Strategic speakers

Paul Marsden is president of Bechtel’s Energy global business unit, based in Houston. He has more than two decades of international experience in engineering, construction, project management, and executive leadership roles at Bechtel, with deep expertise in the energy and petrochemicals sectors. 

Before becoming Energy president, Paul led Bechtel’s delivery of Shell’s Pennsylvania Chemicals project, one of the largest construction projects in the U.S. 

Paul began his Bechtel career in London in 1995. He went on to hold key engineering and leadership positions on numerous projects in the U.S., Australia, Asia, and Europe. These included rail projects in the U.K., the CSPC Nanhai Petrochemicals Complex in China, and the TPX Revamp project in Thailand. 

Paul held key project management roles on the six-year design and construction program for the award-winning Curtis Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) program in Queensland, Australia. Comprised of three major facilities that now produce 8% of global LNG supplies, the construction of Queensland Curtis LNG engaged over 30,000 people across seven countries and four continents. Paul served on Queensland Curtis LNG from inception as the deputy site manager, commercial manager, deputy project manager, and ultimately, senior project manager, taking the project to completion in 2015. 

After this, Paul then served as senior project manager of the Wheatstone LNG project in Western Australia. In 2018, he returned to the U.S. to lead the Pennsylvania Chemicals project. He was elected principal vice president in 2014 and a senior vice president in 2017. 

Paul holds a Master of Engineering degree from Durham University, England. He is a chartered engineer and fellow of the U.K. Institution of Civil Engineers, a chartered engineer and member of the Institution of Engineering Technologists, a chartered engineer and fellow of Engineers Australia, a registered professional engineer of Queensland, and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.