Irena is an expert in international energy law and economics, worldwide fiscal arrangements, commercial risk and aboveground risk investment-related issues. She has extensive experience assessing commercial and regulatory risk and advising governments and NOCs on regulatory and contractual developments that impact E&P activities worldwide and assisting governments in formulating policies.

Irena's major projects include assistance to the government of Mexico in development of industrial safety regulations for upstream oil and gas activities; assistance to the government of Colombia in development of offshore regulations, as well as development of fiscal and contractual framework for shale gas, tight oil and CBM; assistance to the legislature of North Dakota regarding fiscal policy solutions to enable CO2 EOR projects in the Bakken; assistance to the government of Angola on development of E&P regulations, LNG taxation and gas market regulations; and comparative analysis of fiscal systems for the United States Department of the Interior.

Irena has provided independent expert review of proposed legislation governing petroleum upstream, midstream and downstream activities, revenue management in oil and gas, as well as local content participation, before legislatures of several African nations.

Irena holds an LLM with distinction in Petroleum Law Policy and Economics from the University of Dundee, Scotland and a doctorate of jurisprudence from the University of Houston Law Center. She is a member of the State Bar of Texas and Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN). Irena was elected to the Board of AIPN in 2008 and served as vice president of external affairs for the 2009-2011 term and vice president of planning for the 2011-2012 term. She is the co-chair of the AIPN Oil and Gas Asset Valuation Workshop.