Mr. Gualdino do Carmo da Silva currently serves as the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Autoridade Nacional do Petróleo (ANP), the National Petroleum Authority of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. The ANP, operating under the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, is mandated to regulate both upstream and downstream petroleum activities in the country, including oversight of the Greater Sunrise project on behalf of both Timor-Leste and Australia. A geological engineer by training, Mr. da Silva earned his degree from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Australia.
Mr. da Silva’s distinguished career in public service began in 2008 when he was appointed Executive Director of the Timor Sea Designated Authority (TSDA), an institution established under the 2003 Timor Sea Treaty between Timor-Leste and Australia to regulate petroleum activities in the Joint Petroleum Development Area. From 2008 to 2013, he served as the founding President and Chairman of the ANP’s Board of Directors, leading the institution from its inception. In 2013, following the expansion of the agency’s mandate to include the mineral sector, he became President and Chairman of the Autoridade Nacional do Petróleo e Minerais (ANPM), serving until 2020. Between 2021 and 2023, Mr. da Silva was the National Program Manager for Timor-Leste’s Electronic Trade Single Window, a bilateral cooperation project between the Government of Timor-Leste and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In September 2023, he was reappointed as President and Chairman of the ANP.
In addition to his leadership roles, Mr. da Silva has served since 2011 as a member of the Investment Advisory Board of Timor-Leste’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, known as the Petroleum Fund of Timor-Leste.