Technical and Financial Appraisal of Energy Projects

Oil and Gas Projects: 16 - 18 July 2012

Valuation of Coal Mining Projects: 19 - 20 July 2012

Background

The emphasis of this course is on "Energy", and is not confined to conventional oil and gas associated with petroleum systems. The first part, delivered over two days, is devoted to coal which currently supplies 25% of world energy needs and is predicted to grow.

Upstream extraction techniques for petroleum and coal are normally different with the former recovered from wells while the latter is associated with mining, but the Anthabasca tar sands projects are essential mining operations although classified as petroleum projects. There is also a convergence between petroleum and coal in the downstream processing stage of Sasol's Secunda plant where the Fischer-Tropsch process is used to convert coal to petroleum products. This includes the development of conventional petroleum gas resources to enhance the Gas-to-Liquid capabilities of the F-T process. Theoretically carbon dioxide generated by the process could be cooled and liquefied and then utilised to recover residual hydrocarbons from mature oil reservoirs.

Pilot projects are being linked to coal mining, carbon sequestration and methane production. Carbon capture and storage and the utilisation of methane emissions permits operators to attract carbon credits participate in active role in carbon trading.

For these reasons the investment community often make little distinction between petroleum and coal mining as both sectors are energy related and commodity-based. which over the last year have been associated with unprecedented levels of volatility.

The course covers the detail financial modelling of coal projects and an in-depth treatment of hydrocarbon fiscal regimes based on both tax and royalty and production sharing contracts.

Course Structure

The programme will be delivered as two self-contained modules. The first two days will be devoted to coal and the rest of the week to oil and gas projects. Attendance on either module separately is possible.

Who Should Attend?

This course will be of particular interest to all financial professionals, who are involved in the funding of minerals projects in general but with an interest in the energy sector. They might be working for financial institutions as energy and mining analysts, fund and asset managers, or securities and corporate finance investment bankers. They might also be working for junior mining companies preparing business cases, and other specialists involved in the appraisal, financing and development coal, of oil and gas projects.