Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: INTERNATIONAL ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

Department: Management

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 1.5

Description: This course examines how energy companies construct portfolios of international assets. The first half of the course focuses on the lifecycle of international energy projects, from the point at which a company decides it wishes to acquire an international project to the point at which the company divests that interest. These initial classes will discuss the business development processes companies employ to identify, analyze and acquire overseas assets; the typical commercial structures and contracts used to acquire rights and obligations in different types of energy projects; how companies build and manage relationships with host governments, including cultural difference, negotiation and corruption; issues related to joint ventures and joint operations with other companies; threats to international project cash flow such as renegotiation, expropriation and force majeure; and how companies structure exits and divestments from international energy projects. The last half of the course examines in detail a few specific projects that Professor Gaille has been involved in – including oil and gas exploration in Africa and a 2 billion cubic feet per day natural gas pipeline project in the Middle East. The course concludes with students being divided into teams or “companies” and then engaging in a dynamic bid round and petroleum exploration exercise, whereby students compete with one another to acquire acreage and then create (or destroy) net present value.