François LESCAROUX

Based in Rueil-Malmaison

How did you get to IFP Energies nouvelles?

I didn't really fancy working in the telecoms business when I qualified as an engineer. I found statistics fascinating. So I did a few placements in the paramedical field and then in finance, and finally set my heart on economics applied to oil and gas markets. IFP Energies nouvelles offered me a placement modeling oil prices in 2002. I ended up writing a PhD dissertation on “oil prices and the US economy”.

I moved to the Economics and Information Watch and Management Division, as an Oil and Gas Market Specialist, in 2005.

Tell us about your job.

I do research on energy, oil and gas demand models. That involves feeding them with economic, demographic, geographic and regulatory variables. I attend conferences and meet other specialists on a regular basis. I sometimes publish research findings in trade journals, and serve as IFP Energies nouvelles's spokesman with the media.

I also peruse economic journals and sites to write weekly memos explaining fluctuations in the oil and gas markets, for IFP Energies nouvelles divisions, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Employment.

Tell us about a normal day at work.

It all depends on what I have to do at the time. Writing annual memos, for examples, keeps me busy full-time for weeks. But I usually spend about a day writing the weekly memos that come out every Thursday.

I also spend time on my research project and coaching IFP School doctoral researchers majoring in economics.

What do you like about your job?

I enjoy the freedom I have to manage my time and choose the areas I want to research. Researchers have time to get to the bottom of the issues – which is not always the case in industrial firms that are more focused on very short-term returns. I have time to be curious at IFP Energies nouvelles.

What does it take to do your job?

A meticulous mind. But that's a sine-qua-non for any research job. You also have to be self-reliant to manage your time and the freedom you get here.

Where do you want to go from here?

I enjoy modeling energy, oil and gas demand, and I would like to stay at the Economics and Information Watch and Management Division here at IFP Energies nouvelles. There's a lot of variety, and never a dull moment.