Dr Fereidun Fesharaki is recognised worldwide for his pioneering work in oil and gas market analysis and in Asia-Pacific and Middle East energy markets. He was the Energy Advisor to the Prime Minister of Iran and a delegate to OPEC's Ministerial Conferences in the late 1970s.
Dr Fesharaki is Chairman of FACTS Global Energy (FGE), which includes FACTS Inc, a leading consulting group focusing on oil and gas markets east of the Suez, and Energy Market Consultants Ltd, a leading consulting company covering the European and US markets, operating from offices in Hawaii, Singapore, London, Beijing, Dubai, Perth, and Yokohama. Born in Iran, he received his PhD in Economics from the University of Surrey in England, after which he completed a visiting fellowship at Harvard University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies. In the late 1970s, he attended the OPEC Ministerial Conferences in his capacity as Energy Adviser to the Prime Minister of Iran. He is a Senior Fellow and heads energy-related research at the East-West Center, which he joined in 1979.
Dr Fesharaki has authored more than 70 papers and authored or edited over 20 books and monographs. He serves on the editorial boards of many journals, including Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Energy, Geopolitics of Energy, Hydrocarbon Asia, and the Journal of Energy Finance & Development. He was the 1993 President of the International Association for Energy Economics, the key professional organization representing over 3,000 energy economists in more than 70 countries. In 1989, he was elected a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, and since 1991, he has been a member of the International Advisory Board of Nippon Oil (currently JX Holdings), Japan's largest oil company.
In 1995, he was elected as a Senior Fellow of the US Association for Energy Economics for distinguished services in the field of energy economics. In 1998, he joined the Board of Directors of the American-Iranian Council. In 2008, he was appointed a member of the National Petroleum Council by the US Secretary of Energy and was reappointed in 2010. In 2009, Dr Fesharaki was named a member of the Board of Directors of Dubai Mercantile Exchange Ltd.