Swagat Bam (M.S. Geological Sciences, Rutgers University) is an Adviser to the Observer Research Foundation. He has spent 35 years in petroleum exploration and production in India, the US, China, and various countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. He has worked for Schlumberger, Oiltools International, the Tata Group, and most recently, Reliance Industries Ltd., where he worked on developing India's offshore oil and gas resources. His broader interests include the origin of energy minerals and oceanography. He is a member of the Geological Society of India, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists (USA), the North American Micropaleontology Society, and the India Energy Forum.