Legal and Economics > International Petroleum Contracts

About this Training Course 

This course will help you develop an in-depth knowledge of the legal and contractual framework in which the upstream oil industry conducts its operations. It opens with an explanation of the geopolitical forces which shape the modern oil industry and then covers the major technical, legal/contractual and financial/economic/taxation/fiscal issues that form modern E&P agreements worldwide.

You will learn the philosophy, evolution and fundamentals of international petroleum contracts.  You will take part in life-like negotiating sessions mastering many negotiating techniques, where a mistake is a learning experience not a disaster.

The course continues with an explanation of the principles and strategy of petroleum negotiations and then proceeds to a worked example of the negotiation of an actual upstream petroleum agreement. In the latter, the course attendees will split up into two or more teams. One team will represent the government in the negotiations and the other(s) or more of the IOC’s who are attempting to secure the government and E&P agreement.

The classes include participants from both NOC’s, IOC’s contractors, which adds further realism to the exercises.

Course Content in Summary:

  • Sovereignty, the state and the ownership of the petroleum resource
  • Petroleum legislation and key issues within it: the Petroleum Ministries and Petroleum Licensing and Monitoring Units. The State Oil Company: two modern examples (Pertamina and EGPC). Ten key steps in petroleum licensing and an example of modern petroleum legislation
  • Petroleum leases, concessions, agreements and contracts. The modern Equity (Royalty-Tax) Agreement versus the modern Contractor (Production Sharing) Agreement
  • Technical issues in petroleum agreements: term (duration), work programme (duration and content: seismic and wells), exploration periods and relinquishment, exploration and production licences, discovery, the development plan
  • Legal and contractual issues in petroleum agreements: the rights, duties, obligations and liabilities of the parties
  • Financial issues in negotiations: royalty, tax, additional profits taxes, OPEX, CAPEX, cost oil, profit oil

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

  • Understand the key constituents of Petroleum legislation across the world in various regions
  • Understand the fiscal instruments in petroleum agreements, equity agreements and contractor agreements in play
  • Learn how to negotiate contracts from different view points

Petroleum business managers from Government Oil Ministries, NOC’s, IOC’s and international contractors.  This will include from professionals from geosciences, engineering, legal, finance, economics, tax, lawyers in multilateral funding agencies and bankers.

To further optimise your learning experience from our courses, we also offer individualized “One to One” coaching support for 2 hours post training. We can help improve your competence in your chosen area of interest, based on your learning needs and available hours. This is a great opportunity to improve your capability and confidence in a particular area of expertise. It will be delivered over a secure video conference call by one of our senior trainers. They will work with you to create a tailor-made coaching program that will help you achieve your goals faster.
Request for further information about post training coaching support and fees applicable for this.