Bertrand is a research fellow focusing on the impact of market regulation and liberalization in energy markets. An experienced energy systems…

Bertrand is a research fellow focusing on the impact of market regulation and liberalization in energy markets. An experienced energy systems model developer (linear optimization and mixed complementary problems), he is working on developing the KAPSARC Energy Model (KEM) as a decision support tool for analyzing price regulation in energy economies. Bertrand has contributed to the development of KEM Saudi Arabia and is the lead developer of KEM China, studying the impact of government regulation in the coal, power and natural gas markets. He was previously employed as a research assistant at the Canadian Space Agency.

Vice President of Knowledge & Analysis Axel Pierru was appointed Vice President of Knowledge and Analysis by the Board of Trustees of KAPSARC in December 2023.…

Axel Pierru was appointed Vice President of Knowledge and Analysis by the Board of Trustees of KAPSARC in December 2023. In this role, he oversees and provides thought leadership to KAPSARC’s research and analysis activities.

He joined KAPSARC in 2011, after spending 15 years at IFP Energies Nouvelles in France where he led research and consulting projects and taught energy economics and finance to postgraduate students. He has served in various leadership roles at KAPSARC, including serving as interim Vice President for Research. From 2014 to 2023 he was a program director, leading the Energy Systems & Modeling, Energy & Macroeconomics, and Energy Macro & Micro-Economics research programs.

Dr. Pierru earned his Ph.D. in economics from University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne (France). He also holds an HDR degree, which is a French accreditation to supervise research. In 2007, Dr. Pierru was awarded Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques (knighthood award in the academic field) by the French Ministry for National Education. He is an editor of The Energy Journal, as well as the corecipient of the 2023 OPEC Award for the Best Energy Research Paper, a first-time honor from OPEC.

He leads the Knowledge & Analysis team in designing applied research that blends methodological innovation with practical significance for policymaking. His expertise covers energy economics, policy and finance, the oil market, energy transitions, and commodity-exporting economies.

Dr. Pierru has a proven track record of methodological innovations with over 50 journal papers to his name. He has been a key contributor to developing new research avenues, such as the role of OPEC in stabilizing the oil market, the economic modeling of price controls, or the evaluation of investment projects by international oil companies facing various tax systems.

He also coauthored with Denis Babusiaux the book Corporate Investment Decisions and Economic Analysis: Exercises and Case Studies (2005), a culmination of years of teaching, consulting, and research.

Expertise

• Energy modelling
• Energy economics
• Energy policy
• Oil pricing and finance

Senior Fellow Abdullah is a Senior Research Fellow in the Energy Macro- & Microeconomics program with an interest in developing energy systems…

Abdullah is a Senior Research Fellow in the Energy Macro- & Microeconomics program with an interest in developing energy systems and energy-economic models. Before rejoining KAPSARC, he worked as an economic modeling expert in the telecommunications sector.

Abdullah holds a master’s degree in Computer Science from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and a B.S. degree in Computer Engineering from Tennessee Technological University

Expertise

• Energy Systems Modeling
• Energy-Economic Modeling
• Economic Modeling
• Large-Scale Optimization
• Relaxation and Decomposition Methods
• Macroeconomics
• Global Models

Principal Fellow Fatih is an economist who is interested in energy and environment. Before joining KAPSARC in December 2017, he was an…

Fatih is an economist who is interested in energy and environment. Before joining KAPSARC in December 2017, he was an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Paris Nanterre and was a Fellow at EconomiX-CNRS in France. During this period, he conducted research, taught courses in energy economics, environmental economics, and econometrics, and contributed to projects funded by organizations such as the European Renewable Energy Council, the French Energy Council, and Région Île-de-France.

Fatih’s work at KAPSARC mainly focuses on developing economic frameworks to provide insights into energy and economic policymaking in oil-producing countries, particularly Saudi Arabia. His research appears in leading journals in energy economics as well as general-interest economics journals.

He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in 2008. Prior to that, he completed an M.A. in Economic Analysis and Modeling jointly offered by the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and École Centrale Paris. Fatih also holds an HDR degree, which is a French accreditation to supervise doctoral research.

Expertise

• Energy Economics
• Environmental Economics
• Applied Economics

Former Research Associate Shahd was a senior research associate in the Markets and Industrial Development program. A mechanical engineer by background, she previously…

Shahd was a senior research associate in the Markets and Industrial Development program. A mechanical engineer by background, she previously worked at Chevron as a flare and relief systems engineer and a facilities engineer supporting upstream and downstream Chevron facilities worldwide, with consultations and technical services based in Houston, Texas and Bakersfield, California. Shahd holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering with a focus on advanced energy systems from UC Berkeley and a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering with a concentration in manufacturing engineering from Boston University.

Research Fellow Mr. Ward has worked in all aspects of the energy industry from summer jobs on seismic rigs, to designing refineries,…

Mr. Ward has worked in all aspects of the energy industry from summer jobs on seismic rigs, to designing refineries, upstream field development, consulting and strategy work, and now high-impact academic analysis of issues facing the energy system.

Much of Mr. Ward’s work in recent years has focused on CCUS-related topics including upstream carbon intensity, CO2-EOR, blue hydrogen, hydrocarbon producer strategy in a carbon-constrained world, and blockchain-based carbon tracking and trading.

Expertise

• Oil Markets
• Upstream
• Carbon
• CCUS
• Hydrogen
• Technology
• Strategy and Consulting