Alexey Nikulin
Alexey Nikulin is a senior legal leader and manager with deep international oil and gas and energy industry experience across high value projects and transactions. As a senior international lawyer, Alexey enjoys leading teams and projects and achieving the very best legal and commercial outcome for his team.
Alexey is currently a senior legal counsel with ADNOC Logistics & Services, based in Abu Dhabi.
Alexey has led and managed complex energy transactions and projects internationally, including in the Arctic, Kazakhstan, Brunei Darussalam, Africa, Western Europe and Latin America.
Alexey studied international trade law, with languages, in the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and then, as a British Chevening scholar, did an LL.M. in Cardiff University Law School in the UK.
Having read “The Prize” by Daniel Yergin in the final year of the University (which, and other books in the series, remain Alexey’s most favorite), Alexey decisively opted to work in the international energy industry.
Alexey joined the legal function of Shell Group as a graduate and worked on the complex projects for the Shell Group in Sakhalin, Kazakhstan, internationally out of the Hague and then out of Brunei Darussalam.
Alexey praises himself for being able to lead, manage and deliver projects of any grade of complexity and believes that the key to success is team work, resilience, as well as the ability to quickly master new areas of practice, build strong partnerships, cultural awareness and, importantly, the art of negotiation.
Over his assignments, Alexey had the privilege of leading and delivering some of the most challenging projects in the international energy industry.
Most recently, Alexey is proud to have been led the transformation of CEPSA of Spain, formerly one of the leading Spanish oil and gas companies, with significant upstream assets internationally. With the adoption of the “Positive Motion” strategy, CEPSA set an ambitious goal to transform itself into a European and international champion in the renewable energies and specifically in hydrogen, biofuels and new mobility, which required divestment of CEPSA’s international upstream assets across different jurisdictions. Alexey was managing delivery of most of these transactions. CEPSA has become MOEVE and has completed the divestment of most of its upstream oil and gas assets.
Alexey is a keen member of AIEN and has participated as a speaker or moderator at a number of AIEN conferences.
While in Madrid, Alexey organized an AIEN event hosted by CEPSA on the topic of the energy transition and its impact on upstream business, which generated a lot of interest and was attended by the international industry reps from Spain, rest of Europe and beyond.
In 2024 – 2025, and in that capacity a member of AIEN Board of Directors.
Alexey has received multiple recognitions and awards for seamlessly leading and delivering projects and in recognition of his AIEN work.
Alexey remains actively involved in the work of AIEN. Alexey is a strong believer that AIEN is key in keeping and further developing international energy industry knowledge and brings significant value through development of most relevant templates for the international energy industry use, including most recently for CCUS, hydrogen and biofuels, as well as unrivalled networking opportunities.
“Working on international projects, it is always a fantastic moment to discover that a high quality (and value) commercial agreement (for example, a host government contract), was actually put in place by a fellow AIEN member you know. And that happens more often than you think!”
Alexey enjoys working in an international environment, leading by example and sharing knowledge and seeing the teams he leads grow and develop.
Alexey speaks and works in English, Spanish and Russian, has a knowledge of Dutch and is keen to master Arabic.