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EBF 301 - Global Finance for the Earth, Energy, and Materials Industries

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Quick Facts about EBF 301

• Instructor - Farid Tayari, John and Willie Leone Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University.
• Course Author - Tom Seng and Seth Blumsack, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University.
• Overview - EBF 301 will cover the physical and financial aspects of the following energy commodities – crude, natural gas, natural gas liquids and, gasoline. The physical “path” of each commodity from the point of production to the point of use will be explained as well as, the “value chain” that exists for each. Commodity market pricing, both cash and financial, will be presented, encompassing industry “postings” for cash, commodity exchanges and, “over-the-counter” markets. The use of financial derivatives to reduce market & price risk (“hedging”) will be presented and “real world” examples will be utilized.
• Learning Environment - This website provides the primary instructional materials for the course. The Resources menu links to important supporting materials, while the Lessons menu links to the course lessons. Canvas, Penn State's course management system, is used to support the delivery of this course as well, as it provides the primary communications, calendaring, and submission tools for the course.
• Topics of Study - The content of this course is divided into 12 lessons. Each lesson will be completed in approximately 1 week.
  • Lesson 1 -The Energy Industry – Overall Perspective
  • Lesson 2 - Supply/Demand Fundamentals for Natural Gas & Crude Oil
  • Lesson 3 -The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) & Energy Contracts
  • Lesson 4 -NYMEX Order Execution & Electronic Trading
  • Lesson 5 -Cash Market Pricing Methodologies & Publications
  • Lesson 6 -Oil & Gas Logistics & Value Chain
  • Lesson 7 -Liquefied Natural Gas - US Exportation & Global Markets
  • Lesson 8 -Transportation Rates & Regulations
  • Lesson 9 -Basic Energy Risk “Hedging” using Financial Derivatives
  • Lesson 10 -Advanced Financial Derivatives - Swaps, Spreads, and Options
  • Lesson 11 -Technical Analysis
  • Lesson 12 -Risk Controls in Energy Commodity Trading