Founded 1944 | ||
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Subsidiaries IFP School, Axens SA, Beicip-Franlab S.A., RSI Simcon Group, COFIP SAS, IFP Investissements Profiles | ||
The French Institute of Petroleum (in French: Institut français du pétrole, IFP) is a public research organisation in France founded in 1944 as Institute of Oil, Fuels and Lubricants (Institut du pétrole, des carburants et des lubrifiants).
The Institute is based at Rueil-Malmaison near Paris, and has sites near Lyon and at Pau. As of 2004, it had 1729 employees, a budget of 253 million euros, and was responsible for a post-graduate training centre, IFP School (also known as the École du pétrole et des moteurs), and an extensive industrial training programme.
IFP has designed several methods to assess the oil potential of a sedimentary rock, amongst others, the Rock-Eval technique using a standardized pyrolysis apparatus. This technique is used worldwide amongst petroleum companies to compare their results in the same way.