Kpler Market Insights Forum

Amena Bakr is the Head of Middle East Energy & OPEC-plus research at Kpler, based in Dubai. She leads oil market analysis, OPEC policy research, and risk assessments in the Middle East. Previously, she was a senior research analyst at Energy Intelligence Group and served as Chief OPEC Correspondent and Dubai Deputy Bureau Chief for eight years, earning multiple journalism awards, including the 2023 OPEC award for best journalist. She also worked as an Energy Correspondent for Reuters in Dubai, Doha, and Riyadh, covering energy and political risk. Amena holds a BA in Business Administration from the Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport in Egypt, with a major in management information systems.

Matt started his career at Royal Bank of Canada in London, England, working his way up to portfolio manager in the investment management team. He then moved to the US and spent 8 years as a Global Commodity Analyst at Schneider Electric / Summit Energy, before becoming Director of Commodity Research at ClipperData for 6 years, leading a team of analysts across a variety of energy commodities. Matt joined Kpler in September 2021 as Lead Analyst, Americas, and is focused on producing research and providing counsel to key clients on the energy market. Matt is regularly featured by media outlets such as CNBC, Bloomberg, NPR, Wall Street Journal and Reuters.

Reid joined Kpler over six years ago as a crude analyst and has grown alongside the company ever since. Based in Houston, Reid has a near decade of experience studying the intersection between global demand conditions and the state of commodity markets with a particular focus on emerging markets. Before joining Kpler, Reid obtained a masters degree in Economics from the University of Houston. He also holds a bachelors degree in Finance. You will regularly find him quoted in the financial press or appearing on tv to provide timely updates on the state of commodity markets across the globe.

JP joined Kpler in June 2024 and leads Kpler Insight’s analytics in North America, South America, and the Middle East. JP began his career as an upstream oil & gas analyst, creating economic models of individual oil and gas fields in Oceania and the US. He then spent nine years on the LNG & Natural Gas consulting team at Poten & Partners, where he worked on projects for myriad industry players. In particular, JP was heavily involved in commercial and market due diligence for nearly every North American LNG project. JP is based in New York and holds a BSc in Geological Engineering from Colorado School of Mines.

Julia leads the Americas efforts for the Agricultural & Dry Bulk Commodities unit of Kpler. She holds a B.S. in Physical Oceanography from University of California, Santa Barbara and previously worked as a Senior Maritime Analyst focusing on driving sustainability and efficiency in the maritime industry through voyage optimization. As a Market Data Analyst, she closely monitors Kpler’s granular data on vessel movements, trade activity, and macro flows in Grains and Oilseeds, Fertilizers, Forest Products, and other Dry Minor Bulks.

Ben joined Kpler in 2024 to lead on data quality for metal and mineral supply chains. He has extensive experience in the application of alternative data for trade intelligence, having started his career at Trase. Ben holds a bachelors degree in Geography from UCL and is based in Brighton, UK.