Negotiating a gas or oil contract rarely comes down to a single meeting — it plays out across renegotiations, forced sales and fresh investment opportunities, often against counterparts from government, national oil companies and contractors who know the terrain well. This Arab British Fellowship Training Academy training course is built to turn participants into negotiators who can hold their own in exactly these situations, using the theories, methodologies and tools that specialised negotiators rely on.

Sessions combine an honest look at the challenges facing today's petroleum industry with practical exercises drawn from real case studies, so participants leave with a tested strategy for winning negotiations rather than just the theory behind one. Each participant also receives detailed feedback on their own performance in the case-study exercises.

Who Should Attend

• Legal advisers and lawyers who prepare gas and oil contracts.
• Commercial delegates who want to update or improve their negotiation skills.
• Technical, legal or commercial executives and contractors expected to lead or support major negotiations.
• Anyone with a negotiating role in construction, buying and selling, public relations, or with colleagues at work.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Apply the essential steps for managing even the most difficult negotiations, and formulate a winning strategy against a counterparty.
• Use gas and oil negotiation tools to run a successful, dynamic, competitive and cooperative negotiation process.
• Distinguish between contract types, their conditions and clauses, and understand the licensing requirements of public and private entities.
• Explain arbitration agreements in petroleum contracts, the concept of investment contracts, and arbitration in general as an alternative dispute-resolution method.

Module 1: The Oil Industry's Negotiation Landscape

• The current challenges facing the oil industry.
• The theories, methodologies and tools used by specialised negotiators in the sector.

Module 2: Winning Strategy and Real Case Studies

• Real case studies on negotiation in the gas and oil sector.
• How to formulate a strategy for beating a counterparty in negotiation.

Module 3: Contracts, Licensing and Investment

• Types of contracts, their conditions and clauses, plus licensing for public and private entities.
• Mechanisms for attracting investment and handling disputes.
• Foreign investment, corruption risk, and infrastructure investment contracts.

Module 4: Arbitration in Petroleum Contracts

• The concept of arbitration agreements within petroleum contracts.
• Investment contracts and arbitration as an alternative dispute-resolution method.