MSc Oil & Gas Management

A University of Plymouth programme.

For those working within the extractive industries, there is now an increasing need to develop an awareness of the complex business environment and to gain an understanding of the ways in which changes in economic and governmental policies affect them and their organisations.

The MSc in Oil & Gas Management programme addresses these areas and offers course members the opportunity to develop an understanding of the various techniques and methodologies employed in analysis of the issues. Course members will be introduced to the skills of selecting organisation-wide strategies that will increase their effectiveness as functional managers and strategic thinkers.

One of the key features of the programme is the interactive nature of lectures and seminars. Course members learn from the input of experts in the field of oil & gas management as well as from each other. The cross-fertilisation of ideas and experiences is encouraged between academics and practitioners as this is recognised as a major method of learning and development.

Programme Modules

Internal & External Environments of Extractive Industries

* The international extractive industries, as with many other sectors, rely heavily on external factors, which fall outside the remit of most operations. These factors range from international trade laws to various policies enacted by nation states. The module will evaluate the numerous variables that the extractive industries are forced to deal with, from law, finance, economics and extraction techniques.

Module Content
Macro and micro economic theory; strategic economic modelling; economic ramifications of income on the economy; exchange rates, porters five forces theory. Regulatory law and policy in the extractive industry; international law; company law; international business law; financial implications in the extractive industry.

Energy Economics

To meet demand for products from extractive industries, it is imperative that decision-makers are fully equipped with a sound knowledge of economic theory and its application to operational decisions. The module will outline economic concepts, which will enable course members to evaluate strategic operations in the light of changing economic policies, and the volatile global business environment.

Module Content
Fundamental theories of business organisation – the changing business environment; business objectives; role of business economics in managerial decision making- key components of the decision making process; evaluation and implementation of managerial decision making; resource allocation in the pursuit of business efficiency; determinant factors in economic forecasting tariffs and trading blocks; market structures.


Marketing and Customer Relationship Management
As an essential element of the management of organisations, marketing is significant as a theoretical and practical base for all managers. Whatever their specialist roles, all managers should be aware of the nature of the markets served and the relationships with their customers, since these factors have an impact on the ways in which all operations are planned and managed.

Module Content
The strategic nature of marketing; market segment characteristics; bases of consumer behaviour; elements of marketing plans; assessing marketing opportunities by using market information; marketing mix; use of controls in marketing; integration of marketing communications; promotion and communications; integration of marketing policies with other management functions; applying marketing and customer communications to particular company situations and public sector organisations; setting a promotion plan; identifying the promotion mix; measuring the cost effectiveness of promotion; relating sales and promotion policy to market size and structure.

Project Management for the Energy Industry
Behind every project lies a collective group of processes, which enables and leads to its successful completion. The factors involved in the delivery of a managed project include; budgetary, cost control, as well as management processes. The module will emphasise the significance of planning policies and the methods of enhancing motivation and leadership when planning for successful projects.

Module Content
Introduction to project management – purpose; concepts and conventions; planning: recurring tasks; milestones; lags and loads; splitting tasks and adding constraints: theoretical basis for project management and its limitations. Quality control; the dynamics of project management; leadership and control.

Business Environment & Strategic Management
Since the management of organisations is influenced by many external as well as internal factors, it is necessary to identify and understand the ways in which they influence management policies. It is also essential to understand how they influence strategic aims and how interrelationships affect long term planning and decision-taking.

Module Content
The nature of strategic planning and its relationship to operational policies; organizational objectives and their impact upon resource acquisition and deployment; internal and external factors governing organizational objectives; compatibility of objectives; strategic choices, the direction and pace of change; evaluating strategic risks and methods of minimisation; methods of controlling strategic change; process of planning and managing organizational strategy; time horizons for long term planning, the effect of technological innovation and the emergence of new competition.

Human Resources Management
This module introduces the nature of corporate culture and change in organisations and the roles played by managers, individuals, groups and teams. It is also designed to develop an understanding of both the strategy and operational aspects of the management of human resources in organisations, and also the ways in which the quality of HRM affects all the functions of management.

Module Content
The nature of HRM and the principal problem areas; significant functional areas of HRM; human resource planning; organizational change and human resource deployment; causes of conflict and methods of resolution; nature of organisational culture and the factors contributing to it; individual perceptions and motivations; HRM and impact on other management functions; HRM and teams; career development and promotion of personal skills; strategy of HRM.

Research Methodology and Project Management
This module provides a grounding in project planning, literature review and the principles of research methodology as a preparation for undertaking the major project as a culmination of the programme. The module covers the selection of an appropriate topic for the dissertation; methods of identifying and recording primary and secondary sources of information; strengths and weaknesses of different types of research methodology; methods of referencing information gathered from published work; compiling a bibliography; effective presentation techniques including a logical connection between objectives, methods, evidence and conclusions.

Dissertation
It is essential that leaders and managers have a sound knowledge and understanding of the nature and conduct of management research. Thus, the programme includes the production of a research dissertation, permitting course members to draw upon their prior academic and practical experience in order to research a management or organisational problem with methodological rigour. Consequently, course members will be expected to design a research project that focuses upon a real management or organisational problem. They will be expected to select and justify an appropriate methodology and develop valid, ethical and reliable research methods appropriate to the context of their application. From this they will be expected to evaluate the findings of their research in order to generate robust conclusions and workable recommendations.

Mode of attendance

Daytime - 12 months full-time or 24 months part-time
Evening - 24 months part-time

Starting Dates
The Daytime and Evening MSc Oil & Gas Management programme has enrolment dates in February, June and October each year.