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Job
overview
Total is one of the main operators on the
world's trading marketplaces, for crude
oil as well as oil products. The mission
of the Trading teams is focused primarily
on crude oil supply for the Group's refineries,
product supply for the Group's marketing
subsidiaries, the marketing of the Group's
oil and gas production on world markets,
and cargo purchases and sales.
Total participates in international crude
oil and product trading from a main base
in Geneva. Contract follow-up and logistics
are handled by the Operators in Paris or
in Geneva. The full network for the Group's
trading activities includes different offices
in major cities around the world, from Houston
in Texas to Singapore and Tokyo.
First steps
The first action field for Trading Operators
is the "Operations" Department.
Here they integrate a team and rapidly become
operational, participating in the life of
the Group while acquiring the required skills
and experience needed for operations in
areas like tanker nomination and scheduling,
documentary credit, invoicing, and contract
follow-up.
Career options
After successful achievements, Trading Operators
can take different career paths focused
on finance or sales and marketing. He will
rapidly be responsible for implementing
the means necessary for attaining the objectives
set by the Trading.
Our recruitment
criteria
Higher degree from a business school, universities
Intellectual vivacity, dedication, adaptability,
interpersonal skills, optimism, team spirit,
strength of persuasion.
English, fluent French, another language
is a plus.
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Testimonial
Claire Bourdiec - Age: 23
Trading Operator
Higher technical diploma in International
Trade (Ecole Européenne de Transport),
postgraduate degree in Logistics (Ecole
Supérieure de Commerce in Rouen,
France).
Joined Total in November 2000 after an earlier
internship at Total.
What does a Trading
Operator do ?
Claire Bourdiec: The traders set the general
terms of the deal, the price, the date of
effect - we don't worry about any of that.
Our job is to see each deal through and
coordinate transit stages. We organize the
physical aspects of the operation, inside
and outside the Group.
In actual practice,
what does that involve ?
CB : Yes, but our first job is to write
up these contracts! When we put the deal
made by the trader into writing, we polish
the details. Then we interface between the
charter companies and the oil or product
terminals, but also the Accounting and Management
Control departments, the Financial and Legal
departments, outside service companies,
etc. We have a global view of each deal
and coordinate all the parties involved.
What's a typical
day in your job ?
CB : During my internship my area was Russia,
where deals are few and far between but
where everything is very complicated. Now
I'm in charge of the Persian Gulf area.
There's a lot of action, but I'm managing
fine.
CB : I have a few more than that. The work
and pace depends on the geographic area
you have. In my Persian Gulf area, for example,
I always have a busy period in the first
ten days of the month for the tanker nominations.
What are the upsides
of this profession - what do you like about
it ?
CB : This is not a dull job, that's for
sure. Things are always hopping. You're
in touch with people from different countries
and cultures, and communication in that
case is always in English. It's great experience
- for contracts, finance, and for English,
in my case - so I keep building on what
I learnt at school.
What are the downsides
- what don't you like about it ?
CB : Yes, time zones mean you have to adapt
: my suppliers are in the Persian Gulf,
and my customers are in Japan. I can only
get hold of them early in the morning, and
so I do my paperwork in the afternoon.
CB : That's why everything has to be put
in writing, to keep record. Something else
I don't like is that, as coordinator, you
have to keep pushing people all the time:
we depend on everyone else to get things
done, and that can be a nuisance.
What qualities
do you need for this job ?
CB : Actually, problems don't come up very
often. For this job, I would say you need
to be well-organized and able to get your
priorities under control in urgent situations.
How do you see
your career developing in the future ?
CB : I think I'll spend two or three years
here, working on different geographic areas
to get familiar with all the links in the
chain. Then I hope to go into Logistics,
either in Refining or in Exploration &
Production - organizing transportation for
a production platform, for example. Something
strictly in finance or sales doesn't appeal
to me that much.
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Testimonial
Romarin Maillard - Age: 24
Trading Operator
Degree in Civil Engineering (ESTP), Master's
degree in International Projects (Sup de
Co. Paris).
Joined Total in 2000, after a CSNE* assignment
in London for the French company Gaz de
France.
* CSNE = Voluntary International Service
Abroad program for French nationals
What does a Trading
Operator do ?
Romarin Maillard: Trading Operators wrap
up the deals negotiated by our traders in
Geneva for purchases and sales of crude
oil and refined products. The traders' job
is to make sure our refineries have the
supply they need, and to sell our crude
oil and our products. In these trading operations,
their objective is always highest value.
Sometimes, for example, buying a certain
volume of crude oil from another oil company
can be more profitable than refining our
own crude oil production, which will in
that case be sold on the market.
In actual practice,
what does that involve ?
RM : The traders make verbal agreements,
but their conversations are recorded. The
terms they define for each deal are very
general. After that, it's up to us to get
things rolling and to identify any problems
there might be by centralizing information
from the various departments involved, to
make sure that the contracts go through
smoothly.
What's a typical
day in your job ?
RM : We spend a lot of time on the phone.
Each one of us is responsible for a particular
geographic production area. My first area
was the North Sea, now I'm in charge of
the Mediterranean area. There's another
segmentation by country, because each country
produces a particular kind of crude oil.
RM : When I get here in the morning, I check
if the traders have made any deals. If they
have, I open a dossier with various documents
like the operation sheet and the pre-contract,
and information such as charter preparations,
special provisions, the quantity and quality
of the crude oil, the appointment of inspectors,
and so on. There's a dossier for each deal
and each tanker, and I manage around ten
of these every month.
What are the upsides
of this profession - what do you like about
it ?
RM : We're somewhere between Production
and Refining, so we have a global view of
all the Group's activities. The Trading
team is quite young and very lively. We
work in open-plan offices, so we all know
each other and there's always someone there
to help you out if necessary.
What are the downsides
- what don't you like about it ?
RM : With some countries there are sometimes
communication problems, it can be a bit
difficult to come to an agreement with the
people you're dealing with - without mentioning
the problem of time zones! But we always
work things out in the end.
RM : But I think the most difficult thing
is that everything's urgent. There's action
24 hours a day, and you always have to be
reachable. If the person on stand-by duty
calls you on a Sunday morning because a
tanker has been delayed, you have to deal
with that, you have to find a solution very
quickly. If it happens just once in a while,
it can be fun. It's also important to realize
that, even though there's a good atmosphere
among the team here, trading is a very tough
business - you can't fool around and expect
to get away with it !
What qualities
do you need for this job ?
RM : The work comes in cycles, and some
cycles mean working at top speed. You need
to be able to cope with stress, to be reactive,
and to be dynamic on the phone. And you
have to be able to asses risks accurately
and calmly, without panicking. But whatever
happens, you can always turn to more experienced
operators for help.
How do you see
your career developing in the future ?
RM : I was hired to become a trader, but
with the Group merger, that will be for
a little later. In the meantime, I'd like
to work on the sales side, as market analyst
or contract negotiator, and preferably in
natural gas, which looks to me like a business
that's really taking off. |
