Forecasting At AGIP Petroli, Italia

FORECASTERS' VIEWPOINT Charles W. Chase, Jr., Editor Director, Worldwide Sales Forecasting/Marketing Analysis, Polaroid Corp. FORECASTING AT AGIP PETROLI, ITALIA Interview with Carla Lauri, Professional Forecaster, by Manuel Carasol- Volpi Q. Could you first explain the products you produce, number of employees you have and sales volume? A. Agip Petroli is one of the largest Italian Corporations, owned by the ENI Group. The core business of the company is refining crude oil as well as production and distribution of oil products. It is a multinational company, with offices in 70 countries. It is the market leader in Italy. Agip, along with its affiliate company IP, manages 11,000 service stations, representing one third of the Italian network. Furthermore, Agip supplies oil products to many Italian industries. At present, its total market share is 30%, and its total revenue, about $19 billion. It has a world-wide workforce of 20,000, half of which is in Italy. Q. Where does the forecasting function reside? How many people work in the area? What percentage of time do you spend on this function? A. The forecasting function (operational forecast) resides with the Market Research. Four ...