Richard Frederick Paynter Hardman, CBE (born 1936) is a British geologist and the doyen of applied petroleum geologists. He remained the President of the Geological Society of London, 1996 - 1998 and Chairman of the Petroleum Society of Great Britain. In a career spanning over 40 years, he has worked in oil and gas exploration as a geologist in Libya, Kuwait, Colombia, Norway, and the North Sea with companies like BP, Amoco and Amerada Hess. Working as an Oil & Gas Drilling & Exploration consultant, he has remained Executive Director, Exploration at Regal Petroleum (2005–2006), Atlantic Petroleum UK, and has been Director FX Energy, Inc., based in Salt Lake City, US, since 2003.He was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in New Year Honours List of 1998 for services to the oil industry and the William Smith Medal by the Geological Society in 2003.