Introduction

Success in the upstream oil and gas industry depends on the ability to make informed strategic decisions that balance technical opportunities, commercial realities, operational constraints, and stakeholder expectations. Exploration and production companies operate within highly competitive and capital-intensive environments where effective management of assets, resources, and investments is essential for long-term value creation.

The Strategic Management in Upstream Oil and Gas training course provides participants with a broad understanding of the strategic management processes that guide exploration, field development, production, and portfolio growth. The training course explores how oil and gas companies evaluate opportunities, allocate resources, manage risks, and optimise asset performance while navigating complex technical, economic, regulatory, and market challenges.

Participants will gain valuable insights into the multidisciplinary nature of upstream operations and the collaborative decision-making processes that underpin successful field development and corporate strategy. The training course also examines sustainability, corporate responsibility, and the evolving role of strategic leadership within the energy sector.

Key focus areas include:

Key Learning Outcomes

At the end of this Strategic Management in Upstream Oil and Gas training course, participants will be able to:

Training Methodology

This training course combines practical learning with strategic analysis through interactive presentations, facilitated discussions, workshops, case studies, group exercises, videos, and guided research activities. Participants engage in realistic field development and decision-making scenarios to strengthen their understanding of upstream business strategy and asset management.

Strategic Management in Upstream Oil and Gas

Who Should Attend?

This Strategic Management in Upstream Oil and Gas training course is designed for:

  • Upstream Oil & Gas Professionals
  • Petroleum Engineers
  • Reservoir Engineers
  • Geoscientists and Geologists
  • Asset Managers
  • Field Development Professionals
  • Project Managers
  • Commercial and Business Development Specialists
  • Production and Operations Personnel
  • Professionals preparing for leadership and strategic management roles

Course Outline

Day 1

Overview and Context to Upstream Strategic Management

  • The industry context to strategic management. The upstream oil and gas industry from various key ‘perspectives’, such as the oil and gas asset lifecycle, the value chain, the industry players, and the place in society.
  • The professional context to strategic management. Overview of the fundamental geoscience and engineering disciplines, which form the basis of the industry, and which fall within the remit of strategic management, including geophysics, petrophysics, reservoir engineering, well engineering and facilities engineering.
  • Strategic management in the upstream oil and gas industry. Overview of the science, culture, practice and challenges of strategic management in the upstream oil and gas sector.
Day 2

Licences and Petroleum Resources Management and Reporting

  • Production contracts & licences. The legal, fiscal and contractual conditions under which an oil company acquires the right to produce oil or gas, and the way that the revenue and wealth is shared with the host country.
  • Petroleum resources management. How quantities of oil and gas in the reservoir (reserves and resources) are calculated, classified and reported in a consistent manner for management, regulatory and investment and purposes.
  • Strategic management workshop. Participants work individually, or in teams, on realistic strategic management, field development planning, economics and decision making exercises.
Day 3

Field Development Planning and Economics

  • Field development planning. How the integrated, team, drawn from all disciplines (commercial, scientific and engineering) collaborate to identify the best way to develop a reservoir.
  • Petroleum economics. The role of economics in the planning of oil and gas developments, in order to maximise value, including the use of cash flow analysis, time value of money and investment indicators.
  • Decision analysis. How the integrated field development team make complex decisions, involving many different types of input parameters, in order to ensure that very large investments are made rationally and efficiently, using tools such as expected value, sensitivity analysis, decision trees and Monte Carlo simulation.
  • Strategic management workshop. Participants work individually, or in teams, on realistic strategic management, field development planning, economics and decision making exercises.
Day 4

Market and Competitor Analysis

  • The oil and gas market. The fundamental characteristics of the oil and gas market, including pricing, reserves distribution and demand, on which the strategic management function bases its judgment of key parameters affecting economic evaluations of project and company performance.
  • Business information and competition analysis. The business information and analysis that the strategic management function of oil and gas companies rely on to direct the enterprise on a sustainable seminar, and compare, and learn from, the performance and efficiency of market competitors.
  • Portfolio management. Advanced economics and decision making methodologies, originating in the financial (stocks and shares) industry, increasingly finding application for the strategic management of portfolios of oil and gas assets, including: Portfolio Theory, Options Theory and Preference (Utility) Theory.
  • Strategic management workshop. Participants work individually, or in teams, on realistic strategic management, field development planning, economics and decision making exercises.
Day 5

Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability

  • Corporate responsibility. How oil and gas projects are executed in a safe and sustainable manner, with due respect for the environment, and it a way that benefits the local communities in which activities take place, covering topics such as: safety, environmental impact and social licence to operate.
  • Strategic management workshop. Participants work individually, or in teams, on realistic strategic management, field development planning, economics and decision making exercises.

International Standards & Professional Alignment

Our training courses are aligned with internationally recognised professional standards and frameworks across leadership, strategy, finance, governance, risk, compliance, and audit. By integrating globally trusted models, we ensure learners develop practical, relevant, and industry-recognised capabilities.

Our trainings draw on leading international standards and professional frameworks, including ISO, ISACA, COSO, OECD, IIA, FATF, Basel, IFRS/ISSB, GRI, NIST, CPD, ILM and the OECD AI Principles. This alignment ensures consistency with global best practices across financial management, risk oversight, digital governance, sustainability, and strategic decision-making..

Designed in alignment with globally recognised professional bodies, our courses support continuous professional development, strengthen organisational capability, and provide clear pathways toward professional certifications valued worldwide.

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