Course 01 of 20 · Crude Oil Desk Academy

Crude Oil Business from Zero

Stage A, Orientation. Level 1 of 10.

The commodity, the physical chain, the participants, the shape of a transaction, and why price and risk exist at all.

128 chapters · 11 modules · every chapter one 8 to 10 minute explainer · builds on: nothing: this is the entry point

Enrol or enquire See the 128 chapters
How a chapter is sized

One chapter is one idea taken to the point of use

Each chapter is a single self-contained explainer of 8 to 10 narrated minutes, covering one idea to the point where you can use it.

Chapters run in order. Each one assumes only what the chapters before it taught, and capability belonging to a later course is named and deferred rather than half-covered.

Curriculum

11 modules · 128 chapters

Open any module for its full chapter list, in teaching order.

M0 What Crude Oil Actually Is Ch 1-12
  1. What the World Uses Crude Oil For
  2. Why Substitution Takes Decades
  3. What Crude Oil Physically Is
  4. Crude Is Not One Product
  5. From Crude to the Things You Buy
  6. Barrels, Tonnes and the Units People Argue About
  7. The Difference Between Oil and Oil Products
  8. Who Actually Uses Crude Oil
  9. The Scale of the Business
  10. Why Crude Oil Is Traded at All
  11. Map of the Course and the Journey Ahead
  12. How Oil Ends Up Underground
M1 Where Oil Comes From and Who Owns It Ch 13-26
  1. Finding Oil: Exploration in Commercial Terms
  2. Recovery Methods as Cost Tiers
  3. Marginal Cost, Average Cost and Producer Behaviour
  4. Who Owns the Oil in the Ground
  5. Tax and Royalty Concessions
  6. Production Sharing and Service Contracts
  7. National Oil Companies as Sellers
  8. Official Selling Prices and Term Allocation
  9. International and Independent Producers
  10. The Production Agreement: Quotas and Compliance
  11. Why an Announcement Moves Price Before Any Barrel Does
  12. Why Production Cannot Simply Be Turned Up
  13. Decline Rates and the Investment Treadmill
  14. Reserves, Their Categories and the Capital Spending Signal
M2 Measuring the Barrel Ch 27-37
  1. What a Barrel Means in Practice
  2. Volume, Temperature and Why They Interact
  3. Standard Conditions and Why They Exist
  4. Density, API Gravity and First Impressions of Value
  5. Mass, Volume and Converting Between Them
  6. Water, Sediment and What You Are Not Paying For
  7. Shore Tank Gauging and Metering
  8. Vessel Measurement and Independent Inspection
  9. Ullage, Innage and Tank Measurement in Plain Terms
  10. Why Two Parties Measure the Same Cargo Differently
  11. Quantity Disputes and Their Commercial Consequences
M3 The Physical Journey Ch 38-49
  1. The Chain from Wellhead to Pump
  2. Custody, Risk and Decision Points Along the Chain
  3. Gathering Systems and Field Processing
  4. Pipelines: What They Are Commercially
  5. Common Stream and Why Your Barrel Is Not Your Barrel
  6. Storage Tanks and Terminals
  7. Loading a Cargo: Nomination to Berth
  8. Pumping, Documentation and the Clock
  9. The Voyage in Commercial Terms
  10. Discharge and Receipt
  11. Refineries as Customers
  12. Where Oil Gets Stuck and Why That Matters
M4 Who Does What Ch 50-60
  1. The Cast of the Crude Market
  2. Producers as Sellers
  3. Refiners as Buyers
  4. Trading Houses and What They Add
  5. Oil Major Trading Arms
  6. Shipowners and Charterers
  7. Terminal and Storage Operators
  8. Inspectors, Surveyors and Independent Verification
  9. Banks, Insurers and the Money Side
  10. Regulators, Customs and Government
  11. What a Crude Deal Actually Is
M5 How a Crude Transaction Works Ch 61-74
  1. Spot, Term and the Difference
  2. From Enquiry to Firm Offer
  3. Acceptance, the Recap and When You Are Bound
  4. Commercial Terms the Parties Must Agree
  5. Legal and Operational Terms the Parties Must Agree
  6. Delivery Terms in Plain Language
  7. Who Bears Which Risk and When
  8. Title, Risk and Possession
  9. The Paper Trail
  10. The Bill of Lading: Three Functions in One Document
  11. Letters of Indemnity and Late Documents
  12. A Worked Deal, Part One: Agreement and Nomination
  13. A Worked Deal, Part Two: Loading, Voyage and Discharge
  14. A Worked Deal, Part Three: Documents, Invoice and Cash
M6 What Makes a Barrel Worth What It Is Ch 75-85
  1. Price Is Not One Number
  2. The Idea of a Benchmark
  3. Why Grades Trade at Differentials
  4. Quality and Its Commercial Meaning
  5. Location and Its Commercial Meaning
  6. Timing and Its Commercial Meaning
  7. Freight as Part of the Price
  8. The Idea of a Netback
  9. Why a Cheaper Barrel Can Cost More
  10. The Components of a Delivered Cost
  11. Assembling and Sense-Checking a Delivered Cost
M7 The Money Ch 86-96
  1. Who Pays Whom and When
  2. Payment Terms and Their Real Cost
  3. Credit: Lending Without Meaning To
  4. How a Letter of Credit Works
  5. Documentary Discrepancies and Stalled Payments
  6. Working Capital and the Cash Cycle
  7. Trade Finance and Why Traders Need Banks
  8. Margin, Collateral and Cash Calls
  9. What Happens When Someone Does Not Pay
  10. Insurance and What It Does Not Cover
  11. The Cash Consequence of a Good Trade
M8 Why Prices Move Ch 97-108
  1. Supply, Demand and the Honest Version
  2. Inventories as the Market's Memory
  3. Spare Capacity and the Fear Premium
  4. Where Oil Demand Comes From
  5. Regional Growth and Why Demand Forecasts Get Revised
  6. Seasonality in Plain Terms
  7. Geopolitics Without the Drama
  8. Oil, the Dollar and Currency Effects
  9. Interest Rates and the Cost of Carrying Oil
  10. Market Structure: Contango and Backwardation Introduced
  11. Paper Markets and Their Effect on Physical
  12. Reading Market News Correctly
M9 Risk and Why Desks Exist Ch 109-118
  1. What Exposure Means
  2. Flat Price Risk
  3. Basis Risk Introduced
  4. Timing Risk
  5. Quality and Quantity Risk
  6. Operational Risk
  7. Counterparty Risk
  8. Why Hedging Exists
  9. What a Hedge Does Not Do
  10. The Limits of Risk Management
M10 Inside a Crude Desk Ch 119-128
  1. How a Trading Organisation Is Arranged
  2. Front, Middle and Back Office
  3. A Day on a Crude Desk
  4. Operations: The Job That Actually Delivers
  5. Scheduling and the Art of the Possible
  6. Risk and Control Functions
  7. Finance, Accounting and the P and L
  8. Compliance, Sanctions and Conduct
  9. How Decisions Actually Get Made
  10. Where You Go Next: The Other Nineteen Courses

The brochure gives each of these 128 chapters a paragraph on what it covers and what you can do once you have worked through it.

This is course 1 of twenty

It stands alone, and it is also the entry point to the Crude Oil Desk Academy pathway.

Enrol or enquire See the whole pathway