Michael D. Burnaman
Vice President, Geophysics and Engineering

Michael D. Burnaman has nearly four decades of experience in most Geoscience and many Engineering phases of the worldwide upstream petroleum industry in North America, southeast Asia, the North Sea, West Africa, the former Soviet Union and the Middle East.  He has a proven record of finding oil and gas in clastic/carbonate environments and in reservoir characterization, both onshore and offshore.  Before joining the Harding team in 2001, for 25 years, he held management and technical leadership positions with Mobil Oil Corporation and its affiliates. He also worked for Gulf Technical Services and Exxon Production Research during his university period.

As a geoscientist, Burnaman specializes in interpretation of 2D & 3D seismic surveys, E&P (exploration & production) opportunity evaluation through economics, prospect development and integration of Geoscience & Engineering data for oil and gas E&P in onshore and offshore deepwater environments.  Currently, he is working on 3D seismic projects in the Barnett shale of the Fort Worth Basin and recently developed prospects in the Frio/Hackberry in the Upper Texas Coast and the Yequa/Vicksburg in South Texas. 

Burnaman earned a Master of Science degree in geophysics, from the University of Houston in 1974 with his thesis in potential fields. His Bachelor of Science degree, with major in geology and minor in chemistry, was also awarded by the University of Houston. A member of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) since 1974, he is active on the Production & Development and Interpretation Committees. Burnaman has organized and chaired numerous technical sessions at annual conventions of the SEG and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. He has held leadership posts in the Indonesian Petroleum Association, Dallas Geophysical Society and Azerbaijan Society of Petroleum Engineers. 

The owner of Virtual Geoscience Consultants, Inc., Burnaman has authored & co-authored papers in SEG’s Leading Edge & Geophysics and AAPG Monographs.