The Oxford Princeton Programme

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MARCH-ing to a Global Beat
International Oil Trading and Pricing
The Synergies of Refining, Trading and Supply
On The Road Again
SPE Indian Oil & Gas Technical Conference
IPPSA 14th Annual Conference
GASTECH 2008
OPIS Ethanol & Biodiesel Supply Summit
4th Annual Getenergy
Spotlight Series: Carlos Blanco
Daily Industry Briefs
Last Call
Global Course Offerings
From the Editor
Relax for Rewards

As you open this newsletter, I find myself in Mumbai at the 2008 SPE Indian Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition running 4-6 March. Next week, three of my colleagues, Lesley Rigg (Director, Sales) and Steve Moralee (Business Development Manager) out of Oxford, along with Crystal Yeo (Regional Account Manager) out of Singapore, will be representing The Oxford Princeton Programme at GASTECH 2008 in Bangkok whilst Jane Goddard (Senior Account Manager) does the same at the Independent Power Producers Society of Alberta Conference in Banff.

That same week, Clara Lippert Glenn, President and CEO, will be en route to China as part of the Stellar Women's Leadership Delegation on the heels of our having successfully completed our first instructor-led course in Beijing. The week after, Chris Maxwell (Sales Manager) and Kristi Ruskuski (Global Marketing Coordinator) will be in Washington, DC for the OPIS Ethanol & Biodiesel Supply Summit. The month concludes with Lesley and myself in London at the 4th Annual Getenergy Global Oil & Gas Education and Training Event.

A busy schedule indeed, but some insight as well into our commitment to providing world-class, world-wise energy education -- you got it -- worldwide.

And in case you didn't know, we have courses running this month in Oxford, Houston, Singapore, London, Calgary and Seattle with more coming to Prague, Washington DC, Stavanger, Cape Town, Guadalajara, New York, Johannesburg, Sydney and Düsseldorf.

Won't you join us soon?

Best regards,

Jobert E. Abueva
Global Marketing Director
jabueva@oxfordprinceton.com

Get first DIBS! Turn to our home page every weekday for the latest news that you can use. Here is a sample of our most recent stories.

Drilling costs 'ease' for Anadarko (29-Feb-2008)

Falling fuel demand hits BBA shares (29-Feb-2008)

Votes to cut tax breaks for oil majors (28-Feb-2008)

Brazil continues to refuse Argentina natural gas (28-Feb-2008)

Oil futures close at new record (27-Feb-2008)

Governor team to speak about North Slope pipeline (27-Feb-2008)

Plans to double oil refinery capacity (26-Feb-2008)

Cheniere seeks value-adding strategy (26-Feb-2008)

Geopolitical concerns drive up price of oil (25-Feb-2008)

Coconut-powered flight a "biofuels breakthrough" (25-Feb-2008)

Brown calls for carbon bank creation (22-Feb-2008)

Crude oil falls following record closing highs (22-Feb-2008)

Biofuels 'volatile but can diversify portfolios' (21-Feb-2008)

Rising cost of aviation fuel hits airline (21-Feb-2008)

International Oil Trading and Pricing (TR1) covers the basic principles of oil trading and the markets. Through a variety of case studies, delegates will learn the techniques involved in trading and how to address day-to-day problems. During the week, in a continuous theme case study, syndicate groups will manage their own company positions of production, refinery supply, product purchase/disposal and speculative trading, while reacting to new positions generated and changing market prices which simulate a live situation. Delegates will have the opportunity to trade both structured and live markets.

International Oil Trading and Pricing (TR1)
31 March - 4 April
Oxford, UK

Front to Back Office: Trading Controls and Best Practices
4 March 2008
Houston, TX

Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Technology
4 - 6 March 2008
Oxford, UK

Value-at-Risk: The Basics and Beyond
5 March 2008
Houston, TX

The Synergies of Refining, Trading and Supply
10 - 14 March 2008
Oxford, UK

Petrochemical Markets and Economics - The Impact of Feedstocks and Costs on Competitiveness and Business Strategy
10 - 12 March 2008
Singapore

Overview of the European Natural Gas Industry
10 March 2008
London, UK

Exploring European Natural Gas Markets
11 - 12 March 2008
London, UK

Derivatives Pricing, Hedging and Risk Management
11 - 12 March 2008
Calgary, AB

Overview of Physical Crude Oil Trading and Operations
25 - 26 March 2008
Calgary, AB

Fundamentals of Energy Futures
25 March 2008
Seattle,WA

Options I - Fundamentals of Energy Options
26 March 2008
Seattle,WA

Fundamentals of Petroleum Refining - A Non-Technical Introduction
27 - 28 March 2008
Calgary, AB

Energy Risk Management
27 - 28 March 2008
Seattle,WA

International Oil Trading and Pricing
31 March - 4 April 2008
Oxford, UK

The Synergies of Refining, Trading and Supply (TRR) is an advanced course designed to provide delegates with a thorough understanding of the latest business techniques and refining technologies available to the oil supply, trading and refining industries, and highlights how the activities of these sectors may be optimised and synergised to maximise overall profitability. Through a variety of case studies, delegates will learn the principles of refinery planning and economics along with basic principles and techniques involved in trading and supply. Delegates will focus on the synergies between these sectors to maximise corporate profitability. Short-term operations and medium-term planning using linear programming and long-term investment decisions are addressed.

Please take note of the number of training days listed in the schedule, as they vary by location.

The Synergies of Refining, Trading and Supply(TRR)
10 - 14 March
Oxford, UK

18-21 August
Singapore

8-12 December
London, UK

The Oxford Princeton Programme looks forward to meeting with several industry participants throughout 2008 as we embark on our trade show and conference schedule. Stay tuned for where we'll be next.

The Oxford Princeton Programme is pleased to be a first-time exhibitor at the 2008 SPE Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition to take place 4-6 March at the Bandra Kurla Complex, MMRDA Ground in Mumbai, India.

Jobert E. Abueva, Global Marketing Director, will be available to introduce delegates to the wide array of education and training avenues available in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors whether they are instructor-led, customised on sites or web-based.

Visit us in Stand G18 to receive copies of our course booklets as well as an Energy Bouncy Ball (while supplies last).

To set up an appointment with Jobert, please click here.

Ms. Jane Goddard, Senior Account Executive, based in Calgary, will represent The Oxford Princeton Programme at the forthcoming 14th Annual Conference and Trade Show of IPPSA (Independent Power Producers Society of Alberta) to be held 9-11 March 2008 at The Fairmont Banff Springs.

If you are attending and would like to meet with Ms. Goddard to learn more about our wide array of instructor-led, customized on-site and web-based training avenues in energy, commodities and derivatives, please click here.

The Oxford Princeton Programme is pleased to be a returning exhibitor at GASTECH 2008 to be held 10-13 March 2008 at the Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre - Thailand.

Come meet with our representatives who will be on hand to share the various education and training avenues available in Natural Gas, LNG, LPG and beyond:

Ms. Lesley Rigg - Director, Sales - Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and South America
Mrs. Crystal Yeo - Regional Account Manager, Asia Pacific
Mr. Steve Moralee - Business Development Manager

Come visit us at Stand Number P5 to receive one of our famous "Energy Bouncy Balls" and to try your luck at winning our limited-edition iPod Shuffle.

To set up a meeting in advance, please click here.

The Oxford Princeton Programme will be sharing details of its forthcoming course on Biofuels - A Renewable Energy Option as an exhibitor at the OPIS 4th Annual Ethanol & Biodiesel Supply Summit to take place 16-18 March 2008 at The Renaissance Hotel in Washington D.C.

Mr. Christopher Maxwell, Sales Manager - North America, and Ms. Kristi Ruskuski, Global Marketing Coordinator, will be available to discuss the details of this, and other courses throughout North America and elsewhere.

To set up an appointment ahead of time, please click here.

Courses coming this spring to Washington, D.C. include:
22 April: Fundamentals of Energy Futures
23 April: Options I - Fundamentals of Energy Options
24 - 25 April: Energy Risk Managemen t
22 - 24 September: Biofuels - A Key Renewable Energy Option

We are pleased to be a returning exhibitor at the 4th Annual Getenergy Global Education and Training event to take place 26-28 March 2008 at the Business Design Centre in Islington (London, UK).

Jobert Abueva, Global Marketing Director, and Lesley Rigg, Director, Sales, will be on hand to answer any questions relating to our wide range of upstream, midstream and downstream courses whether they be instructor-led, customized on sites, or web-based modules.

Visit us at Stand C10 to receive our course booklets, bring home our famous Energy Bouncy Ball and try your luck at winning a limited edition iPod Shuffle.

To set up an appointment, please click here.

We have the ability to reach you EVERYWHERE.

This year, we have gone more global than ever before. While our Operations team has been busy at work finding ideal venues in brand new locations, our web-based department has been building our online courses.

I invite you to participate in our Relax For Rewards challenge featuring one of our updated web-based courses. Good luck and enjoy!

Liz Esten
Editor
lesten@oxfordprinceton.com

Our Spotlight Series is an opportunity to hear firsthand from our global team. This month we invited back Dr. Carlos Blanco to offer updates on his bestselling course. We got a bonus this time around, he also responded in Spanish.

Dr. Carlos Blanco

Faculty/Lecturer

Derivatives Pricing, Hedging and Risk Management (TPD)
11-12 March
Calgary, AB

18 - 19 June
Guadalajara, Mexico

2 - 3 July
Dusseldorf, Germany

16 - 17 July
Singapore

21 - 22 July
Sydney, Australia

1 - 2 October
Houston, TX

Take a moment out of your hectic workday to challenge your knowledge of the trading industry. This month's challenge game features factoids from our bestselling introductory web-based course:
A Guided Tour of Commodity Derivatives.

Click here to submit your answers. Every correct entry submitted by Friday, March 28th automatically wins our famous Energy Bouncy Ball (one per person). One lucky individual will be chosen to win our Grand Prize: a FREE web-based training course ($175 value). Good luck!

The answers to the questions below are taken from A Guided Tour of Commodity Derivatives. For more information on any of our web-based offerings, please click here.

1.Both parties involved in a physical transaction need to agree on a:
A.Swap
B.Call
C.Price
D.Put

2.How you specify the actual commodity is known as:
A.Commodity delivery
B.Commodity quantity
C.Commodity quality
D.Payment terms

3.Exchanged-traded derivatives tend to be highly standardised, while over-the-counter derivatives tend to be customised.
A.True
B.False

Dr. Carlos Blanco is an expert in energy, commodity, and financial risk management and modeling. He lectures extensively on topics related to enterprise wide risk management, energy derivatives pricing and hedging and other risk topics. Dr. Blanco has published over 90 articles on financial, energy, and commodity risk management and modeling, and more recently on ERM topics.

What can delegates look forward to in your course?

First, a supportive, constructive, and high-pace learning environment. One of my main objectives is for delegates to gain a considerable amount of practical knowledge that they can apply when they can promptly apply when they go back to work after the seminar. The knowledge transfer comes in two ways. On one side we have lectures, case studies, hands-on exercises, etc. On the other hand, we have an informal, and possibly more important, learning process in which course delegates share their experience and apply their skills throughout the seminar and also in group exercises. I try to keep courses as enjoyable as possible, even for technical subject matters such as energy derivatives pricing and hedging. After 10 years conducting risk and derivatives workshops, I have never had anyone falling asleep (even after a heavy lunch).

How do you like to present your subject matter?

Our courses are highly interactive, and we encourage delegate participation and group discussions. Emphasis on "learning by doing" is applied throughout the course. Listening to someone talk for two days in a row is a very different experience than spending two days in an environments were true knowledge transfer takes place. I have learnt from experience that hands-on exercises and case studies are a necessary component to the learning transfer process, particularly for complex topics such as derivatives pricing models and risk measurement models for energy and commodities.

What are your career/professional highlights?

My highlight is probably starting a risk advisory firm three years ago with great colleagues with complementary skills. I also enjoyed being part of a great team of professionals at Financial Engineering Associates, where I was part of the management team and VP, Risk Solutions for over 6 years. I was actively involved with various aspects of the development of energy derivatives pricing and risk models from inception to marketing and support of those models. We learnt a lot working with 18 of the 20 largest energy and commodity derivatives players and made sure that our product development was driven by our changing client needs. Teaching a Risk Management course with two colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley is also a great accomplishment.

What are some of the greatest challenges facing the energy sector?

The energy sector has gone through a period of rapid changes worldwide. The growing role of financial institutions and hedge funds has forced traditional energy firms to become much more savvy in terms of trading and optimizing the optionality embedded in various physical assets such as power plants, pipelines, refineries and storage facilities. Those firms that do not develop the skills to respond to market volatility and extract the maximum value for shareholders will eventually taken over by the more sophisticated ones.

How do you like to spend your free time?

After spending 10 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, I currently live in Madrid, with my wife and two children. Javier, 4, and Elena, 2, are currently my hobby/full time job. I also enjoy playing basketball, tennis and going to the movies, although recently, I have not had much extra time to enjoy any of them.

El Dr. Carlos Blanco es un experto de reconocido prestigio en la gestión y modelización del riesgo en los mercados financieros, de energía y de materias primas. Tiene más de una decada de experiencia práctica en el sector asi como presentado cursos sobre la gestión integral de riesgos en la empresa, asi como la valoración, cobertura y gestión de productos derivados. El Dr. Blanco cuenta con más de 100 publicaciones en temas relacionados con mercados financieros y energéticos, valoración y modelización del riesgo de derivados, construcción de curvas forward para electricidad, gas y petróleo.

Que pueden esperar de este curso los participantes?

En primer lugar, un entorno constructivo de aprendizaje, donde se promueve la tranferencia del conocimiento a través de aplicaciones practicas. Uno de los principales objectivos es que los profesionales que toman este curso adquieran los conocimientos prácticos que puedan utilizar en el día a día cuando vuelvan a sus respectivos trabajos. Los cursos combinan la enseñanza tradicional con un gran número de ejercicios prácticos donde los alumnos se benefician de la colaboración y experiencia de las otros profesionales en el curso.

También es importante conseguir que los cursos que sean dinámicos y en la mayoría de la posible no perderse en los detalles técnicos (a pesar de ser un curso relativamente técnico, ello no quiere decir que se debe caer en el error de perderse en aspectos teóricos). En mi amplia experiencia dando cursos por todo el mundo, nunca he conseguido que alguien se quede dormido en ninguna de las sesiones (incluso despues de la comida).

Como le gusta presentar el material de sus cursos?

Nuestros cursos son muy dinámicos, y ponemos gran énfasis en la interactividad entre los asistentes del curso y las discusiones en grupo. Personalmente, pienso que la mejor forma de apreder algo es "haciendolo" en vez de escucharlo o leerlo, por lo que un gran número de ejercicios son presentados en el curso. El objetivo final del curso es la transferencia del conocimiento necesario para aplicar el material del curso en el dia a día de cada empresa. A pesar que algunos de los conceptos que se presentan en el curso son relativamente avanzados desde un punto de vista técnico, hacemos lo possible para que los participantes adquieran los conocimientos necesarios para llevarlos a cabo en la práctica.

Cuales son los puntos álgidos de tu carrera professional?

Sin duda, lo más gratificante y asimismo el principal desafío, ha sido fundar Black Swan Risk Advisors, una empresa de consultoría de riesgos financieros en 2004. He tenido la suerte de trabajar con profesionales de gran altura de los que he aprendido muchisimo. Por ejemplo, los años en los que trabaje para Financial Engineering Associates como responsable de los productos de riesgos asi como de servicios profesionales y apoyo técnico me permitieron aprender de forma directa como las principales empresas activas en los mercados de derivados gestionaban sus riesgos y ha desarrollar soluciones para sus necesidades.

En el punto de vista educativo, ser faculty del Oxford Princeton Programme es un gran honor, asi como ser lecturer de University of California, Berkeley y Senior Research Associate de la University of Nottingham y la Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Cuales son los principlaes desafíos a los que se enfrenta el sector energético?

En los últimos años, los mercados energéticos están sufriendo una serie de cambios estructurales a nivel mundial. La entrada de los bancos y los fondos de inversión alternativa ha obligado a las empresas ha introducido una mayor competitividad en el sector y ha obligado a las empresas ha gestionar los riesgos financieros relativos a sus operaciones de una forma más eficaz. Asimismo, las empresas con accesso a activos físicos como generadores de electricidad, refinerías y gaseoductos pueden optimizar y monetizar el valor derivado de las opciones reales. Aquellas empresas que no desarrollen los conocimientos necesarios para beneficiarse de la volatilidad de los mercados enérgeticos tendrán que dar paso a otras empresas más sofisticadas.

Com te gusta pasar tu tiempo libre?

La mayoría de mi tiempo libre me gusta compartirlo con mis hijos Javier, 4, y Elena, 3. Como tengo que viajar bastante por motivos de trabajo, mis vacaciones ideales son pasar tiempo con mi familia. Antes de tener hijos también tenía otros "hobbies", pero no he podido dedicar mucho tiempo a ellos ultimamente.

Any questions for Dr. Blanco, click here.

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