Our People

Professor Toula Onoufriou is the President of the Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company. She is also a Professor of Infrastructure Reliability and Management in the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics at the Cyprus University of Technology, the founder & Head of EMERGE Energy CoE and an Academic Visitor at Imperial College (UK). She combines experience from academia and the offshore oil and gas industry internationally where she held several positions of high responsibility (Vice-Rector, President, Head of Department, Director of Research, Head of Research Centre and Senior Consultant) and she recorded significant professional activity, contribution and recognition at national and international level.

She served as a member of national councils and expert committees advising the President and the Government of Cyprus on a national strategy for energy, oil and gas, research, innovation and entrepreneurship. She was instrumental in bringing together effectively academia, industry and government departments through the development of international and regional collaboration networks, joint industry programmes and other major research programmes. She leads several research programmes funded from national sources, the EU and industry. She is the Chairman of the Eastern Mediterranean Energy Congress Conference & Exhibition – EMC Series, initiated in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 2020 under the auspices of H.E. The President of the Republic of Cyprus.

She obtained her PhD in Offshore Structures with a scholarship from Imperial College (UK) and she is top graduate of Civil Engineering at City University (UK) where she was awarded the Renie Prize. International distinctions and recognition include the EGYPS 2020 “Women in Energy Leadership Award” for the Mediterranean and North Africa region in recognition of her contribution to the Energy industry, academia, public sector and her efforts on enhancing regional collaboration on Energy-related matters; the Stanley Gray Award by the Institute of Marine Engineers UK for the best publication in marine technology; and the award of the prestigious SmartEN Marie Curie ITN Programme on “Smart Management for Sustainable Human Environment”. Also invited Expert Speaker at many high-level international fora including United States Congress, European Commission and international conferences on oil and gas developments and smart proactive management of infrastructure systems.

She has been serving as President of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company since March 2014.

Obtained BSc and MSc, degrees in Civil and Structural Engineering, University of Manchester, UK and PhD in Offshore Engineering also from the University of Manchester. He has worked with Shell for over 30 years, retiring in 2013 after serving as Engineering Manager for Offshore Structures and Metocean for Europe Middle East & Africa. Highlights of contributions to Offshore Oil & Gas industry include:

• Development of Equations for Stress Concentration Factors in Tubular Joints, widely used in the design of offshore structures worldwide and recommended in international Standards, notably ISO 19902, API RP 2A, NORSOK.
• Ultimate strength and reliability-based design of offshore platforms. This work resulted in Best Paper Award at OMAE’96 and has formed the basis for the ultimate strength provisions and action factors in ISO Standard on Steel Offshore Platforms, ISO 19902.
• In 2002 Efthymiou was named as Offshore Pioneer by the Offshore Energy Centre, Houston, the USA for his pioneering contributions to the offshore industry – safety and reliability.
• Lead Structural Engineer for topsides design of the Sakhalin Offshore Platforms 2003-2005. The project was the first major arctic project and one of the biggest projects ever, currently producing 400,000 boe. In 2005 received Best Paper Award at OTC, Houston, for a paper on the design of the Sakhalin Offshore Facilities.
• Pioneering contributions to the development of first Floating LNG installation in Shell, holding several Patents on aspects of the technology and the role of Technical Authority during FEED and Detailed Design for the turret, moorings, production risers and topsides structural design.

Mike has published many technical papers and patents in the areas of fixed offshore platforms and floating systems. After retiring from Shell in 2013 Mike was appointed Professor of Offshore Structures at University of Western Australia.

He has been serving as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company since March 2014.

George Georgiades obtained B.A (Hons) from the University of Essex, UK, in 1995. He worked for a Big 4 audit firm both in Cyprus and in the UK time during which he was admitted as a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC). From 2002 to date he has participated in the performance of Production Sharing Contracts, Contractors’ Joint Venture and State Compliance audits on behalf of the Government of Equatorial Guinea involving a significant number of multinational companies such as ExxonMobil Corp., Marathon Oil Corporation, Glencore Plc, Noble Energy Inc., Hess Corporation, Repsol S.A, Bechtel Corporation, Schlumberger Limited, Halliburton Company, Transocean Ltd, Baker Hughes Incorporated, Fluor Incorporated and Weatherford International and has contributed to the improvement of the country’s Production Sharing Contracts’ contents. He has represented Cyprus in one World Youth Chess Championship (1988 Timisoara – Romania) as well as in two Chess Olympiads (1990 – Novi Sad, Yugoslavia and 1992 – Manila, Philippines) while in 1993 he drew with Anatoly Karpov, a former Chess World Champion and at that time World’s No. 2.

He has been serving as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company since March 2014.

Dr Yiota Lambrou is a Senior Hydrocarbons Officer at the Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry. From 2006 to 2008 she worked at the Cyprus Institute of Energy as an Energy Officer in the Oil Sector. Dr Lambrou joined the Energy Service of the Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry in 2008 at the Oil and Gas Sector and has been the Coordinator of Energy and Hydrocarbons Affairs at the Minister’s office since 2018.

Dr Lambrou holds a BSc in Chemistry (2001) and a PhD in Heterogeneous Environmental Catalysis (2006), both from the University of Cyprus. She also obtained a Master in Business Administration in Oil, Gas and Energy Management (2018) from the University of Nicosia. She has published numerous papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings in the chemical engineering/catalytic chemistry sector while she has also participated in workshops and training related to the hydrocarbons sector (legal and technical). Being involved in the hydrocarbons programme of Cyprus since the early stages, she continues through her position in the Ministry to have a comprehensive experience of the regulatory, legal and operational framework of the sector.

She has been serving as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company since March 2019.

Lenas Mylonas is an oil and gas professional with 20 years of experience. His extensive experience is focused on design, construction and project management of subsea and pipeline infrastructure. He has worked on landmark projects such as Shah Deniz II in Azerbaijan, PSVM in Angola and the Nordstream pipeline in Russia, amongst others. Lenas’ broad and varied skillsets include a commercial appraisal, design engineering, operations management, contract delivery and project management. As such Lenas is as comfortable in the field as he is in the boardroom. Lenas’ experience spans both the service sector as well as the operator’s sector, and his combined experience has proven valuable in maximising the effective collaboration required for the successful execution of projects. Lenas also takes an active interest in mentoring and guiding the next generation of oil and gas professionals. Currently, Lenas is the Subsea Delivery Manager for the Karish development in Israel, a game-changing project in the Eastern Mediterranean. Lenas is also a non-executive member of the board of the Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company, the national oil and gas company of the Republic of Cyprus.

He has been serving as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company since March 2014.

Tasos Panteli graduated in law from the Queen Mary University of London in 1999. In 2000, he completed the Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law, UK and he was called to the Bar. He obtained an LLM in Commercial and Corporate Law from King’s College London in 2001. In 2002 he was admitted to the Cyprus Bar. In 2010 he became a partner in Andreas M. Sofocleous & Co LLC. Concurrently in 2015, he joined the CHC Board of Directors providing specialist knowledge on legal matters.

He has been serving as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company since November 2014.

Panos Papanastasiou is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of Cyprus. He served as the founding Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (2002-2008), founding director of the Program of Architecture (2004-2006) and Dean of the Engineering School (2009-2014). He is also the founding director of the Master in Petroleum Engineering Program. He obtained his first degree in Civil Engineering from the NTU of Athens in 1984 and his M.Sc in 1986 and PhD in 1990 from the University of Minnesota.

He worked more than 15 years in the Oil & Gas industry in the Research Center of Schlumberger in Cambridge, England from 1991 to 2002 and as a consultant to Schlumberger in U.K. and Russia from 2002-2007.  He was Advisor to the Government of Cyprus on hydrocarbon exploration, development and gas monetization options from 2011-2017.

His expertise and scientific contributions are in the areas of a)Applied and Computational Mechanics: geomaterials, plasticity theories,  micromechanics, fracture mechanics, flow in porous media, finite element analysis b)Petroleum Geomechanics which includes problems on wellbore stability, hydraulic fracturing, sanding prediction and control, reservoir Geomechanics and CO2 geological storage and c)Oil and Gas management in upstream exploration and production and monetization of natural gas. He has published more than 160 articles in scientific journals, conference proceedings, book chapters, edited books and he invented 3 patents in the oilfield. He is an editorial advisor in international scientific journals on geomechanics and petroleum engineering.

He has been serving as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company since March 2019.

Demetris Fessas is a Chartered Engineer accredited by the UK Engineering Council and is Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineers, Scientists and Technologists. He has been involved in the oil and gas industry for over 20 years, starting with design engineering on both topsides and subsea applications, progressing to subsea construction and operations management.  He has worked both for major service companies and major operators, such as Subsea7 and bp, and with these has worked initially in the North Sea, and extensively on West African deep-water projects.  Since 2015 Demetris Fessas has been employed by the Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company in managerial roles and has been CHC’s Acting Director General since June 2018.  During this period Demetris Fessas has been instrumental in the establishment of CHC as Cyprus’ National Oil and Gas Company and has overseen CHC’s activities in support of Cyprus’ offshore activities including significant new discoveries, the progression of the Aphrodite project and Cyprus’ interaction with broader East Med regional activities.