Carlos Bellorin, EVP, Welligence Energy Analytics
Carlos joined Welligence Energy Analytics as Executive Vice President of Macro Insights. Prior to Welligence, he spent 15 years at S&P Global Commodity Insights (SPGCI), and was an external counsel for oil and gas companies and in-house legal counsel at two major Orinoco Oil Belt projects in Venezuela. In 2023, he was appointed Honorary Fellow of the University of Dundee’s Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP). Carlos holds a law degree from the Universidad Catolica ‘Andres Bello’ and an LLM in Petroleum Law and Policy from the University of Dundee (CEPMLP).
Juan Carlos Pró-Rísquez, Office Managing Partner, Dentons (Venezuela)
Juan Carlos is Managing Partner in Dentons' Caracas office and the head of the Venezuelan Labor and Employment and Litigation practice.
His practice is focused on corporate, transactional, litigation, anticorruption, labor and employment work in Venezuela and Latin America. He has extensive experience with acquisitions, mergers, corporate reorganizations, and spin-offs of Venezuelan companies, including those in heavily regulated industries, such as energy, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods and food.
As part of his practice in the energy area, Dr. Pró-Rísquez has participated in the drafting and legal review of the key project documentation (such as conversion contracts and granting instruments) for oil and gas projects in Venezuela. He has advised companies in the negotiation and drafting of contracts and documentation for the incorporation of new oil joint ventures (mixed companies). He has a strong background in negotiating, drafting agreements and settlements, as well as in distribution contracts, divestment, anti-bribery legislation, employment and tax planning, consultancy agreements and expatriate transfers. Dr. Pró-Rísquez has also been involved in litigation before civil, labor and tax tribunals and proceedings before administrative authorities.
Dr. Pró-Rísquez has acted as lead counsel to numerous companies implementing codes of conduct and conducting ethics compliance investigations in Latin America, as well as litigation in Venezuela and coordination of litigation in Latin America.
David Syed, Partner - Head of Europe Sovereign Advisory, Dentons
As head of Dentons’ Sovereign practice, David represents governments, sovereign wealth funds, and state-owned enterprises on complex finance transactions, transformation and litigation. His practice also focuses on coordinating large diverse teams or consortiums on finance and corporate transactions, including high-value complex cross-border transactions, privatizations and transformation projects ranging from $100 million to multi-billions across many industry sectors including energy, mining, transportation, infrastructure and telecommunications.
David has transactional experience in a wide variety of countries across Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Asia.
He has also been extensively involved on pro-bono matters including, amongst others, being on the Board of Advisors of Indego Africa, a NGO that supports women in Africa through economic empowerment and education (2017-present), as Chairman of Positive Planet UK, a NGO focused on developing economic, social and environmental inclusion around the world in a fair and sustainable way (2015-present) and a member of the UK Board of Trustees for the cultural event Festival d’Aix en Provence (2010-present).
Prior to joining Dentons in November 2017, he was a founding partner of Orrick's Paris office, and the French office of Watson, Farley & Williams. Previously he was in-house counsel at Renault.
In July 2010, David was inducted into the National Order of the Legion of Honor in France. He was also appointed an Officer of the Malagasy National Order in 2018.
Moderator: Torquil Law, Partner, Dentons UKMEA LLP
Torquil is an experienced lawyer with a focus on international upstream oil and gas transactions. He regularly advises on complex and high-value acquisitions, disposals and project developments, in particular in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa, with a focus on oil and gas M&A, oil and gas project development, energy transition projects and LNG. Torquil is highly regarded by clients and peers alike and was recognized as an "Associate to Watch" in Chambers 2025.
He leads negotiations on major cross-border energy M&A, joint venture and project development mandates for oil and gas majors, nationals and independents and has led a number of multi-billion-dollar transactions/projects in recent years.
Torquil advises a wide range of clients including IOCs, NOCs, governments and regulators, commodity trading houses and project companies. He has also completed a number of client secondments in the sector (TotalEnergies E&P M&A; TotalEnergies E&P Africa; Marathon Oil).
Torquil is currently on secondment at the National Wealth Fund (since September 2024) advising on a wide variety of equity and debt investments in the energy transition space, including in relation to hydrogen and CCUS projects.