Course description
This virtual course is held over four sessions is designed to provide a thorough background to the European natural gas markets. It will equip the participant with the skills to understand why we trade natural gas and how this may be used for risk management to defend or increase margins, optimise assets and capture value.
The course is broken down into twelve teaching units, covering the basic but important topics of where gas comes from and the importance of understanding the origins and uses of the physical commodity. It will then address the more complex issues of how and why the markets function and leading to understanding trading strategy and hedging. The course also looks at the role of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and underground gas storage within the European markets and how to optimise these and other assets.
The course is highly interactive, making use of the latest technology, supported by the natural gas trading simulation, designed to give insight to trading strategy and reinforce learning objectives.
Suitability - Who should attend?
Participants along the gas value chain, from producers to end users wishing to establish a key understanding of the strategies of gas traders and the drivers for gas prices in Europe and the UK.
New staff joining existing teams or new market participants wanting to establish an understanding of the workings of the established markets.
Traders from outside of the western European markets looking to gain an understanding of the western European gas business.
Traders in other commodities looking to increase knowledge of the mechanics of natural gas trading.
Support staff in existing or new businesses requiring an understanding of the strategies of a natural gas trading participant.
Training Course Content
Technology check in to ensure all technology working and that all participants have required access.
Day One:
Session 1: Natural Gas Background
Exploring the relevance of the sources of natural gas and how the commodity is used within Europe. This section will allow participants to appreciate the basic supply structure and demand profiles of key user groups.
Session 2: The European Gas Markets
Looking at the current trends and supply and demand influences on the markets. This will explore the key suppliers to the European market and how gas reaches the market. Participants will be able to understand the dynamics of the supply and demand in the current context and what may influence these in the future.
Day Two:
Session 3: Functioning of the Gas Markets
The session will look at the structure of the gas markets and how they function. It will cover the regulations around commercial gas markets, who can trade and the role of trading hubs. The aim is to answer the question of; why is trading necessary?
Session 4: Pricing Interactions
Participants will be able to understand the construction of the price curves, the influence of the gas supply stack and the effect of carbon prices and the European market interaction with international gas prices. This will enable them to understand the dynamics of pricing in the markets to help identify future movements.
Session 5: Trading Simulation
The first visit to the simulation will give participants the opportunity to take simple positions in a gas markets under a set of stylised scenarios to understand the influences of different price drivers.
Session 6: Traded Markets
The final session of the first day will be used to ensure that attendees have an excellent understanding of how traded natural gas markets operate. This will look at the differences between OTC, Physical, Future Physical and Futures and Options and how these are used within the markets.
Day Three:
Session 7: Trading Strategies
The opening session of the second day starts with some of the basic trading strategies used by players in the gas market. Participants will learn how to use traded markets to hedge, access energy to cover infrastructure failures, profit from using swing and simple cross border trading.
Session 8: LNG Background
Participants will be given a thorough understanding of the basics of the Liquefied Natural Gas value chain and the effect that has on the ability to trade the product. This session will also cover the differences in global pricing mechanisms and regasification strategy.
Session 9: LNG Trading
This session will look at the basics behind valuing LNG through netback pricing and will give the attendees an understanding of optimisation through comparisons of global pricing and the opportunity for redelivery from receiving terminal to receiving terminal.
Day Four:
Session 10: Trading Simulation
The second visit to the trading simulation will bring in more complex strategies including the use of derivatives and storage.
Session 11: Gas Storage
This examines the role and operation of underground gas storage in the value chain and will show the commercial value of storage through both intrinsic and extrinsic valuation. The session will examine the basic trades needed to maintain storage value.
Session 12: Infrastructure Trading and Optimisation
The final session looks to bring together the knowledge of infrastructure and how to trade the value of storage and LNG into the European markets. The participants will develop practical strategies to maximise revenues from infrastructure.
Reviews
Average rating 5
It was a great course, especially the live session. Our trainer made the content very easy to understand and it was a lot of fun to listen to him.
Top 10 Awards
Top 10 Winner - 2024
We're delighted to announce that ICE Education is a winner in our Top 10 Energy Trading Courses 2024 category.
Each year, we select the Top 10 most popular courses on our site in some of the most popular categories to make it easier for our users to find the right course for them - so you can book with confidence.
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Top 10 Awards
Top 10 Winner - 2024
We're delighted to announce that ICE Education is a winner in our Top 10 Energy Trading Courses 2024 category.
Each year, we select the Top 10 most popular courses on our site in some of the most popular categories to make it easier for our users to find the right course for them - so you can book with confidence.
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Great insight to the euro markets and virtual delivery was very engaging.