Decastro (Darby Equipment Company Inc.), Jason LaValley (LaValley Industries), Bill Solomon (Vacuworx Global, LLC)

Appointment of Directors and Directors-at-Large

There being vacant seats in two regions due to a lack of candidates during the nomination process, Yasar Giregiz proposed the appointment of Henk de Graaf (CRC Evans) for Europe Northwest. The candidate was unanimously accepted by the Board. The names of the proposed Directors-atLarge were tabled by Yasar Giregiz. The Board then voted unanimously to appoint Andrew Ball (J. Murphy & Sons Limited), Benet Chan (Caterpillar Inc.), Somaieh Salehpour (Seal for Life Industries), Andrew Stuart (Winn & Coales Int.) and Gerben Wansink (Maats Pipeline Professionals).

Committees

The 2024-2025 Board will run a total of eight committees and projects as follows:

- HSE & CSR Committee

Chair: Giovanni Muriana. Leadership: Benet Chan, Jason LaValley, Risal Mahmud, Bruno Pomaré

- Innovation Committee

Chair: Somaieh Salehpour. Leadership: Roberto Castelli, Benet Chan, Leonardo Gravina, Wilko Koop, Jason LaValley

- Energy Transition Committee

Chair: Andrew Ball. Leadership: Pablo Brottier, Dean Cowling, Hakan Göral, Henk de Graaf, David Lukas

- Membership & Communication Committee

Chair: Marcin Przywara. Leadership: Roberto Castelli, Andre Decastro, Michael Fakhoury, Leonardo Gravina, Jason LaValley, Somaieh Salehpour, Andrew Stuart

- Convention & Board Location Project

Project Lead: Kent Wilfur. Leadership: David Lukas, Andrew Stuart, Gerben Wansink

- Speakers Project

Project Lead: Hakan Göral. Leadership: Andrew Ball, Pablo Brottier, David Lukas, Bill Solomon, Kent Wilfur

- NextGen Network

Project Lead: Saji Khoury. Leadership: Andrew Ball, Roberto Castelli, Andre Decastro, Michael Fakhoury, Hakan Göral, Henk de Graaf, Jason LaValley, Somaieh Salehpour

- Scholarship Project

Project Lead: Saji Khoury. Leadership: Michael Fakhoury, Risal Mahmud, Gerben Wansink, Kent Wilfur

Regional Meetings

IPLOCA Regional Meetings are planned as follows:

- 4 December 2024: Buenos Aires, Argentina for Latin America

- 26 March 2025: Tokyo, Japan for East & Far East

- 4 June 2025: Krakow, Poland for Europe Central

Next Board Meeting

The next Board Meeting, which follows a Regional Meeting on 4 December 2024, will be held from 5 to 7 December 2024 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Incoming President Yasar Giregiz presented Roberto Castelli with his presidential pin