Career Biography

Ryan Hartfield serves as General Counsel of PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP), Thailand’s national energy company. With over 25 years of distinguished legal and executive experience in the energy and resources sector, he is recognised for his ability to navigate complex international transactions, lead high-performing legal teams across jurisdictions, and align legal strategy with corporate growth in highly regulated global markets.

He began his legal career in private practice at Freehills (now Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer), where he built a strong foundation in energy and resources law. He later transitioned into in-house roles with Woodside Energy in Australia and Dubai, and Mubadala Development Company in Abu Dhabi. These formative experiences shaped a career defined by cross-border expertise, pragmatic risk management, and a deep understanding of contracting, regulatory, and governance frameworks. He subsequently joined PTTEP’s Australian operations, where he held progressively senior roles spanning legal counsel, commercial leadership, and executive management.

In his current role, he oversees PTTEP’s global legal portfolio, which includes project development, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, offshore operations, and regulatory compliance. He also serves as PTTEP’s Country Representative in Australia, leading engagement with regulatory authorities, industry stakeholders, and the broader market.

Beyond his core responsibilities, Ryan contributes to strategic leadership as an alternate director on the board of Oman LNG LLC, one of the Middle East’s key liquefied natural gas enterprises. He has also served the broader legal community as President of the Energy and Resources Law Association of Australia, promoting best practice and professional collaboration across the sector.

Throughout his career, he has consistently demonstrated a commitment to integrating legal insight with business imperatives. Whether negotiating upstream contracts, managing procurement and supply chain risk, structuring joint ventures, or guiding regulatory strategy in frontier markets, he delivers outcomes that balance legal integrity with commercial value. His global experience and multicultural fluency position him as a trusted adviser to board-level leadership across diverse jurisdictions.

With a deep legal foundation and executive-level perspective, Ryan continues to champion best-practice governance, disciplined risk management, and strategic legal leadership in the energy and resources industry. His career reflects the vital role of in-house counsel in enabling sustainable growth and managing risk in high-stakes, global resource environments.