Oil Sands Development Project Modeling

Description

Many professionals build models to assess the impact and feasibility of undertaking new projects. This course focuses on the skills required to design and create an interactive financial model to help decide whether an oil & gas company should develop an oil sands deposit. Issues related to both mining and in situ projects will be discussed. The course material includes model design, logic, construction, financial concepts and accounting treatment. Various intermediate Excel tools along with helpful keyboard shortcuts will also be covered throughout the course.

Prerequisites

Participants should have a basic working knowledge of Excel and the oil sands sector prior to taking this course.

Time

8 - 16 hours, depending on the amount of material to be covered.

Learning Topics

Design and Structure a Financial Model

Design a clear and logical financial model
Discuss the need for a model to serve as a marketing tool
Create clearly defined inputs and assumptions sections

Build Scenarios and Financial Forecasts

Use switches to create effective scenarios and value drivers
Forecast and build-up the project’s revenues and expenses
Construct all necessary schedules
Develop a cash flow projection for the project

Evaluate the Project

Incorporate a schedule to evaluate the project’s returns
Build a strong summary page to display the results
Use various sensitivity tools to sensitize the project’s returns
Conditionally format output tables to highlight specified results
Analyze the impact of building an upgrader or selling diluted bitumen directly to refiners