This intensive one-day course provides a practical overview of oil markets trading, covering the fundamentals of physical and futures markets, pricing mechanisms, crude and product acquisition strategies, arbitrage opportunities, freight economics, and hedging techniques. Participants will explore how market structure, quality differentials, timing decisions, and refinery economics influence trading outcomes and profitability. Through interactive exercises and real-world scenarios, attendees will apply trading and risk management concepts to crude and product acquisition decisions while gaining insight into effective market risk management practices.

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Context:

Course agenda:

• Fundamental concepts: Physical and Futures markets
• Coverage
• Crude, Product, Quality considerations
• Freight
• Structure and inventory
• Price Forecasts: Formulae, price timing, etc.
• Crude acquisition & arbitrage
• Physical constraints
• Relative refinery economics
• Freight considerations
• Timing: Coverage timing & Price timing
• Hedging
• Impacts on refinery margins
• Product acquisition & arbitrage
• Physical constraints
• Blending economics
• Freight considerations
• Timing: Coverage timing, Price timing & Hedging
• Market Risk Management: Risk management techniques
• Exercises on trading / Risk management for Crude / Product Acquisition
• NEW: Applications of AI in the Oil & Gas Industry
• Role of AI in upstream exploration and production
• Midstream integrity management and emission monitoring and downstream optimization and efficiency

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The rapid expansion of AI technologies has both promise and challenges. Enterprises are discovering new ways to use AI to enhance their capabilities, but utilities and power companies are rushing to revise growth plans to respond to surging electricity needs from AI data centers. Major tech companies are becoming key players in the power sector as they build their own data facilities and invest in AI infrastructure. At the same time, generative AI and other digital technologies hold the potential to transform how energy is produced, managed and consumed and to help energy systems become more efficient and sustainable.

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Context:

• Overview of training objectives & outcomes
• Introduction to S& Global perspectives and methodologies
• Review of data center basics
• Data center typologies and what differentiates them: hyperscale, colocation, edge, AI-optimized sites

Course agenda:

• Module 1: Growth of AI and its impact on enterprises
Session: How generative AI has been adopted by enterprises thus far
• GenAI overview
• GenAI adoption trends and use cases for enterprises of various sizes in various industries
• Benefits and challenges of genAI adoption
• Key GenAI players/models and how they are different from one another
• Interactive discussion – impact of genAI on companies and their employees
• Module 2: Growth of AI and its impact on data centers
Session: How AI shapes compute, power, and cooling requirements
• AI as the catalyst for a new wave of data center expansion
• GPU clusters – compute density and energy requirements
• Liquid cooling, high-density rack design, options for power (including hydrogen)
• Current data center locations and plans for new builds
• What determines data center location
• AI training vs. inference workloads
• Power access, grid interconnection
• Impact of costs – power prices, taxes (and benefits), other costs
• Impact of local resistance, regulations
• Interactive discussion – impacts of AI infrastructure requirements on enterprises and their IT budgets
• Module 3: Energy ecosystem implications
Session: Powering the data center boom
• Electricity demand growth vs electricity supply by ISO region/li>
• Data center energy usage profiles, efficiency improvements, AI’s use to improve grid operations
• Behind-the-meter solutions, e.g., batteries, microgrids, gas/nuclear hybrids
• Sustainability: renewables, PPAs, water usage
• Interactive discussion: mapping AI compute growth to regional grid stress
• Module 4: Costs to build AI infrastructure, funding, risks
Session: Costs to build AI, capital flows, risks, innovations
• Costs for chips, IT equipment, data centers, power infrastructure/li>
• Investment/borrowing: public vs private capital, hyperscale investment trends
• Risks: things that could impact AI/data center/energy demand forecasts
• Quantum computing data center/power requirements
• Innovations: AI modeling changes, modular data center builds, immersion cooling, flexibility/grid interaction

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This course provides a clear and practical overview of global oil markets, with a strong focus on the Asia Pacific (APAC) region as a key centre of demand growth and price formation. Participants gain a solid understanding of supply and demand fundamentals, price benchmarks, and the geopolitical and macroeconomic forces driving market volatility. The program highlights Singapore’s role as a regional pricing and trading hub and examines how APAC refining, imports, and policy dynamics increasingly shape global oil flows and commercial strategy. The training is designed for professionals seeking a structured and up to date understanding of oil markets in a rapidly changing energy landscape.

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Course Outline

• Oil Market Fundamentals
• Global energy fundamentals: global energy supply & demand
• Structure of the world oil industry
• Oil Market History (Part 1):
• Oil market history; oil demand and supply
• Forces shaping future of world oil demand
• History of oil supply regulation
• US Shale
• Emergence of OPEC+
• Oil Market History (Part 2):
• Factors shaping the oil price today
• The role of futures markets
• Price benchmarks
• Oil and the energy transition: How to think about the future

• Oil Price Discovery and Trading
• Oil Pricing: How does the Brent market work?
• Understanding what the physical trading data represents
• Methodology: How do we arrive at the price?
• Trading: The mechanics of trading physical crude
• Oil Price Forecast

• Benchmarks
• Overview of Platts Oil Benchmarks and assessment methodology​
• Update on Platts Benchmarks: Dated Brent/Urals
• Update on Platts Benchmarks: Platts Dubai/Oman

• Market Outlook
• How to develop an oil price short- and long-term outlook
• Value of scenario framework for forecasting
• Oil market outlook to 2024 and through 2050

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This program explores how oil trading works in practice, focusing on the interaction between physical and paper markets relevant to APAC. It covers core trading structures, price exposure, risk management tools, and the role of derivatives in managing volatility. Set against the backdrop of heightened geopolitical risk and shifting global flows, the course highlights Singapore’s position as a major trading hub and examines regional trading patterns, regulations, and evolving market behaviour. Participants leave with a practical framework for understanding and operating within today’s competitive and fast moving oil trading environment

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Course Outline

• Introduction to trading and markets
• Price assessments
• Benchmarks
• Pricing mechanisms

• Identify Commercial Risk
• Risk Assessment Matrix
• Carry and Inverse
• Risk categories

• Risk Management Instruments
• Exchange and OTC markets
• Futures
• Forward
• CFDs / DFLs
• Swaps
• Options

• Risk Management Techniques
• Hedging with futures, swaps, and forwards
• Hedging with options
• Spread trading
• Basis risk
• Exchange for physical
• Structured instruments
• Hedging strategies

• Trading Controls
• Mark to Market
• Value at risk

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An introduction to the economic principles underpinning upstream oil and gas projects, with a focus on the APAC region’s diverse resource base. The curriculum covers project evaluation techniques, cash flow analysis, fiscal regimes, and investment decision-making under uncertainty. Special attention is given to the regulatory and fiscal environments in key APAC countries, enabling participants to assess project viability and optimize returns in a competitive regional context. The course is tailored for professionals involved in exploration, production, and investment analysis.

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Course Outline

• Introduction to Oil and Gas and Global E& Trends and Regional Dynamics
• Main concepts
• Role in global energy
• Current challenges and uncertainties

• Field Development Planning / Asset Evaluation
• Fiscal Regimes, and Terms across various contract types
• Modelling, analyzing and comparing fiscal regimes
• Reserves and production profile/cost estimation methodology

• Strategies of IOCs and NOCs
• Priorities in a continuously changing environment
• Portfolio and capital allocation strategies

• Petroleum sector risk
• Evaluating above-ground risk for the upstream sector
• Spotlight on key trends driving petroleum sector risk

• Supply chain and cost trends
• Upstream industry pulse check (new orders, backlog, spending forecast)
• Competition for resources across the energy value chain

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This course provides a comprehensive overview of global bunker fuel markets, with a particular focus on Singapore as the world’s leading bunkering hub and the wider APAC maritime ecosystem. Key topics include fuel specifications, pricing methodologies, quality control, and evolving regulatory requirements such as emissions compliance. The training examines how shipping companies and suppliers are responding to tightening environmental regulations and the gradual shift toward alternative marine fuels. Participants gain practical insight into bunker market dynamics and the commercial and operational challenges shaping the future of marine fuels in APAC.

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Course Outline

• Bunkering Fundamentals
• Market structure, value chain, key players, and major trade hubs

• Fuel Pricing & Market Benchmarks
• Fuel oil pricing fundamentals (HFO, VLSFO, MGO)
• Platts benchmarks and price formation

• Emissions, Regulation & Compliance
• Carbon and methane emissions
• IMO regulations, EU ETS, FuelEU Maritime
• Carbon credits and offsetting mechanisms

• Marine Fleet & Bunker Demand Outlook
• Global fleet overview and projections
• Fleet fuel mix evolution and demand drivers
• Link between fuel prices, regulation, and bunker demand

• Alternative Fuel Transition
• Key drivers, policy outlook, and adoption pathways
• LNG as a marine fuel: fundamentals, economics, infrastructure
• Biofuels in bunkering: feedstocks, blending, sustainability, pricing
• Emerging fuels: methanol, ammonia, hydrogen, e‑fuels

• Fuel Market & Energy Transition Outlook
• Short‑ and long‑term fuel market scenarios
• Energy & climate scenarios: carbon cost exposure, fuel risk, and fleet investment implications

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Focusing on the rapidly expanding role of biofuels in APAC’s energy expansion, this course examines how policy mandates, sustainability requirements, and feedstock availability are reshaping fuel markets. Participants explore biofuels pricing, carbon intensity considerations, and the role of SAF, renewable diesel, ethanol, and bio bunker fuels in decarbonising transport and industry. The course places regional developments in a global context, highlighting supply chain constraints, market opportunities, and regulatory frameworks that are critical to commercial decision making in this fast evolving sector.

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Course Outline

• Introduction to Biofuels
• 1st vs. 2nd Gen biofuels: key differences and evolution
• Major feedstocks and their sustainability implications
• Overview of key biorefining technologies and TRL levels
• Global policy drivers and regulatory frameworks
• Carbon Intensities and how they are derived

• Biofuels & Feedstocks Pricing
• Platts price assessment methodology and the market on close
• Building robust benchmarks
• The role of market prices
• key price drivers for biofuels and feedstocks

• Biofuels market outlook (pt. 1)
• Global biofuel demand outlook with regional breakdowns
• The future of biofuels, SAF & bunkers
• SAF production pathways and certification (CORSIA, ASTM)
• Bio-bunker fuel outlook and IMO regulations

• Biofuels market outlook (pt. 2)
• Carbon Intensities and how they are derived
• Feedstock demand, lipids, alcohols and more
• SAF, HVO, FAME, ethanol: pricing outlook

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Biofuels Introduction & Technology Development

• What are biofuels? How have they evolved?
• Overview of key technologies and TRL
• Revional Policies & Global Initiatives

Biofuels & Feedstocks Price Assessments

• Platts Price Assessment methodology and MOC
• Price drivers for biofuels and feedstocks
• Revional Policies & Global Initiatives

Advanced Feedstocks & Traceability in Developing New Product Streams

• Traceability, practicalities and how to secure your supply chain
• Advanced feedstocks: What, Where and How
• From traceability and plausibilty for all feedstocks to their heightened importance in advanced feedstocks

Biofuels market outlook (1)

• Concepts and assumptions behind S&P Global's long-term outlook
• The future of Biofuels, SAF and Bunkers

Biofuels market outlook (2)

• EU investment plans and national strategies
• Project updates: operational plants, new builds and e-SAF
• Case studies and lessons learned

Biofuels market outlook (3)

• Feedstock demand, lipids, alcohol and more
• SAF, HVO, FAME, Ethanol price outlook

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Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is a key technology that can contribute to reducing emissions in key emitting sectors and to remove CO2 from the atmosphere while also supporting the development of CO2-based products. This course will provide and overview of the market and technology trends and provide key concepts to differentiate the challenges and opportunities that different sectors face while implementing CCUS.

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Status of the CCUS Market

• The potential role of CCUS in the energy transition
• Overview of current market conditions
• Summary of global policy

The CCUS Value Chain

• Overview of the value chain
• Global CCUS project pipeline progress by segment
• Cost analysis of CO2 capture, transportation, and storage
• Overview of CO2 utilization

CCUS trends in chemicals and fuels applications

• Overview of the market dynamics between low-carbon fuels and CO2 use
• Supply and demand balance for CO2 utilization by 2030

Engineered carbon dioxide removal

• Overview of technologies and market trends

5. Long-Term Global Outlook for CO2 capture installations

• S&P Global Commodity Insights’ base case outlook for both near-term (2030) and long-term (2050) CO2 capture installations
• Summary and discussion of key course topics

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