Michael is a chemical and petroleum engineer and an expert in energy geopolitics. He holds a number of positions such as, professor at the Cullen College of Engineering at The University of Houston, Chairman of the Board of XGAS, and the managing partner of Dr. Michael J. Economides Consultants, Inc. This consulting firm has a wide range of industrial consulting, including major contracts with several Fortune 500 companies and national oil companies.

Michael is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Energy Tribune, a newsletter in the energy and related industries, and the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering. He has served as Senior Technical Advisor to Yukos and Sibneft, Russia’s major petroleum companies, ENI, Italy’s main petroleum multi-national company, and China’s CNOOC and subsidiary COSL. During 1997 and 1998, Economides was in Venezuela as the Senior Advisor of Production Technology for PDVSA, the national oil company of Venezuela.

Michael casts a commanding figure in petroleum and natural gas reservoir and production engineering. He has authored 14 textbooks and over 200 journal papers and articles which are referenced by nearly all practitioners in the field. Following his 2000 best seller, The Color Of Oil, and a large number of publications in international magazines, Michael became considered, by many, to be the world expert on the geopolitics of energy. His latest wide appeal book is From Soviet to Putin and Back: The Dominance of Energy in Today’s Russia. In 2000, he began to give over 50 speeches a year to groups from many large professional societies, organizations and corporations.

He is a frequent guest on national and international media, appearing on CNBC, Fox News, A(Australian)BC, Tokyo Channel 13, Dow Jones Wire, NPR, Bloomberg, BBC World Service and many local stations throughout the world. He writes for the editorial pages of major newspapers and internet news organizations.