Global Energy Markets and Pricing Training Course

Duration 10 days 16 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Energy Procurement Manager, Energy Trader or Analyst and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-ETR-008

Before you join: Participants should understand basic commercial finance, including revenue, cost, margin and cash-flow concepts, and should be comfortable reading tables and simple charts.

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 prices determine fuel procurement costs, power-generation margins, renewable project revenues and the value of long-term supply agreements. Yet price formation differs sharply between crude oil, refined products, natural gas, LNG, coal, electricity, renewable certificates and carbon allowances. Professionals need to interpret benchmark prices, market rules, physical constraints and financial instruments before they can explain price movements or make sound commercial decisions.

This course examines how global energy markets function and how energy prices are formed, quoted, traded and managed. Participants work with physical market flows, benchmark contracts, forward curves, basis differentials, spark spreads, clean dark spreads, power market dispatch and carbon pricing. They assess supply-demand balances, weather exposure, storage economics, transport constraints, policy effects and renewable generation variability. The course also covers hedging with futures, swaps and options; contract pricing clauses; counterparty credit; mark-to-market valuation; and risk reporting.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with energy-market cases, price-data interpretation, group analysis, trading and hedging simulations, and application planning. Participants progressively develop an energy market and pricing pack for a selected commodity, region or business exposure. The final output is a documented market view, price forecast range, hedge recommendation, pricing rationale and risk-control plan that can be adapted for procurement, trading, investment, finance or strategy work.

The course is suited to professionals who already work with energy costs, contracts, assets, investments or policy and need a practical commercial understanding of global market pricing.

What you will be able to do

  • Interpret physical energy flows, benchmark prices and market participant incentives
  • Build supply-demand balances for oil, gas, LNG, coal and electricity markets
  • Analyse forward curves, basis differentials and spread relationships using market data
  • Calculate spark spreads, clean dark spreads and renewable capture-price metrics
  • Evaluate futures, swaps and options for defined energy price exposures
  • Draft contract pricing structures using indexation, escalation and settlement clauses
  • Assess carbon-cost, renewable-certificate and policy effects on energy economics
  • Produce an energy market view, hedge recommendation and risk-control plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence explaining energy price movements to senior stakeholders
  • Practical capability to challenge supplier indexes and pricing assumptions
  • Stronger judgement when selecting hedges for fuel and power exposures
  • Reusable methods for testing renewable revenue and capture-price forecasts
  • A documented market analysis suitable for current work responsibilities

For your organisation

  • Better scrutiny of energy procurement prices, supplier proposals and contract clauses
  • More disciplined hedge decisions linked to identifiable physical exposures
  • Clearer assessment of fuel, power and carbon margin risks
  • Improved renewable project revenue assumptions and investment-case governance
  • Consistent market reporting for finance, procurement, trading and leadership teams

Course modules

16 modules over 10 days

Participants can explain how physical energy flows, commercial contracts and financial markets interact.

  • Physical energy chains from production, transport, storage and end use
  • Market participants, contract roles, credit positions and risk-transfer incentives
  • Wholesale, balancing, capacity and retail market functions compared
  • Energy commodity units: barrels, tonnes, MMBtu, therms and megawatt-hours
  • Convert energy quantities using heat rates, calorific values and density
  • Map cash, title and delivery flows in a physical trade

Participants can identify the drivers and benchmark references behind quoted energy prices.

  • Spot, prompt and forward prices distinguished by delivery timing
  • Benchmark assessment methodologies for traded physical energy commodities
  • Brent, WTI and Dubai crude benchmark pricing conventions
  • Henry Hub, TTF and JKM gas price references
  • Price quotations, currency conventions and unit-normalisation procedures
  • Assess liquidity, transparency and deliverability of benchmark prices

Participants can analyse crude oil and product price relationships from supply to refinery output.

  • OPEC+ production policy and spare-capacity implications for crude prices
  • Crude quality differentials: API gravity, sulphur content and refinery yield
  • Refinery configuration, crack spreads and product-value optimisation
  • Regional product benchmarks for gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and fuel oil
  • Inventory data, freight costs and arbitrage economics interpreted
  • Build a crude-to-products margin view from benchmark quotations

Participants can assess gas and LNG pricing drivers, trade routes and contractual exposure.

  • Gas supply sources: associated gas, dry gas and biomethane
  • Pipeline capacity, storage withdrawals and seasonal demand patterns
  • Hub pricing versus oil-indexed gas contract price mechanisms
  • LNG liquefaction, shipping, regasification and destination flexibility economics
  • JKM-TTF spreads, freight rates and cargo diversion decisions
  • Calculate gas price conversions between MMBtu, therms and megawatt-hours

Participants can evaluate coal pricing and fuel-switching effects on energy demand.

  • Thermal coal grades, calorific values and quality-adjusted price comparisons
  • Newcastle, Richards Bay and European coal benchmark conventions
  • Dry bulk freight indices and delivered-fuel cost calculations
  • Fuel switching between coal, gas, oil and electricity
  • Carbon costs incorporated into coal-fired generation economics
  • Assess substitution limits created by plant design and regulation

Participants can explain how power-market rules and system conditions shape electricity prices.

  • Merit-order dispatch and marginal-price setting in wholesale markets
  • Day-ahead, intraday, balancing and capacity market settlement arrangements
  • Load profiles, peak demand and residual-demand price effects
  • Transmission constraints, congestion rents and locational price differences
  • Negative pricing, curtailment and scarcity-price market conditions
  • Calculate generator revenue from output profiles and hourly prices

Participants can assess renewable revenue exposure under variable output and merchant pricing.

  • Wind and solar resource profiles translated into hourly generation
  • Capture price calculated against baseload market-price benchmarks
  • Cannibalisation effects from correlated renewable generation and price declines
  • Curtailment risk, grid constraints and compensation arrangements assessed
  • Power purchase agreement structures: fixed, indexed and contract-for-difference
  • Renewable energy certificates, guarantees of origin and attribute pricing

Participants can incorporate carbon pricing and transition policy into energy market analysis.

  • Cap-and-trade mechanics, allowance allocation and compliance obligations
  • EU ETS allowance pricing drivers and market participants
  • Carbon intensity calculations for fuels, generation and industrial processes
  • Clean spark spreads and clean dark spreads calculated
  • Carbon border adjustment mechanisms and embedded-emissions cost exposure
  • Policy scenarios tested against fuel demand and investment decisions

Participants can build a structured supply-demand balance and identify price-sensitive variables.

  • Balance-sheet structure: production, imports, exports, demand and stocks
  • Top-down demand forecasting using economic activity and weather variables
  • Bottom-up demand estimates from sector loads and consumption drivers
  • Production forecasts using capacity, utilisation, decline and outage assumptions
  • Inventory changes reconciled through implied-demand balance calculations
  • Sensitivity tables identify balance variables with highest price influence

Participants can interpret forward curves and spread signals for commercial decisions.

  • Contango and backwardation linked to storage, scarcity and financing
  • Calendar spreads interpreted through seasonal demand and supply expectations
  • Location basis risk measured between physical delivery points
  • Quality differentials assessed against substitution and processing economics
  • Intercommodity spreads reveal fuel-switching and generation-margin signals
  • Construct a forward-curve commentary using observable market drivers

Participants can develop auditable price ranges using market fundamentals and scenarios.

  • Forecast purpose defined for budgeting, valuation, procurement or hedging
  • Base-case assumptions documented with data sources and ownership
  • Scenario analysis covers supply shocks, weather and policy changes
  • Price ranges derived from balance outcomes and market elasticities
  • Leading indicators selected from inventories, flows, outages and positioning
  • Forecast governance includes refresh dates, triggers and exception reporting

Participants can select and evaluate standard derivatives for defined energy price risks.

  • Exchange-traded futures contract specifications, margining and daily settlement
  • Over-the-counter swaps, confirmations and collateral arrangements explained
  • Call, put and collar structures matched to procurement exposures
  • Hedge ratios calculated from volume, timing and benchmark alignment
  • Basis risk analysed between physical exposure and financial instrument
  • Option premiums, strike prices and payoff profiles compared

Participants can formulate a hedge strategy with limits, controls and performance measures.

  • Physical exposure register segmented by commodity, location and time
  • Hedging objectives distinguished from price speculation and trading mandates
  • Layered hedging schedules matched to forecast confidence and volume certainty
  • Value-at-risk concepts used for market-risk limit setting
  • Mark-to-market reporting separates realised and unrealised hedge outcomes
  • Hedge effectiveness reviewed against policy, exposure and benchmark changes

Participants can assess contract pricing clauses and identify material commercial risks.

  • Indexation formulas combine benchmark prices, lags and adjustment factors
  • Take-or-pay, volume tolerance and nomination clauses assessed
  • Price review clauses allocate structural market-change risks
  • Force majeure, curtailment and change-in-law provisions compared
  • Invoice validation checks quantities, indexes, currencies and timing
  • Credit support, guarantees and collateral terms linked to exposure

Participants can organise market data and report pricing exposure for decision makers.

  • Market data hierarchy distinguishes exchange, broker and assessed prices
  • Data quality checks test timestamps, units, outliers and missing values
  • Mark-to-market valuation uses current curves and contractual volumes
  • Budget variance separates price, volume, foreign-exchange and timing effects
  • Procurement performance measured against agreed benchmark and index methodology
  • Risk dashboards present exposures, hedges, limits and scenario outcomes

Participants can build, review and present a complete energy market view, pricing recommendation and hedge plan.

  • Define commodity exposure, decision context, scope and material assumptions
  • Build supply-demand balance with documented sources and forecast drivers
  • Interpret benchmarks, forward curves, basis differentials and relevant spreads
  • Quantify price scenarios, financial exposure and renewable revenue impacts
  • Recommend contract pricing, hedge instruments and governance controls
  • Present market rationale, decision options and implementation priorities

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

What you take back to work

  1. Energy market mapping template
  2. Supply-demand balance model
  3. Forward-curve and spread analysis worksheet
  4. Energy price scenario template
  5. Hedging strategy and risk register
  6. Contract pricing clause checklist

Who should attend

  • Energy Procurement Manager — needs defensible fuel and electricity buying decisions
  • Energy Trader or Analyst — needs stronger physical and financial market judgement
  • Renewable Energy Developer — needs credible revenue and capture-price assumptions
  • Corporate Treasury Manager — manages commodity-price exposure and hedge controls
  • Power Generation Manager — assesses dispatch margins, fuel costs and market revenues
  • Investment or Project Finance Analyst — evaluates market assumptions in energy assets

Skills and tools covered

Energy price analysisForward curve interpretationCommodity hedgingPower market economicsContract pricingCarbon market analysis

Tools and standards

ICE Futures Europe, CME Group, EEX, GHG Protocol

How the course runs

Training methodology

Instructor briefings introduce market structures, pricing mechanics and calculation methods before participants apply them to current energy-market cases. Group work examines supply-demand data, forward curves, power dispatch, contracts and hedge choices. Simulations test decisions under changing weather, outages, policy announcements and price shocks. Spreadsheet-based calculations build from simple unit conversions to spread analysis and hedge evaluation. Participants use structured application planning throughout, then refine their own market and pricing pack through peer review and instructor feedback.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand basic commercial finance, including revenue, cost, margin and cash-flow concepts, and should be comfortable reading tables and simple charts. Some exposure to energy procurement, utility operations, commodity trading, project development, investment analysis or policy is useful. Participants should be able to use spreadsheet formulas for arithmetic and percentages. Prior trading experience, advanced statistics, programming, derivatives valuation or an economics degree is not required. The course explains the market terminology and calculations needed for the pricing work.

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

Participants need basic commercial numeracy and familiarity with costs, margins or cash flows. Experience in energy, procurement, finance or project work is useful, but prior commodity trading knowledge is not required.

Bring a laptop with spreadsheet software and, where permitted, non-confidential examples of energy bills, contracts, forecasts or exposures. Course materials provide the market data and calculation structures used during class.

It suits energy procurement, trading, treasury, generation, renewable development, investment and finance professionals. It is designed for people who need to make, review or explain decisions affected by energy prices.

This course concentrates on market mechanics, price formation, trading instruments, procurement pricing and risk management across energy commodities. Project finance courses focus more heavily on debt structures, project models and financing documentation.

Participants can use the balance, curve, scenario and hedge structures to review current procurement decisions, budget assumptions or asset revenues. The capstone pack is designed for adaptation to a live commodity, geography or commercial exposure.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The first part builds market and pricing foundations; later modules deepen forecasting, derivatives, contracts and governance before the final capstone presentation.

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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