Sandeep Patni is Technology Theme Lead in Shell Upstream Americas Deepwater based in Houston. He is responsible for development/deployment of new technologies for Gulf of Mexico and Brazil. Sandeep has over 20-years in upstream oil & gas business. Sandeep has been active in the leak detection having presented several papers and chaired 2010 SALDS leak detection conference. He is a member of OTC-TMS society and has also chaired OTC technical conference sessions.

Mr. Patni did his research in petroleum engineering at Texas A&M University.

Daniel Esser is Managing Director and co-founder of CONTROS Systems & Solutions GmbH, a company that provides state-of-the-art multi-parameter sensor systems and services for both scientific and commercial hydrocarbon and CO2 leak detection and environmental monitoring projects worldwide. After working as a radio operator on a German Research Submarine, Daniel graduated from the University of North London with a Master in International Business. Since then he was working as a project manager, consultant and as a marketing manager for various international companies in the scientific, as well as in the industrial environment. In 2007, CONTROS has successfully launched the first fully integrated Mobile Leak Detection System for the detection, localization and qualification of early stage subsea oil and gas emissions. Since then CONTROS has built up a proven track record with major O&G companies and research institutes worldwide.

Walter Knoblach graduated in Germany in 1991 with a Ph.D. (Dr.-Ing.) in Electrical Engineering and first joined the Siemens Power Generation division as R&D engineer. He has 20 years of expertise in design and applications of monitoring systems for acoustic leak detection and loose parts monitoring both on pipelines and in nuclear power plants worldwide. He is currently with AREVA NP as Senior Advisor and Product Manager for their leak detection systems.