L E A D E R S H I P

Eng. Abdel Khalek Ayad is a seasoned oil and gas executive with a distinguished career spanning over four decades across the Middle East and North Africa. With a solid foundation in petroleum engineering and advanced studies in management and finance, he has consistently delivered transformational impact in both public and private sector organizations.

He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering from Cairo University in 1962, marking the beginning of a career rooted in technical excellence. He later pursued advanced Management and Finance studies at INSEAD (France) in 1988 and Columbia University (USA) in 1990, equipping himself with the leadership and strategic capabilities necessary to steer complex projects and institutions.

His professional journey began at the General Petroleum Company (GPC) in Egypt as a Drilling & Production Engineer, gaining hands-on experience in field operations between 1962 and 1968. He then joined the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company, where he rose through the ranks from Directional Engineer to Drilling Manager, overseeing critical drilling activities in Egypt’s Gulf of Suez and Western Desert regions from 1968 to 1977.

In 1977, he moved to the United Arab Emirates to join the Abu Dhabi National Drilling Company (NDC) as Drilling Manager and later Operations Manager. During this time, he played a key role in the development of the Upper Zakum Project, one of the largest offshore oil fields globally.

Returning to Egypt in 1982, he served as Managing Director of Magnum Drilling Company, where he led the successful construction of an offshore jackup rig at Alexandria Shipyard—a landmark project demonstrating local capability in rig construction. In 1985, he was appointed Executive Chairman of the Egyptian Drilling Company (EDC). Under his leadership, EDC was transformed from a loss-making entity into a competitive and profitable regional player with a significantly expanded and modernized fleet.

His strategic leadership continued as Executive Chairman of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) from 1996 to 2000, where he championed public-private sector collaboration, paving the way for innovation and sustainable growth in Egypt’s petroleum industry.

Heba Ayad enjoys more than 25 years of experience in the fields of natural gas and energy. She is considered one of the leading female talents in the region as she was the first woman to lead petroleum joint ventures in Egypt. From 2015 to 2017 she was the Managing Director of Rashid and Burullus which operate the WDDM gas concessions in the Mediterranean for Shell (formerly BG Group). Heba was nominated for the role by BG Group, which was the concessions operator at the time. During her successful tenure she was responsible for managing all operational activities to achieve the partners’ objectives as agreed upon by the Board of Directors, representing the companies in all contractual agreements, and acting as the primary interface between the partners and joint venture companies. Before that, Heba held the position of Deputy CEO of ELNG, the company operating the first natural gas liquefaction facility in Egypt located in the port of Idku on the Mediterranean Sea in northern Egypt, which is owned by Shell and its partners. Her responsibilities at ELNG included directing several departments, supply chain management, development of human resources, as well as leading on key operational, financial, and project financing matters which had a direct impact on ELNG and its shareholders. She also acted as the most senior Shell Shareholder representative in ELNG. 

Heba holds a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo with honors. She began her career in 1998 as a Planning Manager at the Nile Valley Gas Company, a local Egyptian gas distribution company founded in the same year after BG Group (formerly British Gas) and its partners obtained a concession from the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation to build and operate a gas distribution network in the area of Upper Egypt. She joined BG Group in 2001 and since worked in different roles including Performance Management, Business Development, Strategy, Commercial and VP of the Upstream Business

  Mohamed Ayad has more than 20 years of global experience in the field of natural gas. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. He began his professional career as a commercial analyst and negotiator with BG Group (formerly British Gas) where he was a member of a team which successfully developed, built, and operated a 7 million tonnes per annum natural gas processing, liquefaction, and loading facility . The facility located in the Egyptian port of Idku on the Mediterranean shore began operations in 2004 and was the first project of its kind in Egypt. He continued his career with BG Group, where he moved to the company’s headquarters in the United Kingdom to join a team which developed the company’s business in the field of exploration and production in North Africa, the North Sea, and Central Asia for a period of five years, during which he succeeded in contributing to the company’s successes in those regions. During this period the company entered intoexploration in Libya and Algeria, and grew its business in Kazakhstan, and the North Sea. Moving on to Centrica Plc (based in Windsor) he participated in procuring LNG volumes to the Isle of Grain gasification terminal before moving to work for Nexant Ltd. (a reputable energy consultancy firm in London) as a consultant in global gas markets, where he worked with the major European gas companies such as RWE, Wingas, and EON, in analyzing market movements to maximize their sales and select promising markets to enter and expand into. He then joined Tullow Oil Plc at its headquarters in London as a commercial negotiator, where he worked on the operation, divestment, and decomissiongof the company’s portfolio in the UKCS. Before founding Go Gas Holding, Mr. Ayad worked for Energean (based in Cairo) on developing gas markets in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean for four years.