December brings a lot of new things… holidays, winter, blankets, hot chocolate, decorations. At E&P it brought webinars! Normally you can visit our webinars page and see what we have coming up or On Demand. But with this month’s offerings that’s a lot of clicking. So I thought I’d post a summary of all we are offering to make sure none of you miss something you want to hear about. Dec. 3, 2009 (TODAY AT 10 A.M. CST) — Seeking Oil Assets: What Will They Cost? While high-profile shale-gas plays have made JV headlines, the biggest deals of 2009 have been acquisitions of oil-weighted producers and properties. Pritchard Capital Partners’ Steve Berman, RBC Richardson Barr’s Craig Lande and Barclays Capital’s Costanza Jacazio discuss oil futures and on North American oil-property acquisition metrics discuss their archival data and forecasts, and what oil and gas producers can expect in the oil-acquisition marketplace — both in terms of purchase price and hedging opportunities — for increasing their weighting to a North American oil-producing profile. You Will Learn: --Where the U.S. oil plays are, and what is the cost hurdle of each. --Stock-price premiums today to oil-weighted producers vs. gas-weighted producers. --An expert commodities analyst’s global oil-price forecast. --What it costs to buy into North American oil plays. To read about the speakers and to register, click here. Dec. 16, 2009 — Energy & The New White House And Congress—A Year Later; What’s Next? Bruce Vincent, chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and president of Houston-based oil and gas producer Swift Energy Co., has met this year with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid; “energy czar” Carol Browner, the special assistant to the President on energy and the environment; and Commodity Futures Trading Commission members, including chairman Gary Gensler. U.S. oil and gas producers are working on four big issues in Washington today: taxes, including the potential repeal of IDCs; environmental policy, including possible EPA regulation of hydraulic fracturing; whether the CFTC will change hedging rules; and natural gas and its place in the U.S. energy mix. You Will Learn: --The potential financial impact of currently proposed legislation affecting the energy industry, and the prospects of passage. --What is the new White House, Senate and House’s impression of the value of domestic natural energy resources — oil, natural gas, coal, hydro, solar, wind and nuclear. --Whether “climate change” legislation may reach the White House, and if it will favor cap-and-trade or a carbon tax. --If U.S. natural gas resources will be deployed in energy- and economic-independence legislation and policy. --How the U.S. energy profile — and across the diverse energy chain — will be affected (and, at times, woefully unaffected) by the current administration and Congress. To read about the speakers and to register, click here. Nov 12-Dec. 9, 2009: ‘The Energy Talent Webinar Series’ What does energy labor cost today — in cash, benefits and company culture? How to retain top talent during the downturn — and attract talent away from competitors? How to use digital due diligence in HR? How to take performance to the next level—in the midst of triage? And, what are non-energy companies’ current techniques in recruiting, retention and motivation? Energy HR professionals will get exclusive access to these answers in the new Energy Talent Webinar Series: Positioning for Success in Industry Recovery. The Line-Up: --What Energy Labor Costs Today—in Cash, Benefits, Culture – On Demand --Attracting & Retaining Top Energy Talent on The Cusp of Economic Recovery – On Demand --HR Sourcing Forensics: Digital Due Diligence in the Era of Social Media – On Demand --Organization Survival: Taking Performance to the Next Level — in the Midst of Triage – Dec. 9 Each webinar will qualify for PHR, SPHR and GPHR recertification credit hours. To read about the speakers and to register, click here. Complimentary Webinars Dec. 8, 2009 — How BP Derives Business Benefit From Technology-Driven Initiatives Tune into this Web-based broadcast to hear a brief presentation from Dr. Paul Stone, a BP technology director with considerable experience in deriving business benefits from technology initiatives, including the use of predictive analytics. You’ll be able to ask Dr. Stone your questions and, in addition, listen in as he discusses technology, business management and cultural issues with oil and gas industry managers from leading technology providers. You Will Learn: -- Achieving real-time collaboration across multiple disciplines. -- Workflow as a ruling management concept. -- Getting closer to “closed-loop control” in the upstream. -- The growing impact of analytics and modeling. To read about the speakers and to register, click here. Dec. 10, 2009 — Using Digital Oilfield Information For Asset Improvement The upstream petroleum industry faces a range of challenges when it comes to realizing the full value of its capital assets. These include increasing project complexity, inadequate cost controls and a shortage of experienced personnel capable of managing larger or a greater number of projects. During the webinar experts will explore how the use of readily available “field” information can improve decision-making across the E&P life-cycle. You Will Learn: --A framework — including assessment, business-case development and implementation stages — that assures full benefits are realized from Digital Oilfield projects. --Commercially available tools and methodologies that can improve time-to-benefit for Digital Oilfield investments. --Empowered collaboration among diverse disciplines as a means to improved decision-making — including for production forecasting, vendor-performance evaluation and the integration of field data. --Real-life scenarios for production engineers, operations managers and financial analysts, focused on field operations and asset management. To read about the speakers and to register, click here. Dec. 17, 2009 — Storm Clouds Ahead: The Longer-Term Forecast For Weather-Related Impact On Natural Gas During this webinar, Dr. Michael Ferrari, industry-recognized vice president of applied technology and commodity research for Weather Trends International, will review the short-term U.S. weather pattern, then move into a seasonal outlook, highlighting those periods in which gas demand is likely to be high or low. In addition, it will be made clear why the Weather Trends forecast is different from many of other winter outlooks, and how this fits in the context of today's commodity markets — and producers’ hedging decision-making. Also included in this broadcast will be a demonstration of the ability to use data from multiple sources in an interactive, visual presentation that improves the process of extracting understanding and insight in complex and dynamic energy markets. To read about the speakers and to register, click here.