Carole Nakhle

Energy Economist, University of Surrey
Dr Nakhle is an internationally recognised authority on the interplay between economics, energy, governance and geopolitics. With a unique breadth of experience gained from working across a wide spectrum of stakeholders, Dr Nakhle worked with major energy companies (Eni and Statoil) at the executive level, governments and policy makers (including Special Parliamentary Advisor in the UK), international organisations (Commonwealth Secretariat, IMF, United Nations and World Bank), as well as academic institutions and specialised think tanks on a global scale.

Dr Nakhle is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Crystol Energy, an advisory, research and training firm, which received several awards including Best Independent Energy Consultancy in the UK in 2018 and again in 2021. She also sits on the Governing Board of the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) and is a Member of its Audit and Finance Committee. She is also Member of the Advisory Boards of the Middle East Institute and Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines. She is a program advisor to the Washington based International Tax and Investment Centre and Lead Energy Expert with the Geopolitical Intelligence Services.

Dr Nakhle has played an integral part in the OECD Policy Dialogue on Natural Resource-based Development and has contributed to the development of the organisation’s Principles for Durable Extractive Contracts. She has lectured at leading academic institutions, including: the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, University of Surrey in the UK, The Graduate Institute in Geneva, Saint Joseph University in Lebanon, The National Defense University in the USA and Nato Strategic Direction South Hub in Italy.

Her views are highly regarded. She has published extensively in academic journals, newspapers and magazines and acts as a Reviewer to leading academic journals. She is an avid commentator on energy in the international media and at major conferences and industry gatherings. She has appeared on Al Arabiyya, Al Jazeera, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, Africa News, France 24, and Sky News to name but a few, and was quoted in leading newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal. She is also the author of two widely acclaimed books: Petroleum Taxation: Sharing the Wealth published in 2008 and re-printed in 2012 and used as primary reference in leading universities and industry training courses; and Out of the Energy Labyrinth (2007), co-authored with Lord David Howell, former Secretary of State for Energy in the UK.

Dr Nakhle has worked on projects in many countries, collaborating closely with host governments, ministries, and parliaments, in addition to the private sector and civic society. She has also been on exploratory visits to the Arctic (organised by the Norwegian Government) and the North Sea.

She is fluent in Arabic, English and French. In 2017, she gave evidence to the International Relations Committee at the UK Parliament on the transformation of power in the Middle East and implications for UK policy.

An avid supporter of gender balance, in 2007, she founded the not-for-profit organisation ‘Access for Women in Energy’, with the aim of promoting the development of women in the energy sector. She has also supported the development of similar initiatives in Ghana, Tunisia and the UAE, where she sits on ADIPEC’s Advisory Board for Inclusion and Diversity.

In 2022, Dr Nakhle featured in the ‘Top 22 Outstanding Women CEOs of 2022’ published by the New York based The Women Leaders. A year earlier, she was selected ‘CEO of the Year’ in the UK, by CEO Monthly Magazine. In 2020, she was awarded the prestigious Fellowship of the Energy Institute and featured on the Energy Council’s list of Top Female Executives in the global energy industry. In 2017, she received the Honorary Professional Recognition Award from the Tunisian Minister of Energy, Mines & Renewable Energy.