Primary Job Title Executive Director Primary Organization 
SIA Energy
Location Beijing, Beijing, China Regions Asia-Pacific (APAC) Gender Female
LinkedIn View on LinkedIn
Yao Li. Yao is the CEO at SIA with over 16 years of experience in Chinese energy policy and the oil and gas sector. She has a deep understanding of the structure, drivers and dynamics of the Chinese government, Chinese national oil companies, and Chinese service companies. Yao advises SIA clients on entry opportunities, partnership strategies, and
oil and gas policy, with an expertise in upstream competition and partnership and PSC terms.
Prior to co-founding SIA, Yao served as Senior Director and Head of PFC Energy (acquired by IHS in 2013)’s China office. With PFC Energy for nearly eight years, she led the expansion the firm’s China subscriptions and consulting business, while establishing a valuable network in China’s energy industry along the way. She was responsible for the development and launch of the China Advisory Service and oversaw the establishment of the firm’s Beijing office.
Yao also worked in the private sector in Oman for six years, where she was exposed to the technical side of the oil industry and the economic needs and priorities of the Gulf States. She introduced the polymer flooding practice from Daqing oil field as an enhanced oil recovery technology to Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) in 1999, which led to large scale collaboration between CNPC and PDO in the early 2000s.
