Oil and Gas Industry Overview for Executives

Oil and Gas Industry Overview for Executives is a five-day senior management course delivered by Mars Training Centre at its international training centres — in London, Dubai, Amsterdam, Kuala Lumpur, and Cairo — designed for executives, senior managers, and professionals from non-technical functions who need a confident command of the petroleum value chain.

The oil and gas industry is one of the largest, most capital-intensive, and most politically exposed sectors in the world. Decisions taken in upstream exploration influence refining margins five years later; choices made at an LNG terminal move power prices a continent away. Executives in finance, legal, HR, procurement, government affairs, and corporate strategy increasingly make decisions that depend on understanding how the industry actually works — yet most have never had the opportunity to study it end to end.

This programme gives senior managers the structured commercial, technical, and geopolitical literacy needed to operate confidently in an oil and gas business. You will move systematically from the wellhead to the petrol pump, examine how value is created and captured at each stage, and develop a working command of the language, economics, and key levers of the modern petroleum industry.

What You Will Learn

• Describe the full oil and gas value chain from exploration through retail with confidence.
• Apply the core commercial vocabulary of upstream, midstream, and downstream operations.
• Evaluate how oil and gas prices are formed in international markets.
• Analyse the principal commercial relationships between national oil companies, international oil companies, and service companies.
• Interpret the fiscal terms governing host-country and contractor arrangements.
• Diagnose how the energy transition is reshaping operator strategies, capital allocation, and risk.
• Identify the principal HSE, social, and governance risks in oil and gas operations.
• Read an oil and gas company's financial disclosures with executive judgement.
• Assess the commercial position of your own organisation within the wider sector.
• Communicate confidently with technical colleagues, joint-venture partners, and regulators.

How You Will Benefit

You will leave with a structured, end-to-end command of the oil and gas industry that lets you contribute confidently to commercial decisions, board discussions, and cross-functional projects — and a Mars Certificate of Completion.

Your organisation will gain a senior manager who can read the sector accurately, ask sharper questions of operating teams and joint-venture partners, and bridge between technical and commercial functions without dependency on external advisers.

Who This Programme Is For

This programme is designed for senior professionals who work in or with the oil and gas sector, including:

• Heads of finance, legal, HR, and procurement in operating companies
• Government affairs and corporate communications directors
• Senior strategy and business-development managers
• Banking, insurance, and advisory professionals serving the sector
• Senior public-sector officials in energy ministries and regulators
• Family-business principals with petroleum-sector investments
• General managers from adjacent industries moving into energy roles

The seniority floor is senior manager and above.