Dr. Carole Nakhle is an energy economist, based in London, and specialising in international petroleum fiscal regimes, upstream oil and gas investments, world oil and gas market developments, and energy policy. She is an associate lecturer on Energy Economics at the University of Surrey. She acts as an external expert for the Fiscal Affairs Department at the IMF, and has provided consultancy services to major oil companies. She is also the director of 'Access for Women in Energy'. From 2005 to 2008, she served as Senior Research Fellow on Energy at the University of Surrey. Over the same period, she also acted as a Special Parliamentary Advisor on Energy Issues and Middle Eastern Affairs in the House of Lords, UK. Dr. Nakhle, who was born in Lebanon, has travelled widely in the major oil and gas producing countries. She has been on energy related exploratory visits to the Arctic and the North Sea.