Christof RÜHL is group chief economist and vice president of BP plc. He manages BP's global economics team, analyzing the global economy and energy markets, to provide economic underpinning for BP's commercial strategy. Mr. Rühl joined BP in 2005 and became chief economist in 2007. He has a distinguished track record in academia and economic policy making. Prior to joining BP, he was at the World Bank where he served as the Bank's chief economist in Russia and Brazil. Before that, Mr. Rühl worked in the Office of the Chief Economist at the EBRD. Earlier, he was an academic economist, first in Germany and from 1991 as professor of economics at the University of California in Los Angeles. In addition, he held visiting professorships at academic institutions worldwide, amongst them the University of Western Ontario and the University of Chicago. His area of specialization is macroeconomics and energy economics and he has published widely in these fields.