Back to School of Energy – Pre-School International Energy Day Finalized

There are only three more days to take advantage of the Early Bird Rate for RBN’s next School of Energy, and there are three more reasons to attend!  We have finalized the agenda for the first day we are calling Pre-School International Energy Day, with three additional experts joining us to discuss international destination markets for U.S. crude oil, gas, and NGLs, including the regulatory issues involved and the latest developments concerning Federal approval of full-blown crude oil exports.  The full three day School of Energy is scheduled for September 28, 29 and 30.  As we’ve said many times before, this is nothing like other conferences! The course work is hands-on. In each module we’ll drill down on an important aspect of the market, explain how it works, download a spreadsheet model and learn how to use it.   Be forewarned - today’s blog is a commercial for our upcoming Houston conference.

RBN’s record setting School of Energy is held only twice each year, and unlike most industry conferences is designed around a hands-on classroom format with modules covering each of the drill-bit hydrocarbons – natural gas, crude oil and NGLs.  In each module we cover the basics, our view of today’s major market developments, our projection of future supply/demand and the implications for infrastructure. Then we pull out Excel models that you can use to make real commercial decisions.  You’ll walk out the door with those models and the know-how to use them.

The course content follows the same themes we write about each day in the blog – that the relationships between energy commodities are changing – tying together the markets for oil, gas and NGLs in ways not seen before.  What happens in gas impacts NGLs, which influences crude oil, which loops back to the natural gas market.   That has never been truer than right now, with crude oil prices getting crushed (down nearly 40% since mid-May) and natural gas prices hanging in there (down only about 10% in the same timeframe).  For that reason there are many producers looking a lot more favorably toward dry gas than they have in the past few years – particularly in the Utica.  That will negatively impact NGLs in Appalachia and crude/NGLs elsewhere – with the obvious implications for production volumes. This is just one of the many topics that are front-and-center in today’s market that we’ll be covering throughout the conference.

See the School of Energy brochure for detailed course content and syllabus.

But even as domestic production growth slows, exports are still the #1 destination market for most of the increased volumes that have come on over the past few years. As you’ve probably followed in the RBN blog, the U.S. has been exporting condensates for over a year. Crude oil exchanges with Mexico have just been ok’ed.  Propane exports are at an all-time high. And LNG exports from the Gulf Coast are just around the corner. Recognizing the importance of these developments, we are placing a special emphasis on exports at our upcoming September School of Energy.

To that end we are dedicating the first day of the conference, Monday, September 28 to our Pre-School International Energy Day, an entire day of the conference focused on U.S. hydrocarbon exports, where they will go and what they will do to global markets when they get there.  When we first opened the conference, we announced that one of the world’s foremost experts in international energy markets, Dr. Fereidun Fesharaki would be joining us. Dr. Fesharaki is the Founder and Chairman of FACTS Global Energy, a leading consulting group focusing on the oil and gas markets east of Suez, in Europe, and the U.S. 

We have now finalized the participation of three additional experts in international energy markets.

The first is Frank Verrastro, Senior Vice President at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC.  He holds the prestigious James R. Schlesinger Chair for Energy & Geopolitics.  Frank has worked both inside government as deputy assistant secretary for international energy resources among other positions, and in executive positions in the industry (Tosco, Pennzoil) -- so he knows how to translate Washingtonian into Houstonian. Frank will help us understand what is really happening in the policy and political arenas.

We are also honored to have join us  two highly experienced professionals who know a great deal, first hand, about condensate and crude oil export deals: Jacob (Jake) Dweck and Shelley Wong, both with the Sutherland law firm's offices in Washington and Houston. They represented Enterprise in the original condensate export arrangements through the Bureau of Industry & Security (BIS) and led the way in developing the criteria used today for the re-export of Canadian crude oil. They will speak on oil export policy and regulatory issues, focusing on  condensate, Canadian re-exports, and Mexican swaps as well as prospects for further liberalization of even the lifting of the ban.

Conference Details

RBN’s School of Energy is scheduled for September 28 – 30, 2015 at The Houstonian, 111 North Post Oak Lane Houston, Texas.  The early bird rate that saves you 13.3% will be in effect until close of business Friday, August 28th, so register now to get the discount by going to the Events tab on the RBN website.  If you have any questions or need to use another payment method, please email Paige via [email protected] or call 281-377-6017.

Format is classroom style – see picture below. You will need a laptop computer, wireless internet capable, with Microsoft Office 2007 or higher.   

You will have access to both the PowerPoint slides (pdf format) and spreadsheet models used in the coursework in real-time.  At the end of the conference you will walk away with all of these materials annotated with your own notes taken during the course.