Speakers
Peter Styles’ most notable area of expertise and experience is in the energy sector. He follows in a consulting capacity European electricity markets, especially the development of wholesale power market design, EU legislation and resulting national regulation. He is particularly well known since 1996 in the field of EU energy liberalisation. Since February 2000 Peter has been a Board Member of the European Federation of Energy Traders (EFET) and Chairman of the Electricity Committee of EFET. He in addition became a founding Board member of an associated energy traders’ group in Germany, EFET Deutschland, in September 2001. His career in the 1980s and 1990s encompassed project work in upstream oil and gas, power plant development, the management of a gas pipeline business and the establishment of the first and largest pan-European energy trading business.
As principal consultant in Stratos European Policy Limited, Peter offers services to corporate clients, financial institutions, industry associations, investors, and academic bodies in the fields of European legislation, policy and regulation affecting business more generally. He has conducted market, competition and regulatory analysis, advised on the implications of proposed new legislation and acted as policy consultant for a number of clients.
In July 1998, Peter had been appointed Head of the Enron Delegation to the European Union located in Brussels. The office was opened to deal with Enron Europe’s EU competition case interventions, its co-operation with the European Commission and pan-European industry associations, and overall political relations in continental Europe. This responsibility was in addition to Peter’s previous appointment as Vice President, European Government and Regulatory Affairs. He had before that held senior commercial management positions in London, working on development of electricity generation projects, energy business financing arrangements and gas transportation. Originally Peter had been hired to establish the legal function for Enron Europe, the first outside of North America within the Enron group, building it to a team of six in-house lawyers by 1995. From 1994 till 2003 (when it was successfully wound up) he also served as senior trustee of the Enron Europe Pension Plan.
For three years up to 1992, Peter was a New Business Analyst and then a Business Development Manager, for Dow Europe, located near Zurich in Switzerland, working in the thermoplastics business. He had transferred from the position of the London office Legal Adviser for Dow Chemical, Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals and Dow Europe Oil and Gas, which he held for five years from 1984. From 1978 to 1984, Peter was employed in various parts of ICI, initially in the Company Secretary's Department at Head Office in London. He moved temporarily to ICI Plastics in Hertfordshire in 1980 as Legal Assistant. From 1982 to 1984 he was engaged as a Legal Adviser with ICI Pharmaceuticals (later to become AstraZeneca) in Cheshire.
Peter received an MA Hons. in Law and Modern Languages from Cambridge University in 1977 and was called to the Bar of England and Wales in July 1978.