Energy Contracts Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Contract Managers, Project Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CM-083

Before you join: Participants should have experience working with projects, procurement, operations, engineering, commercial management or supplier relationships in an energy-related setting.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Energy projects depend on contracts that allocate technical, commercial, regulatory and operational risk clearly. Poorly drafted or administered agreements can delay commissioning, weaken entitlement to payment, create unmanaged exposure to outages or performance failure, and turn routine changes into disputes. Contract managers need to read the commercial intent behind clauses, connect obligations to project controls, and protect their organisation's position through disciplined records, notices and decisions.

This course examines the agreements used to develop, build, operate and maintain energy assets. Participants work through production sharing arrangements, joint operating agreements, power purchase agreements, EPC and EPCI contracts, O&M agreements, fuel supply provisions and major service contracts. They learn to allocate risk, assess payment and pricing mechanisms, administer obligations, manage changes and claims, address HSSE and environmental responsibilities, and prepare for dispute avoidance, termination and close-out.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with contract clause analysis, energy-sector cases, group work, commercial negotiation simulations and practical document review. Cases reflect oil and gas developments, renewable generation projects, transmission and grid interfaces, and energy service arrangements. Participants leave with an energy contract management toolkit containing practical registers, checklists, risk models and action plans that can be adapted to live contracts. The course is delivered over five days, either in a classroom in 50+ cities or live online, and includes a certificate of completion.

It is particularly suitable for professionals who manage contracts after award, support procurement or project delivery, supervise contractors, administer commercial obligations, or contribute technical input to energy agreements.

What you will be able to do

  • Interpret energy contract structures, obligations, risk allocation and order-of-precedence provisions
  • Assess production sharing, joint operating and power purchase agreement commercial mechanisms
  • Select EPC, EPCM, EPCI and service-contract strategies for defined delivery requirements
  • Construct payment, performance security and liquidated damages control mechanisms
  • Develop a contract administration plan using registers, RACI matrices and KPI reporting
  • Prepare variation and claim records using notice, entitlement, quantum and causation analysis
  • Apply HSSE, environmental, insurance and force majeure clauses to operational events
  • Plan dispute avoidance, termination, close-out and contract renewal actions

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence reviewing energy contract clauses and identifying commercial exposure
  • A structured method for administering notices, obligations, changes and payment events
  • Practical ability to challenge unclear scope, interface and acceptance provisions
  • Improved preparation for contractor negotiations, claim discussions and dispute meetings
  • Transferable templates for managing active energy projects and operating contracts

For your organisation

  • Earlier identification of payment, schedule, performance and compliance risks
  • Better preservation of contractual rights through timely notices and records
  • Reduced scope creep and uncontrolled cost exposure on capital projects
  • More consistent management of contractors, suppliers and operating partners
  • Stronger evidence for change settlements, final accounts and dispute avoidance

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can identify the purpose, hierarchy, stakeholders and principal risk positions within an energy contract.

  • Energy value chains, asset interfaces and contract families from wellhead to grid
  • Allocate risk using control, consequence, insurability and pricing principles
  • Distinguish commercial terms, legal obligations, technical requirements and operating procedures
  • Map stakeholders, approvals and delegated authorities before contract commitments
  • Identify governing law, jurisdiction and mandatory regulatory constraints
  • Read contract hierarchies, definitions and order-of-precedence clauses accurately

Participants can interpret the commercial and operating mechanics of upstream and joint venture agreements.

  • Compare concession, production sharing, service and joint venture arrangements
  • Production sharing contract cost recovery, profit oil and state take
  • Joint operating agreements: operator duties, voting thresholds and non-consent elections
  • Use AIPN model forms to identify negotiable joint operating provisions
  • Host government agreements, stabilisation clauses and local-content commitments
  • Track licence conditions, relinquishment dates and work-programme obligations

Participants can evaluate the core commercial, technical and risk provisions of power purchase agreements.

  • Power purchase agreement structures for utility, corporate and merchant projects
  • Specify contracted capacity, availability, dispatch and deemed-energy payment mechanics
  • Allocate fuel supply, grid connection and curtailment risks
  • Price electricity through fixed, indexed, merchant and CfD mechanisms
  • Draft conditions precedent, long-stop dates and financial close protections
  • Assess renewable attribute certificates, environmental claims and change-in-law exposure

Participants can select and structure project delivery contracts around scope, interfaces and delivery risk.

  • Select EPC, EPCM, EPCI and multi-package delivery contracting strategies
  • Package scopes using WBS, interface matrices and responsibility assignment
  • Set technical specifications, performance guarantees and acceptance test criteria
  • Evaluate bids with weighted scoring, clarifications and tender governance
  • Structure lump-sum, reimbursable, target-cost and unit-rate payment models
  • Control subcontracting, vendor data and supply-chain approval obligations

Participants can establish payment and security controls that protect project cash flow and performance expectations.

  • Build payment schedules around milestones, measurement, certification and retention
  • Apply LD calculations for delay, performance shortfall and liability caps
  • Test performance guarantees using reliability, heat-rate and availability measures
  • Secure obligations through bonds, parent guarantees and letters of credit
  • Manage invoicing evidence, tax treatment, withholding and audit rights
  • Calculate price adjustment using indices, formulas and escalation triggers

Participants can establish an effective system for monitoring obligations, communications, records and performance.

  • Establish contract administration plans, registers, communication protocols and decision rights
  • Maintain notice registers for claims, extensions, variations and payment events
  • Run kick-off meetings against obligations, deliverables and interface milestones
  • Use RACI matrices to assign contract management accountabilities
  • Monitor KPIs, service levels, reporting cadence and corrective actions
  • Preserve contemporaneous records suitable for audit, negotiation and disputes

Participants can assess change events, preserve entitlement and prepare evidence-based claim positions.

  • Classify variations, change orders, constructive changes and scope creep
  • Apply FIDIC notice requirements, time bars and engineer determinations
  • Price changes using contract rates, quotations, dayworks and open-book evidence
  • Build delay analysis from critical paths, disruption records and causation
  • Prepare claim narratives linking entitlement, facts, quantum and requested relief
  • Negotiate change settlements while protecting rights and future performance

Participants can manage contractual responsibilities arising from HSSE, environmental and operational risk events.

  • Create contract risk registers with owners, treatments and residual ratings
  • Allocate HSSE duties between owner, contractor, operator and subcontractors
  • Embed ISO 45001 responsibilities, incident reporting and corrective action requirements
  • Address environmental permits, decommissioning security and pollution liability
  • Plan force majeure responses for outages, sanctions and supply disruption
  • Manage insurance clauses, deductibles, waivers of subrogation and indemnities

Participants can select dispute pathways and manage termination or close-out while preserving contractual rights.

  • Compare negotiation, expert determination, adjudication, arbitration and litigation routes
  • Apply ICC Arbitration Rules to clause drafting and dispute preparation
  • Draft escalation ladders, senior negotiation windows and mediation provisions
  • Assess governing-law implications for damages, termination and enforceability
  • Prepare termination notices, cure periods and step-in right documentation
  • Plan close-out records, final accounts, releases and surviving obligations

Participants can improve supplier performance controls and plan contract management actions for the next 90 days.

  • Measure supplier performance through scorecards, KPIs, audits and review meetings
  • Use earned value data to connect cost, schedule and contract status
  • Conduct compliance audits against obligations, approvals, records and delegated authorities
  • Develop renegotiation positions from spend, risk, performance and market evidence
  • Manage contract renewals, extensions, expiry notices and transition plans
  • Produce a 90-day energy contract management application plan

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Energy contract risk allocation matrix
  2. Contract administration plan template
  3. Notice and claims register
  4. Variation pricing and entitlement checklist
  5. Supplier performance scorecard
  6. 90-day contract management action plan

Who should attend

  • Contract Managers — need to administer energy agreements and protect contractual rights
  • Project Managers — need to connect delivery controls with contractual obligations
  • Commercial Managers — need to assess pricing, risk, changes and supplier performance
  • Procurement Managers — need to source and award energy contracts with clear risk positions
  • Operations Managers — need to manage O&M contractors, outages and service-level commitments
  • Engineers and Technical Leads — need to translate technical requirements into enforceable contract terms

Skills and tools covered

Energy contract interpretationRisk allocationContract administrationClaims managementCommercial negotiationSupplier performance management

Tools and standards

FIDIC Conditions of Contract, AIPN Model Form International Operating Agreement, ICC Arbitration Rules, ISO 45001

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to explain contract structures and governing principles, followed by clause reviews, energy-sector cases and facilitated group analysis. Participants assess risk positions in PPAs, EPC contracts, JOAs and operating agreements; prepare notices and change records; and negotiate selected commercial issues through structured simulations. Practical templates are reviewed throughout, including risk registers, administration plans, payment controls and close-out checklists. Each participant completes an application plan for improving controls on current or forthcoming contracts.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience working with projects, procurement, operations, engineering, commercial management or supplier relationships in an energy-related setting. They should be comfortable reading business documents and basic contract clauses, including scope, price, dates and responsibilities. Familiarity with a current or past energy project is useful, but direct legal training is not required. The course does not assume prior knowledge of FIDIC, AIPN model forms, arbitration rules or power purchase agreements. It is not intended as legal advice or as a substitute for jurisdiction-specific legal counsel.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand basic project, procurement, operations or commercial terminology and have some exposure to business agreements. Legal qualifications and previous specialist energy contract training are not required.

Bring a current non-confidential contract issue, project scenario or supplier relationship that you want to examine. You may also bring redacted clauses or templates, subject to your employer's confidentiality requirements.

The course is designed for contract, commercial, procurement, project, operations and technical professionals working with energy assets or suppliers. It is suitable for those managing contracts after award as well as staff who contribute to tendering and contract formation.

The course concentrates on agreements and risks specific to energy projects and operations, including PPAs, JOAs, EPC contracts, fuel supply, grid interfaces and HSSE responsibilities. General contract principles are taught through these energy-sector applications.

Participants use reusable registers, checklists and decision models for active or planned contracts. The course shows how to connect clauses with notices, payment controls, performance reporting, change management and close-out activities.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with about 6.5 contact hours daily. The five days progress from contract structures and risk allocation through administration, claims, operational risk, disputes and performance improvement.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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