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Course Level
Introduction
Delivery Method
Live Instructor-Led Virtual Course
Professional Development Credit Hours
12
Pre-requisites
There is no pre-requisite for this course.

"It was very enjoyable.The interactive exercises tested your learning."
PMI Comercio International

Faculty

Mary Jackson has over twenty-five years' experience in the energy industry. After university she began her career at BP, working in the information management group, before joining the Manufacturing, Supply and Trading department. She subsequently worked at Saladin as a consultant, working closely with clients throughout the world and providing consultancy advice on energy market analysis, trading and risk management. In several senior roles at Saladin, she managed the energy consulting team, ran the energy market information service and directed strategy for new software and information product development.

Since 2000, Mary has worked as an independent energy market consultant and she formed Kingston Energy Consulting with Nigel Harris in 2002. Kingston Energy provides consultancy services to companies involved in energy markets and trading. A key area of work has been the European natural gas market - Kingston Energy has researched and authored a well-respected report on European natural gas trading which has been published annually since 2004.

Mary has lectured regularly for Mennta Energy Solutions on energy markets, trading and risk management and is also a regular speaker and panel member at public conferences. She has written articles for industry publications including Harts Energy Markets, Energy Risk, Global Energy Business and Petroleum Review.

Nigel Harris is a director and principal consultant at Kingston Energy Consulting, which he founded with Mary Jackson in 2002. He has been helping energy traders to analyse and understand the markets for over 25 years, initially as a developer of market analysis software systems, and more recently as a consultant. At Kingston Energy Consulting, his main focus is on providing education and information transfer to participants in the energy trading business, through instructor-led classroom training, web-based training development, research projects, workshops, briefings and research-based report writing. In his work with Mennta Energy Solutions, he has created a library of new instructor-led and web-based courses on European gas and power markets and trading. In 2005, he worked with Mary Jackson to develop the popular Oil Trading Orientation course, which has since been presented at venues all over the world. He has also extensively revised and updated many existing courses on derivatives, hedging and risk management.  He regularly presents this material both at public venues and as in-house, often customised, courses. He is co-author of a series of highly regarded reports on European natural gas trading and has also contributed to reports on power markets and oil trading. In previous roles, he was a key member of the team that initially designed and developed Saladin's innovative Petroleum Analysis Workstation, a system that became an industry standard for historical price analysis during the 1990s and remained in use in the industry for two decades. During this period, he worked closely and extensively with oil and gas traders around the world to understand their information and analytical requirements. He also spent some years as an independent consultant, working mainly with software and information providers to help them better understand the oil and gas trading sectors.

Accreditations

NASBA: Mennta Energy Solutions is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its web site: www.nasbaregistry.org


CPD Certification Services: The CPD Certification Service works with Mennta Energy Solutions to ensure valuable knowledge is structured to complement the universal guidelines of Continuing Professional Development. Mennta Energy Solutions courses are approved by CPD at one credit per training hour.

Oil Trading Orientation (VIRTUAL) - OTOV

Course Schedule

Date Time Location Price* Registration Deadline**
10-13 Feb 2025
Register 		10:00am-1:00pm (New York) / 15:00-18:00 (London)
 Zoom: Americas to Europe
 USD 1,890 (OTOV-VILTNA25-02)
 10 Jan 2025
3-6 Mar 2025
Register 		8:00-11:00 (London) / 4:00pm-7:00pm (Singapore)
 Zoom: Europe to Asia-Pacific
 USD 1,890 (OTOV-VILTAP25-03)
 7 Feb 2025

*Prices do not include VAT, GST, or any other local taxes. All applicable taxes will be added to the invoice.
**Please register by the deadline to help us ensure sufficient attendance and avoid postponing the course.

Course Summary

Oil Trading Orientation is a VIRTUAL classroom course presented by the energy training experts at Mennta Energy Solutions.

This workshop is ideal for non-traders wishing to know more about the world of oil trading, or for delegates who are at the very beginning of an oil trading career. Delegates will learn the terminology and key building blocks of knowledge for crude oil and petroleum product trading. They will also receive a first-hand perspective of what a trader's job involves, through competitive team trading simulations focusing on different aspects of trading and risk management.

This virtual solution is comprised of four live instructor-led sessions hosted on state-of-the-art training software with video, audio, chat, live polls, breakout sessions and much more!  The program will also include several self-study assignments to maximize the time with the instructor.

Who Should Attend?

Class delegates include anyone who needs to know more about oil trading - everyone from support staff, analysts, accountants and management in the areas of trading, supply, risk management, credit, finance, contracts, IT, operations, transportation and storage.

Course Content

Prerequisite to Session 1 Self-Study Assignment: 

  • Introduction to Trading
    • Define what is meant by trading, and the different types of trading participants
    • Recognize different reasons for trading, such as supply balancing and trading for profit
    • Define how and where people trade, whether directly, using brokers, and through exchanges
    • Distinguish between different types of trading instruments, that is spot, term, forwards, futures, options and swaps
    • Identify the key controls on traders, including regulatory and risk limits
    • Recognize how traders work, how trading departments are organized, and what qualities are needed to be a trader
  • Introduction to Commodity Derivatives
    • Identify the physical market, the definition of commodity and the key characteristics of commodity transactions
    • Recognize how derivatives are broadly categorized
    • Recognize the composition of a futures contract and how it is traded
    • Identify the rights of an options trader and the flexibility associated with options contracts
    • Distinguish between swaps and forward contracts
    • Distinguish between over-the-counter options from exchange-traded options

 Virtual Instructor-Led Session 1: 

  • Purposes of oil trading
    • Reasons for trading
    • Approaches to trading and risk appetite by different market participants
  • Market fundamentals
    • Key trading patterns and locations
    • Fundamental analysis "“ supply and demand trends; imports, exports and trade flows; inventories
    • Technical analysis
  • Trading strategies, part 1
    • Supply trading
    • Trading for profit
    • Positions (long, short) and spreads
  • Exercises
    • In breakout groups, delegates answer questions based on market information (news and charts) and trading positions presented on handouts.
    • Trading game part 1 to be completed individually after class.

Virtual Instructor-Led Session 2: 

  • Mechanics of trading, contracts and negotiations
    • Key clauses in oil trading contracts, including quality, quantity and Incoterms
    • Physical deal negotiation
  • Pricing mechanisms and use of benchmarks
    • Spot and term contracts
    • Fixed, floating, OSP and posted prices
    • Crude oil valuation: netbacks and quality differentials
    • Price sources and reporting methodology
    • Crude oil benchmarks: Brent, WTI and Dubai
    • Refined product benchmarks
  • Trading strategies, part 2
    • Price differentials and arbitrage trades
    • Product blending opportunities
    • Storage plays
    • Market structure (contango and backwardation)
  • Exercises
    • In breakout groups, a contract negotiation exercise where groups must post bids or offers on Platts-type window; and/or a storage trading game.
    • Trading game part 2 to be completed individually after class.

Virtual Instructor-Led Session 3:

  • Risk management, exposure and hedging
    • Sources of risk in oil trading
    • The concept of price exposure and how to measure it
    • Value at Risk (VaR) and its use in trading
    • The concept of risk management
    • What is hedging?
    • Choices of hedging instruments
    • Features of OTC and exchange markets, and regulatory frameworks
  • Futures and forwards
    • Crude oil forward markets
    • Futures contracts and exchanges
    • Margins and clearing
    • Use of EFPs
    • Hedging with futures
  • Exercises
    • In breakout groups, VAR exercise and futures hedging exercise (covering hedging strategy and post-deal analysis)
    • Trading game part 3 to be completed individually after class.

Virtual Instructor-Led Session 4:

  • OTC derivatives
    • Features of OTC markets
    • Swaps and their use in hedging
    • Basis risk & basis swaps
    • Options and their use in hedging
  • Value drivers & market characteristics
    • Crude oil price drivers
    • Refined products market price drivers
    • Trading market characteristics for different types of crude oil
    • Trading market characteristics for refined products including LPG, gasoline, naphtha, jet/kerosene, diesel and heating oil, heavy oils/bunker fuels, feedstocks and specialty products
    • Key differences between major international trading markets "“ North America, Asia Pacific and Europe.
  • Oil trading trends
  • Exercises
    • In breakout groups, a hedging simulation game.

Post Session 4 Self-Study Assignment:

  • Elective course
    • Two-hour online course of delegate's choice

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