Dr. Valérie Marcel, an associate fellow at Chatham House, led off the discussion with a talk about the prospect of establishing an NOC in Lebanon. Dr. Marcel has extensive experience in the field of oil and gas and international relations, having led energy research at Chatham House from 2002 to 2007 and authored the book Oil Titans: National Oil Companies in the Middle East and the recent paper “The Cost of an Emerging National Oil Company”.