David Hobbs was a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center. He is an expert in energy industry structure and strategies and until recently, served as head of research at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC). He was previously the chief energy strategist at what is now IHS-Markit and prior to that, led IHS CERA’s energy research activities.

While building the research team at KAPSARC, Hobbs instituted a pipeline of publications in peer reviewed journals and other outlets, including kapsarc.org, a suite of workshop series that address major themes in energy, economics, and the environment. He led the team to be ranked 16th in the first year that KAPSRC was included among natural resource and energy focused think tanks by the University of Pennsylvania GoTo Think Thank Index.

KAPSARC has become an important contributor to policy discussions in Saudi Arabia, playing key roles in designing the energy price reform program implemented during 2017 and advising stakeholders within the ecosystem of the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia.

At IHS CERA, Hobbs was a principal author of the major IHS CERA studies Restarting ‘the Engine’ – Securing American Jobs, Investment, and Energy Security, an analysis of the opportunity to create jobs and boost the economy as drilling activity restarted after the Gulf of Mexico moratorium, and Fueling North America’s Energy Future: The Unconventional Natural Gas Revolution and the Carbon Agenda, an examination of the impact of the changed natural gas supply outlook on energy markets, power generation technology choices, and the challenges of procuring a low carbon future.

He also authored In Search of Reasonable Certainty: Oil and Gas Reserves Disclosures and Modernizing Oil and Gas Disclosures, comprehensive analyses of the problem of assessing oil and gas reserves and resulting proposed solutions; “Recession Shock”: The Impact of the Economic and Financial Crisis on the Oil Market, a major IHS CERA assessment of the world economic crisis prepared for the Ministerial meeting in London hosted by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown; and of the IHS CERA Multiclient Study Harnessing the Storm—Investment Challenges and the Future of the Oil Value Chain.

Hobbs is an adjunct professor at the University of Calgary and was IHS CERA’s representative on the management board of the Global Energy Executive MBA program run jointly between the Haskayne School of Business and IHS CERA. He was also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.

Prior to joining IHS CERA, Hobbs had two decades of experience in the international exploration and production business. He has directed projects in Asia, South America, North America, and the North Sea. He has led major international investment and asset commercialization operations. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Hobbs holds a degree in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College.