Oil and Gas Industry Fundamentals Training Course

Duration 10 days 18 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Foundation to Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends New oil and gas professionals, Commercial and business development staff 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-OG-001

Before you join: Participants should be comfortable reading business documents, using basic percentages and interpreting simple tables or 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

Oil and gas decisions depend on a connected understanding of reservoirs, wells, processing facilities, transport systems, markets, contracts, regulation and risk. Professionals entering the sector often understand their own function but struggle to see how a subsurface estimate affects production planning, export routes, fiscal returns, safety controls and investment decisions. This course provides the working industry context needed to interpret technical and commercial discussions with greater confidence.

Participants follow hydrocarbons from exploration through production, processing, transportation, refining, marketing and final sale. They examine petroleum systems, reserves, drilling, completions, production operations, LNG, pipelines, refining, commodity pricing, trading, project economics and host-government fiscal systems. The course also addresses process safety, environmental management, emissions, regulation, joint ventures, data systems and energy-transition pressures. Participants learn to read the core measures and documents used by operators, service companies, regulators, investors and commercial teams.

The course is instructor-led over 10 days, delivered in the classroom or live online. Short technical briefings are combined with sector cases, team analysis, decision simulations and guided application to a selected asset or value-chain case. From the first week, participants assemble an asset briefing using production, market, cost, fiscal, risk and emissions information. They leave with a completed asset case, supporting models and reusable checklists, plus a certificate of completion.

The programme suits technical, commercial, financial, regulatory and support professionals who need a structured grounding in the oil and gas business without committing to a specialist engineering course.

What you will be able to do

  • Map an integrated oil and gas value chain from prospect to final customer
  • Interpret petroleum system, reservoir, drilling and production terminology used in asset decisions
  • Assess gas processing, LNG, pipeline, terminal and refining routes for hydrocarbons
  • Calculate basic project economics using cash flow, NPV, IRR and sensitivity analysis
  • Compare fiscal regimes, petroleum contracts and commodity sales arrangements
  • Apply HAZID, bow-tie analysis and permit-to-work principles to operational risks
  • Evaluate carbon, methane, environmental and regulatory exposures affecting asset value
  • Build and present an integrated oil and gas asset case with evidence-based recommendations

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Read oil and gas asset discussions with greater technical and commercial confidence
  • Interpret reserves, production, pricing and cost data used in investment decisions
  • Contribute more effectively to cross-functional asset, project and transaction teams
  • Recognise safety, regulatory and emissions issues before they affect decisions
  • Present a credible asset case to technical and non-technical stakeholders

For your organisation

  • Improves communication between technical, commercial, finance and regulatory functions
  • Strengthens early identification of asset value drivers and critical uncertainties
  • Supports better review of capital proposals, acquisitions and petroleum agreements
  • Reduces misunderstandings around production, logistics, pricing and fiscal assumptions
  • Builds staff awareness of process safety, emissions and compliance obligations

Course modules

18 modules over 10 days

Participants can explain how technical, commercial and public stakeholders interact across the oil and gas value chain.

  • Upstream, midstream and downstream roles within an integrated hydrocarbon value chain
  • National oil companies, IOCs and independents: mandates and operating models
  • Concession, production-sharing and service contracts compared through risk allocation
  • Barrels, tonnes, MMBtu and BOE conversion conventions for reporting
  • Map a chosen asset from reservoir through customer delivery
  • Revenue, fiscal receipts and energy security expectations of host governments

Participants can describe how petroleum prospects are identified, evaluated and matured for drilling decisions.

  • Petroleum system elements: source, reservoir, seal, trap and timing
  • Seismic reflection profiles interpreted for structural and stratigraphic prospects
  • Gravity, magnetic and geochemical surveys used during early screening
  • Prospect risking with chance-of-success factors and volumetric uncertainty
  • Exploration well objectives, logging programmes and coring decisions
  • Update the asset briefing with prospect maturity and key subsurface risks

Participants can distinguish reservoir properties, hydrocarbon volumes and PRMS resource classifications.

  • Porosity, permeability, saturation and pressure as reservoir performance drivers
  • PVT analysis distinguishes oil, gas, condensate and water behaviour
  • Material balance and decline-curve analysis estimate recoverable volumes
  • OOIP, GIIP, recovery factor and reserves classification distinguished
  • PRMS categories: prospective resources, contingent resources and reserves
  • Record reservoir assumptions, volume ranges and recovery mechanisms

Participants can explain the drilling and completion sequence, including major well barriers and cost drivers.

  • Well planning sequence from target definition to abandonment programme
  • Rotary drilling systems: rig, drillstring, bit, mud and BOP
  • Casing design, cementing barriers and well-control verification principles
  • Kick indicators, shut-in actions and basic well-control terminology
  • Completion types: open hole, cased hole, perforated and intelligent wells
  • Add drilling milestones, barriers and cost drivers to asset briefing

Participants can relate reservoir performance and well operations to surface processing and production availability.

  • Primary, secondary and enhanced recovery mechanisms compared by reservoir conditions
  • Artificial lift selection: ESP, gas lift, rod pump and plunger lift
  • Well testing, production allocation and decline surveillance workflows
  • Surface facilities separate oil, gas, water and solids streams
  • Produced-water treatment, reinjection and disposal constraints assessed
  • Production uptime, deferment and integrity indicators entered into asset briefing

Participants can explain gas treatment, LNG value chains and the commercial options for gas monetisation.

  • Gas composition, heating value and impurities determine treatment requirements
  • Amine sweetening, dehydration and NGL recovery process purposes
  • LNG liquefaction, storage, shipping and regasification chain explained
  • Pipeline gas specifications and custody-transfer measurement principles
  • Flare, vent and methane sources identified within gas operations
  • Compare domestic gas, LNG and pipeline export commercial routes

Participants can identify the logistics, quality and custody-transfer controls that affect hydrocarbon movement.

  • Gathering systems, trunklines, terminals and storage functions distinguished
  • Pipeline hydraulics, batching and linefill affect throughput planning
  • Crude grades, blending and quality specifications affect marketability
  • Tank farm operations, metering and loss-control points reviewed
  • Marine loading, bills of lading and demurrage risks explained
  • Map custody-transfer points and logistics dependencies for selected asset

Participants can explain how crude oil is converted into products and sold into end markets.

  • Atmospheric and vacuum distillation separate crude into refinery fractions
  • Cracking, reforming and hydrotreating convert fractions into saleable products
  • Refinery yields, product specifications and crude slate economics
  • Marketing channels: wholesale, retail, aviation, marine and industrial customers
  • Petrochemical feedstocks link naphtha, ethane and LPG markets
  • Trace selected barrels from crude receipt to final product market

Participants can interpret the market factors and benchmark structures that determine crude oil prices.

  • Global supply balances connect production, inventories, demand and prices
  • Brent, WTI and Dubai benchmarks compared with regional differentials
  • Forward curves, contango and backwardation inform commercial decisions
  • Seasonality, refinery maintenance and geopolitics shape short-term pricing
  • Use supply-demand evidence to write a market outlook for asset
  • Distinguish physical cargo pricing from financial benchmark settlement

Participants can explain the commercial terms, trade documents and price-risk instruments used in hydrocarbon sales.

  • Crude sales agreements define quality, quantity, delivery and pricing
  • Incoterms 2020 allocate delivery, cost and risk responsibilities
  • Spot, term and long-term LNG contracts compared
  • Letters of credit, provisional invoices and documentary compliance explained
  • Futures, swaps and options distinguish hedging from speculation
  • Draft commercial assumptions and price exposure notes for asset briefing

Participants can construct and interpret a basic oil and gas cash-flow model under alternative fiscal terms.

  • CAPEX, OPEX, abandonment and tariff costs structured in cash-flow models
  • NPV, IRR, payback and break-even metrics calculated and interpreted
  • Royalties, production sharing, corporate tax and state participation compared
  • Working interest, net revenue interest and entitlement barrels distinguished
  • Price, volume and cost sensitivities ranked using tornado charts
  • Build a base-case economics sheet for selected asset

Participants can explain how oil and gas projects progress from concept selection through execution and start-up.

  • Stage-gate governance moves opportunities from concept select to operations
  • FEL 1, FEL 2 and FEL 3 decision maturity compared
  • WBS, critical path and milestone schedules control project delivery
  • Cost estimating classes and contingency reflect definition maturity
  • Contracting strategies: EPC, EPCM, alliance and reimbursable structures
  • Prepare decision-gate evidence and schedule assumptions for asset briefing

Participants can identify major accident hazards and describe the controls used to prevent loss-of-containment events.

  • Hazard identification uses HAZID, HAZOP and bow-tie analysis
  • Process safety barriers prevent loss-of-containment major accident events
  • Permit-to-work, isolation and simultaneous operations controls applied
  • IOGP Life-Saving Rules reinforce critical personal safety behaviours
  • Emergency response plans address blowouts, fires, spills and evacuations
  • Identify top operational hazards and barrier actions for selected asset

Participants can assess environmental obligations and emissions sources associated with oil and gas assets.

  • Environmental impact assessment defines baselines, receptors, impacts and mitigation
  • Oil-spill preparedness covers tiered response, containment and recovery
  • GHG Protocol scopes classify operational and value-chain emissions
  • Methane measurement, reporting and verification support reduction programmes
  • Decommissioning liabilities cover plugging, removal, remediation and monitoring
  • Set environmental commitments, metrics and controls within asset briefing

Participants can identify the legal, governance and compliance requirements affecting petroleum operations and partnerships.

  • Petroleum laws grant licences, approvals, reporting duties and sanctions
  • Regulator, ministry, national oil company and operator roles distinguished
  • Joint operating agreements govern voting, costs and default provisions
  • Anti-bribery controls address agents, gifts, facilitation payments and conflicts
  • Sanctions screening and trade controls affect counterparties and cargoes
  • Create a compliance obligations register for selected asset

Participants can identify production data systems, governance controls and cyber risks affecting operational decisions.

  • SCADA, DCS and historians support production monitoring and control
  • Production data workflows reconcile well tests, allocations and sales volumes
  • Master data, data ownership and audit trails support reporting
  • OT cybersecurity separates control networks from corporate IT networks
  • Predictive maintenance uses condition data, failure modes and work orders
  • Define decision-relevant KPIs and data sources for asset briefing

Participants can assess how carbon, policy and technology assumptions affect oil and gas asset resilience.

  • Energy-transition scenarios test long-term demand, policy and technology assumptions
  • Carbon pricing, border measures and disclosure requirements affect asset value
  • CCUS chain includes capture, transport, storage and monitoring
  • Hydrogen value chains distinguish production routes and end-use demand
  • Portfolio screening compares emissions intensity, resilience and capital requirements
  • Revise asset outlook using transition assumptions and carbon exposure

Participants can build, review and present a complete oil and gas asset case with a justified decision recommendation.

  • Asset dossier integrates subsurface, facilities, market, commercial and HSE evidence
  • Production profile, logistics route and product specification tested for consistency
  • Base-case economics incorporates fiscal terms, costs, volumes and price assumptions
  • Risk register ranks technical, commercial, safety, regulatory and carbon exposures
  • Decision recommendation states value drivers, uncertainties, mitigations and next actions
  • Present the asset case and defend assumptions under stakeholder review

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

What you take back to work

  1. Integrated oil and gas asset briefing template
  2. Petroleum value-chain mapping model
  3. Project economics cash-flow worksheet
  4. Asset risk and barrier register
  5. Compliance obligations checklist
  6. Market and carbon exposure analysis

Who should attend

  • New oil and gas professionals — builds a practical foundation across the full business chain
  • Commercial and business development staff — connects market opportunities with asset economics and contracts
  • Finance and investment analysts — improves interpretation of reserves, production profiles and fiscal returns
  • Government and regulator personnel — clarifies operator obligations, approvals and petroleum revenue structures
  • Supply chain and project professionals — explains how facilities, logistics and contracts affect delivery
  • Banking and advisory professionals — supports informed review of petroleum assets and transactions

Skills and tools covered

Oilfield value chainsPetroleum economicsProduction operationsCommodity marketsProcess safetyAsset case development

Tools and standards

Petroleum Resources Management System (PRMS), Incoterms 2020, GHG Protocol, Bow-tie analysis

How the course runs

Training methodology

The instructor uses short briefings to establish core concepts, followed by oilfield, LNG, pipeline, refinery and trading cases. Participants work in groups to interpret production data, compare commercial routes, calculate simple economics and assess operational risks. Simulations examine project approvals, commodity price exposure and incident barriers. Throughout the course, participants develop an asset briefing for a selected case, receiving instructor feedback before presenting their final recommendation. Delivery is adapted for classroom or live online cohorts.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be comfortable reading business documents, using basic percentages and interpreting simple tables or charts. Some exposure to energy, infrastructure, engineering, finance, government policy or commercial operations is useful but not essential. The course assumes no prior oil and gas employment and does not require an engineering degree, geology background, advanced mathematics, reservoir simulation skills or prior knowledge of petroleum contracts. Participants should bring a laptop for digital course materials and basic spreadsheet work. Curiosity about how energy assets generate value is the main requirement.

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

No previous oil and gas experience is required. Participants need basic business numeracy and comfort reading charts, tables and business documents; the course explains technical terms before applying them.

Bring a laptop for digital materials, spreadsheet work and the asset-case materials. A calculator is useful, but advanced software, engineering drawings and specialist technical tools are not required.

It is designed for professionals who work with, regulate, finance, supply or support oil and gas activities. It is particularly useful for staff moving into the sector or taking on cross-functional responsibilities.

This programme connects technical operations with markets, contracts, economics, safety, regulation and emissions. It does not train participants to design wells, model reservoirs or operate refinery equipment at specialist level.

Participants use an asset briefing structure that can be adapted to a field, LNG project, pipeline, refinery or commercial opportunity. The templates support clearer questions, better review of assumptions and more informed discussions with specialists.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with about 6.5 contact hours. The first week establishes the value chain and technical fundamentals, while the second week develops economics, risk, governance, emissions and the final asset case.

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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