Global Upstream Oil and Gas Operations Training Course

Course Overview

This comprehensive Global Upstream Oil and Gas Operations Training Course is designed for Managers and supervisors of various functions across the upstream supply chain, Executives and professionals actually performing activities across various functions in upstream operations, Core members of an organization who need to thoroughly understand upstream oil and gas operations to make informed decisions, Contract managers and negotiators responsible for framing and closing contracts successfully, Quality managers as well as internal and external auditors responsible for ensuring adherence to international standards, Legal advisors who need to provide guidance on legal considerations and laws of party nations, Tax and finance officers responsible for providing financial advice to the senior management about investments and costs, Potential investors who should thoroughly understand upstream oil and gas operations before making investment decisions, and Any other professional interested in knowing more about global upstream oil and gas operations responsible for implementing global upstream excellence across EKT Interactive Oil 101 upstream business characteristics covering high capital intensity and high risk and high return and heavily regulated and technology-intensive and host-country politics-impacted exploration and production sector, Tamunoemi V. Efebeli’s Walden University doctoral study on strategies for reducing project cost overruns in the oil and gas construction industry grounded in chaos theory covering 38 percent average cost overrun and 37 percent schedule overrun in 65 Nigerian oil and gas projects with four themes of selecting competent contractors and developing a realistic cost profile and applying project management tools and using strategic project leadership, and Shafiqul Hassan and Yusuff Jelili Amuda and Mohsin Dhali and Saghir Munir Mehar’s International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy PSA contract structure paper covering ExxonMobil Cepu Limited and CNOOC and Pertamina EP and Pertamina Hulu Mahakam PSC structures and IOC-NOC divergence and convergence dynamics and bidding and tendering and cost recovery and profit oil sharing and farm-in and farm-out mechanisms in multi-organizational contexts.​

EKT Interactive’s What is Upstream Oil and Gas primer confirmed that the upstream oil and gas segment is also known as the exploration and production E&P sector because it encompasses activities related to searching for and recovering and producing crude oil and natural gas and that the upstream industry is arguably the most complex of all the oil and gas business sectors and that it is highly capital-intensive and highly risky and highly regulated and that upstream investments are high-risk given that results of every well drilled are unpredictable with additional risk arising from safety and environmental issues and that outside the US the upstream industry is also impacted by the prevailing host-country political environment and regulations including political instability and war and civil unrest and other international conflicts and laws and regulations and price controls and tax regimes and expropriation or forced divestiture of property and respect for contracts. The curriculum integrates Characteristics of Upstream Oil and Gas Business, Sectors Within the Upstream Industry, Components of Upstream Oil and Gas Operations, Critical Actions for Oil and Gas Companies, Success Factors of Upstream Oil and Gas Operations, Asset Screening Criteria for Upstream Operations, Features of Upstream Oil and Gas Contracts, Challenges in Upstream Operations, and Political Environment Regulations Impacting Oil and Gas Operations to provide comprehensive coverage of global upstream oil and gas operations principles, EKT upstream business high risk and high return and host-country politics-impact root cause analysis and Walden chaos theory cost overrun prevention strategies and Hassan et al. PSC IOC-NOC contract structure methodologies, and upstream business characteristics and sectors and operations components and critical actions and success factors and asset screening and contract features and operational challenges and political environment integration domains for achieving global upstream oil and gas operations excellence.​

Why This Course Is Required?

EKT Interactive upstream business high capital intensity and host-country political environment governance represents a critical competency where the Oil 101 primer confirmed that technology drives all aspects of the upstream industry adding to its capital-intensive nature and that the large global independents often publicly traded on their home-country stock exchange include EnCana and Woodside and others and that the largest US publicly traded independent E&P companies include Anadarko and Apache and Devon and that independents are known for their ability to make decisions and move quicker than other industry participants and are considered early adopters of more innovative drilling and production technologies and that major oil companies also called Integrated Oil Companies IOCs have assets in the downstream including refineries and service stations that bring products to end-user customers and that National Oil Companies NOCs are owned and managed by governments around the world with most of the remaining oil and gas reserves in the world owned by NOCs making it a challenge for Majors and Independents to sustain their operations and grow. Walden University chaos theory cost overrun prevention demands specialized knowledge where Tamunoemi V. Efebeli confirmed that Rui et al. 2018 stated that although oil and gas developments in Nigeria had low subsurface complexities and required minimal technology interventions Nigerian oil and gas projects had a high average cost overrun of 38 percent and schedule overrun cost of 37 percent and that oil and gas construction companies face challenges in projects from construction cost overruns and that when cost overruns occur clients lose profits and contractors demand variations and tensions arise within the project team and that project managers require skills to sustain organizational financial goals in oil and gas construction project delivery. Hassan et al. PSC contract structure IOC-NOC dynamics requires professionals with integrated legal and fiscal and commercial expertise where the International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy paper confirmed that the Production Sharing Agreement remains the most dominant form of contract for the exploration and development of petroleum resources in developing countries and that in this form of contract the State remains the principal owner of petroleum resources but interacts with an IOC that provides both financial and technical expertise and that the IOC is responsible for paying royalties to the government on total production and is entitled to a predetermined amount to recover cost and the quantity of production left as profit oil is distributed between IOC and the government at a predetermined ratio and that afterward the IOC is obliged to pay tax on its income from oil profit.​

Global upstream oil and gas operations professionals must master characteristics of the upstream business including high risk and high return and highly regulated and impact by global politics and technology intensive and sectors within the upstream industry including offshore drilling and oil sands mining and supply and service and manufacturing and seismic surveys and geological surveys and reclamation and components of upstream oil and gas operations including exploration and drilling and production and critical actions for oil and gas companies including technical standardization and de-averaging and organizational rightsizing and improved workforce efficiency and supply chain partnering and re-negotiation and maintenance optimization and organization of aviation and trucking and marine logistics and greater cooperation with other industry players and streamlining real estate and support service and overhead costs, understand comprehensive success factors of upstream oil and gas operations and asset screening criteria frameworks including ample spare capacity through the supply chain and service sector collaboration and improved project management and greater corporate discipline and more contracts with preferred partners than bids and reduced scope and technical considerations and financial considerations and geopolitical considerations, and apply proper features of upstream oil and gas contracts and challenges in upstream operations and political environment regulations methods including bidding and tendering and drafting production sharing contracts and drafting agreements for farm-ins and farm-outs and remote geographic location and transportation and inventory management and project supply chain challenges and inbound and outbound and remote worker and emergency supply chain challenges and political instability and laws and regulations and price controls and tax regimes and forced divestiture of property and respect for contracts to ensure organizations achieve superior EKT-class upstream capital intensity and host-country political environment navigation and enhanced Walden chaos theory 38-percent cost overrun prevention through selecting competent contractors and realistic cost profiling and project management tools and strategic project leadership and improved Hassan et al. PSC PSA profit oil sharing and IOC-NOC divergence and convergence management excellence and competitive advantage through continuous upstream business characteristic governance and critical actions and success factors and contract structure and political environment regulation protocols.

Research demonstrates training is crucial for success, with EKT Interactive confirming that proven reserves have a more than 90 percent probability of recovery while probable reserves have greater than 50 percent probability of recovery and that ultimate recovery from an oil field can range between 10 and 80 percent depending on reservoir quality and consistency and well and reservoir fluid properties and field production strategies and other geological factors including rock permeability and porosity and water saturation and that primary recovery is defined as the ability to drive oil or gas to the surface with normal well operations with the average global primary recovery factor at 32 percent and that secondary recovery techniques like water flooding may bring the recovery factor up to 40 percent, while Efebeli confirming that oil prices dropped from $100 per barrel in 2014 to $46 in 2015 and that this lower price regime means project managers need to manage capital to deliver competitive value and that cost overruns also lead to unfinished and abandoned projects and value erosion and litigation and that project managers with skills to prevent or mitigate cost overruns will be able to reduce conflict on projects and sustain business performance and meet energy supply obligations, and Hassan et al. demonstrating that the PSA formula embedded in the contract structure is usually present in the government’s policy and legislation with prominent constructs including variable scales where the rate of distribution differs depending on prices and rate of return and R factor and production and fixed-rate where the share resonating with existing PSA governments differs between 40 and 85 percent confirming the organizational value of training professionals in bidding and tendering and drafting PSCs and drafting farm-in and farm-out agreements and understanding political environment regulations.​

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion, participants will have demonstrated mastery of:

• Detailed understanding and knowledge of upstream oil and gas operations from characteristics of the upstream business through political environment regulations across all nine comprehensive modules
• The ability and confidence to handle any challenges including Walden University chaos theory confirmation that small changes in the project system cause significant and unpredictable consequences in megaprojects and that oil and gas projects fall into the category of complex capital-intensive projects with precise definition and dependence on initial scope where project scope changes cause a ripple effect on cost parameters​
• The experience and exposure to independently drive enhancement of current systems and processes including EKT Interactive confirmation that technological breakthroughs in unconventional oil and gas production in the last 15 years have altered the North American energy landscape through horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing and subsea engineering especially deep water production​
• The ability and skills to predict risks including Umbrex upstream industry overview confirmation that OPEC and non-OPEC production quota decisions and trade policies and tariffs and trade agreements and sanctions and regional political instability and conflicts in key oil-producing regions can disrupt supply and affect global markets
• The required knowledge of fiscal policy and fiscal systems including Hassan et al. confirmation that the PSA formula has variable scales where the rate of distribution differs depending on prices and rate of return and R factor and production and fixed-rate shares differing between 40 and 85 percent between governments and IOCs​
• The ability and capabilities to contribute to organizational development at a global level through better planning and reduced costs including Efebeli confirmation that project managers must develop a reliable process for managing and setting limits for relevant changes during project execution to prevent cost overruns during construction​
• Adequate experience to use advanced techniques including Umbrex confirmation that AI is being used for predictive maintenance and reservoir management and optimizing drilling processes and that IoT devices are being used for real-time monitoring and maintenance of equipment leading to increased operational efficiency

Master global upstream oil and gas operations excellence and drive high-capital-intensity and high-risk upstream business governance and Walden chaos theory cost overrun prevention and Hassan et al. PSC IOC-NOC contract structure excellence. Enroll today to become a Certified Global Upstream Oil and Gas Operations Professional!

Training Methodology

This Global Upstream Oil and Gas Operations Training Course comprises the following training methods:

The training framework includes:

• Expert-led lectures delivered by highly professional individuals trained in the relevant upstream oil and gas operations domain using detailed audio-visual presentations for ease of reference
• Group activities and discussions and role-plays among the training audience developing practical skills in upstream asset screening and contract structure negotiation and critical actions for cost overrun prevention and political environment regulation navigation
• Case studies including EKT Interactive confirmation that Mitchell Energy pioneered new techniques in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the 1990s enabling the US shale oil and gas production boom and Walden University four-theme cost overrun prevention framework through selecting competent contractors and developing a realistic cost profile and applying project management tools and using strategic project leadership and Hassan et al. PSC contract structure covering ExxonMobil Cepu Limited and CNOOC and Pertamina EP and Pertamina Hulu Mahakam PSA operators in Indonesia​
• Trainee sharing of real work scenarios and experiences discussed in detail by the trainer to link upstream operations theory to practical E&P exploration and drilling and production and contract management and political environment challenges and scenarios

This immersive approach fosters practical skill development and real-world application of global upstream oil and gas operations principles through comprehensive coverage of upstream business characteristics and sectors and components and critical actions and success factors and asset screening and contract features and operational challenges and political environment regulation domains with emphasis on measurable cost overrun prevention and asset screening efficiency and PSA contract structure governance excellence.

This program follows the Do-Review-Learn-Apply model, creating a structured learning journey that transforms traditional upstream oil and gas approaches into professional global upstream operations excellence.

Who Should Attend?

This Global Upstream Oil and Gas Operations Training Course is designed for:

• Managers and supervisors of various functions across the upstream supply chain
• Executives and professionals actually performing activities across various functions in upstream operations
• Core members of an organization who need to thoroughly understand upstream oil and gas operations to make informed decisions
• Contract managers and negotiators responsible for framing and closing contracts successfully
• Quality managers as well as internal and external auditors responsible for ensuring adherence to international standards
• Legal advisors who need to provide guidance on legal considerations and laws of party nations
• Tax and finance officers responsible for providing financial advice to the senior management about investments and costs
• Potential investors who should thoroughly understand upstream oil and gas operations before making investment decisions
• Any other professional interested in knowing more about global upstream oil and gas operations

Organizational Benefits

Organizations implementing global upstream oil and gas operations training will benefit through:

• Significantly enhanced EKT-class upstream capital intensity and host-country political environment governance capability through comprehensive training delivering measurable risk reduction where EKT Interactive confirmed that the upstream oil and gas segment is highly capital-intensive and highly risky and highly regulated and that outside the US the upstream industry is also impacted by the prevailing host-country political environment and regulations including political instability and war and civil unrest and other international conflicts and laws and regulations and price controls and tax regimes and expropriation or forced divestiture of property and respect for contracts and that upstream is also subject to global forces of supply and demand and economic growth and recessions and crude production quotas and seasonal weather patterns and disruption due to severe weather events when working in exposed locations, directly reflecting the course’s modules on characteristics of upstream oil and gas business and political environment regulations impacting oil and gas operations and asset screening criteria for upstream operations​
• Better Walden chaos theory cost overrun prevention through Tamunoemi Efebeli confirming that four themes emerged from the study including selecting competent contractors where the contractor selection process must include a pre-qualification and due diligence exercise and contracts must require the contractor to demonstrate relevant experience and qualifications and developing a realistic cost profile through building a realistic initial cost estimate using historical data and applying appropriate contingency and applying project management tools through front-end engineering design FEED and work breakdown structure and earned value management and using strategic project leadership through consistent monitoring of project performance and regular project status reviews and identifying and managing lessons learned from previous projects and that the key recommendation is that project managers develop a reliable process for managing and setting limits for relevant changes during project execution to prevent cost overruns, directly validating the course’s modules on critical actions for oil and gas companies and success factors of upstream oil and gas operations​
• Improved Hassan et al. PSC PSA profit oil sharing and IOC-NOC divergence and convergence contract management through the International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy paper confirming that the PSA formula is often embedded in the contract structure and usually present in the government’s policy and legislation and that the government profit share under variable scale PSA can range from 30 percent for daily production of 0-25 thousand barrels per day to 60 percent for production above 100 thousand barrels per day and that two unique features distinguish PSA from other forms of contracts including the government being the sole owner of the equipment and its installations and the IOC being responsible for the entire risk of operations and that the PSA first began in Indonesia in 1966 before being adopted by other oil-rich developing countries across China and Peru and Indonesia and Qatar and Egypt and Syria and Guatemala and Malaysia and Jordan and Libya and Bangladesh and Angola, directly supporting the course’s modules on features of upstream oil and gas contracts and asset screening criteria and political environment regulations​
• Strengthened competitive advantage through seamless and efficient upstream oil and gas operations managed by experienced trained professionals and adherence to international standards building the organization’s ability to undertake international orders and successful beneficial international contracts negotiated by experienced professionals and lesser risks with adequate provisions for business continuity and increased investments because of better planning and risk management and reduction in costs with leaner operations and maximum automation

Studies show that organizations implementing comprehensive global upstream oil and gas operations training achieve significantly enhanced delivery outcomes as research confirms EKT Interactive’s upstream overview showing that some of the largest oil and gas discoveries of the last decade have been found in deep water off the coasts of Africa and South America as well as the Gulf of Mexico and that these fields can lie 30,000 feet below the earth’s surface and under 7,000 feet of water and that the technical challenges in recovering these resources are vast and volatile oil prices dictate the economic feasibility of development reinforcing the course’s emphasis on characteristics of upstream business and sectors within the upstream industry and components of upstream operations and critical actions and success factors and asset screening criteria, better organizational outcomes through Efebeli confirming that eliminating cost overruns may lead to the completion of more oil and gas projects which may increase the availability of affordable energy for local communities and support transportation activities in host communities and provide more jobs for local workers in developing countries and that project managers with skills to prevent or mitigate cost overruns will be able to reduce conflict on projects and sustain business performance and meet energy supply obligations confirming the organizational value of training professionals in critical actions for oil and gas companies and upstream success factors and upstream project management, and improved competitive positioning as Hassan et al. confirmation that both IOC and NOC interactions often result in the commencement of cross-national investments as well as building and establishing institutional knowledge and skills in major areas of technical expertise and that this interaction is usually established in a unique and mutually productive avenue for the exchange of knowledge and technology and skills confirms that organizations benefit from personnel who understand all nine modules from upstream business characteristics and sectors and operations components and critical actions and success factors through asset screening and contract features and operational challenges and political environment regulations.​

Empower your organization with global upstream oil and gas operations expertise. Enroll your team today and see the transformation in upstream capital intensity and host-country political environment governance and Walden chaos theory cost overrun prevention and Hassan et al. PSC IOC-NOC contract structure excellence!

Personal Benefits

Professionals implementing global upstream oil and gas operations training will benefit through:

• Deeper understanding of EKT-class upstream business high capital intensity and host-country political environment mastery through the Oil 101 primer showing that the upstream segment carries the highest risk and return of the three segments of upstream and midstream and downstream and that ultimate recovery from an oil field can range between 10 and 80 percent depending on reservoir quality and consistency and well and reservoir fluid properties and field production strategies and that primary recovery has an average global recovery factor of 32 percent with secondary recovery techniques like water flooding potentially bringing the recovery factor up to 40 percent, with the course’s modules on characteristics of upstream business and sectors within the upstream industry and components of upstream operations and asset screening criteria and political environment regulations building exactly that level of E&P technical and business literacy​
• Enhanced Walden chaos theory cost overrun prevention mastery and project management value-addition through Efebeli showing that effective project managers in upstream oil and gas must strengthen front-end engineering and contract strategies and supplier pre-qualification and operator follow-up throughout the project lifecycle to avoid the kind of 30-40 percent overruns observed in practice and that the four themes of selecting competent contractors and developing a realistic cost profile and applying project management tools and using strategic project leadership directly address the root causes of the 38 percent average cost overrun documented in 65 Nigerian oil and gas projects, with the course’s modules on critical actions for oil and gas companies and success factors of upstream oil and gas operations directly supporting development of those competencies​
• Stronger Hassan et al. PSC IOC-NOC contract structure mastery and commercial career value-addition through the International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy paper demonstrating that professionals who understand the legal and commercial understanding needed to participate in contract negotiations and to better align technical work with fiscal and legal frameworks including bidding and tendering and drafting production sharing contracts and drafting agreements for farm-ins and farm-outs can contribute meaningfully to securing advantageous upstream project terms, with the course’s module on features of upstream oil and gas contracts covering all critical PSA elements from cost recovery to profit oil sharing to tax on IOC income​
• Advanced expertise in global upstream oil and gas operations principles, EKT upstream capital intensity and host-country political environment governance and Walden chaos theory cost overrun prevention and Hassan et al. PSC IOC-NOC contract structure methodologies, and upstream business characteristics and sectors and operations components and critical actions and success factors and asset screening and contract features and operational challenges and political environment regulation integration domains
• Enhanced career prospects and marketability in upstream exploration and drilling and production operations, upstream project management, E&P contract negotiation, upstream asset screening and portfolio management, upstream supply chain management, and IOC-NOC joint venture and PSA structuring roles with professionals gaining skills in EKT-class primary and secondary and tertiary recovery optimization, Walden FEED and work breakdown structure and earned value management application, Hassan et al. PSA variable-scale profit oil formula negotiation, OPEC+ quota and sanctions and geopolitical risk assessment, and Umbrex-class horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing and subsea engineering competency
• Greater knowledge and experience to review existing systems and processes and check for scope for enhancements to make operations leaner including through possible automation with Umbrex confirmation that AI and IoT and automation and robotics are improving safety and productivity and operational efficiency across all upstream activities​
• Better negotiation and communication skills to effectively collaborate and negotiate terms of agreements for fruitful deals at an international level and increased understanding and awareness of fiscal policy and ability to compare fiscal systems for effective decisions

Course Outline

The Global Upstream Oil and Gas Operations Certification course covers the following areas regarding global upstream oil and gas operations:

Module 1 – Characteristics of Upstream Oil and Gas Business

• High risk, high return
• Highly regulated
• Impact by global politics
• Technology intensive
• Capital-intensive project financing and investment structures
• Long lead times and reserve uncertainty in E&P decision-making

Module 2 – Sectors Within the Upstream Industry

• Offshore drilling
• Oil sands mining
• Supply and service
• Manufacturing
• Seismic surveys
• Geological surveys
• Reclamation
• Unconventional shale and tight gas and deepwater production
• IOC and NOC and independent operator roles across sectors

Module 3 – Components of Upstream Oil and Gas Operations

• Exploration
• Drilling
• Production
• Primary and secondary and enhanced recovery techniques
• Well integrity and reservoir management across field life

Module 4 – Critical Actions for Oil and Gas Companies

• Technical standardization and de-averaging
• Organisational rightsizing
• Improved workforce efficiency
• Supply chain partnering and re-negotiation
• Maintenance optimisation
• Organisation of aviation, trucking and marine logistics
• Greater cooperation with other industry players
• Streamlining real estate, support service and overhead costs
• Front-end engineering and FEED discipline for cost control
• Digital transformation and automation for operational efficiency

Module 5 – Success Factors of Upstream Oil and Gas Operations

• Ample spare capacity through the supply chain
• Service sector collaboration
• Improved project management
• Greater corporate discipline
• More contracts with preferred partners than bids
• Reduced scope
• Walden four-theme cost overrun prevention framework
• Earned value management and project performance monitoring

Module 6 – Asset Screening Criteria for Upstream Operations

• Technical considerations
• Financial considerations
• Geopolitical considerations
• Portfolio diversification across onshore and offshore and unconventional
• Risk-adjusted returns and capital allocation discipline

Module 7 – Features of Upstream Oil and Gas Contracts

• Bidding and tendering
• Drafting production sharing contracts
• Drafting agreements for farm-ins and farm-outs
• Cost recovery and profit oil sharing and royalty structures
• IOC-NOC divergence and convergence dynamics in PSA negotiation

Module 8 – Challenges in Upstream Operations

• Remote geographic location
• Transportation
• Inventory management
• Project supply chain challenges
• Inbound supply chain challenges
• Outbound supply chain challenges
• Remote worker supply chain challenges
• Emergency supply chain challenges
• Logistics coordination in deepwater and frontier environments
• Supply chain resilience and business continuity planning

Module 9 – Political Environment Regulations Impacting Oil and Gas Operations

• Political instability
• Laws and regulations
• Price controls and tax regimes
• Forced divestiture of property
• Respect for contracts
• OPEC+ quota decisions and sanctions and geopolitical risk
• ESG compliance and environmental and social regulatory obligations

Real World Examples

ExxonMobil Cepu Limited, CNOOC, Pertamina – Production sharing agreements in Indonesia

Implementation: Hassan and Amuda and Dhali and Mehar confirmed in the International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy that the Production Sharing Agreement remains the most dominant form of contract for the exploration and development of petroleum resources in developing countries and that in this form of contract the State remains the principal owner of petroleum resources but interacts with an IOC that provides both financial and technical expertise and that the PSA has four key features including the IOC being responsible for paying royalties to the government on total production and the IOC being entitled to a predetermined amount to recover the cost and the quantity of production left as profit oil being distributed between IOC and the government at a predetermined ratio and the IOC being obliged to pay tax on its income from oil profit and that some of the companies operating under PSC structures in Indonesia include Chevron Pacific Indonesia and Pertamina EP and CNOOC and ExxonMobil Cepu Limited and Pertamina Hulu Mahakam. The paper further confirmed that two unique features distinguish PSA from other forms of contracts including the government being the sole owner of the equipment and its installations and the IOC being responsible for the entire risk of operations and that in the case where no oil is discovered the IOC bears all the risk as established in the contract structure and that under the PSA in Indonesia when it is discovered that the oil and gas field is sufficient for commercial purposes the State is responsible for all costs of exploration and production, with the PSA government profit share formula example showing that if daily average production was 45,000 barrels per day then government profit share equals 32.2 percent reflecting the variable-scale structure where 30 percent applies for 0-25 thousand barrels per day and 35 percent applies for above 25 to 50 thousand barrels per day, directly reflecting the contract feature and fiscal term logic taught in the course’s module on features of upstream oil and gas contracts. The PSA first began in Indonesia in 1966 before being adopted by other oil-rich developing countries across China and Peru and Indonesia and Qatar and Egypt and Syria and Guatemala and Malaysia and Jordan and Libya and Bangladesh and Angola with Hassan et al. confirming that what remains predominant across all these countries is that the state government is the rightful owner of the petroleum resources while also granting the right to control and manage the exploration and development process to IOC and that the PSA formula is often embedded in the contract structure and is usually present in the government’s policy and legislation, providing a concrete real-world illustration of the bidding and tendering and drafting PSCs and structuring farm-ins and farm-outs content in Module 7.​

Results: Hassan et al. confirmed that the study finds that PSA remains the most dominant contract structure between NOC and IOC in developing countries and that evidence suggests both parties have a strong common interest in exploring and developing petroleum resources for profit maximization and that this factor among others has continued to shape their interaction during negotiations and that the use of production sharing agreements as a contractual mechanism has helped facilitate ease of practice with many rooms for improvement considering the present and future challenges confronting global production of oil due to its effect on the environment and that the majority of developing countries have seen the need to adopt the PSA due to its flexibility and power vested in state ownership and control, confirming in precise contractual terms how the features of upstream oil and gas contracts and asset screening criteria and political environment regulations knowledge the course builds through its modules directly addresses the documented real-world dynamics of IOC-NOC PSA negotiation and structuring across developing petroleum-resource countries. Results confirmed that both NOC and IOC have their unique contribution to the development of petroleum resources which can be described as symmetric cooperation for the common interest and that the IOC-NOC interaction is usually established in a unique and mutually productive avenue for the exchange of knowledge and technology and skills and that the convergence point between IOC and NOC includes having in-house research and development capabilities and cross-national investments illustrating exactly the upstream business characteristics and sectors and operations components and critical actions and success factors and asset screening and contract features and political environment regulations knowledge the course builds through all nine of its comprehensive modules.​

E&P companies under geopolitical pressure – OPEC+, sanctions, and investment risk

Implementation: Umbrex confirmed that geopolitical factors continue to play a significant role in the upstream oil and gas industry and that decisions by OPEC and allied non-OPEC countries on production quotas impact global oil prices and market stability and that tariffs and trade agreements and sanctions can influence the availability and cost of oil and gas resources and that political instability and conflicts in key oil-producing regions can disrupt supply and affect global markets and that the upstream oil and gas industry globally is relatively concentrated with a handful of major IOCs including ExxonMobil and Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell and BP and Total dominating the market alongside NOCs such as Saudi Aramco and Petrobras and Gazprom and CNPC that control vast reserves and production capacities within their respective countries. EKT Interactive further confirmed that outside the US the upstream industry is impacted by the prevailing host-country political environment and regulations including political instability from war and civil unrest and other international conflicts and laws and regulations including environmental and social programs and price controls and tax regimes and expropriation or forced divestiture of property and respect for contracts and that the fragmented US market features numerous independent operators in the shale plays particularly in Texas and North Dakota and Pennsylvania with major companies focused on large-scale projects and offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in contrast to the highly concentrated Saudi Arabia where Saudi Aramco holds a near-monopoly on oil production, illustrating exactly the upstream business characteristics and asset screening technical and financial and geopolitical considerations and political environment regulations the course builds through its modules on upstream business characteristics and asset screening criteria and political environment regulations. Umbrex confirmed that strategies for gaining competitive advantage in the upstream oil and gas industry include technological innovation through enhanced seismic imaging and data analytics and horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing and enhanced oil recovery and strategic partnerships and alliances for sharing risks and reducing costs and gaining access to new technologies and markets and diversification of asset portfolio across onshore and offshore and conventional and unconventional resources in various geographic regions and cost management and operational efficiency through lean operations and digital transformation and supply chain optimization and sustainable practices and ESG compliance through carbon reduction initiatives and community engagement and transparency and reporting, reflecting precisely the scope of the critical actions and success factors and asset screening and operational challenges and political environment regulations modules the course covers.​​

Results: Umbrex confirmed that the upstream oil and gas industry is undergoing digital transformation through big data and analytics improving decision-making and optimizing exploration and production activities and IoT devices being used for real-time monitoring and maintenance of equipment and automation of drilling rigs and use of robotics in hazardous environments improving safety and productivity and that the industry is increasingly focusing on unconventional resources through shale oil and gas and tight gas and oil sands driven by technological advancements in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling and that capital discipline is a key financial strategy with companies prioritizing high-return projects and reducing debt and emphasizing shareholder returns through dividends and share buybacks, confirming that organizations with professionals who understand the full scope of upstream business characteristics and geopolitical dynamics and asset screening criteria and political environment regulations are materially better positioned to navigate OPEC+ quota decisions and sanctions and investment risk and protect upstream portfolio value and business continuity. Results confirmed that the Umbrex overview’s identification of workforce transformation trends including growing emphasis on developing skills in digital technologies and data analytics and sustainability and the need to attract and retain younger talent as experienced workers retire illustrates exactly the characteristics of upstream business and sectors within the upstream industry and components of upstream operations and critical actions and success factors and all nine module areas of knowledge the course builds across all comprehensive modules of global upstream oil and gas operations.​​

Be inspired by leading global upstream oil and gas operations achievements. Register now to build the skills your organization needs for upstream capital intensity and host-country political environment governance excellence and Walden chaos theory cost overrun prevention and Hassan et al. PSC IOC-NOC contract structure success!