Postgraduate Economics 2018-2019

This course will introduce students to key techniques from economics and finance allowing them to understand the business decision making relevant to the petroleum industry and decommissioning.  Students will learn how these principles help explain how investment and disinvestment decisions (such as cessation of production) are taken, how oil markets operate, and the government's role in setting environmental regulations and taxation allowances. 

The course will cover the main elements of Microeconomic Theory focusing on how they apply in the energy sector. The aim of the course is to provide students with an understanding of how economic entities, consumers and producers/firms, make choices. To do that, the content of the course will develop the participant's ability to apply core microeconomic principles and analytical methods in relation to relevant theory and model-based analysis. As well as to familiarise himself/herself with different methods of analysis adopted by economists through an awareness of the importance of model building and the choice of assumptions.

The course will focus on consumer theory,  examining how consumers make chooses, under the constraint of a budget, to generate demands. This theory could be extended to include choice under uncertainty and intertemporal choice. Producer theory will also be examined providing an understanding of how firms decide what and how much to produce. The demand and supply side will be drawn together to consider the different market structures and how they determine the price and quantity at which the good will be traded in the market. Other relevant topics, such as auctions and contract structure could be covered.

The course will cover the main elements of Microeconomic Theory focusing on how they apply in the energy sector. The aim of the course is to provide students with an understanding of how economic entities, consumers and producers/firms, make choices. To do that, the content of the course will develop the participant's ability to apply core microeconomic principles and analytical methods in relation to relevant theory and model-based analysis. As well as to familiarise himself/herself with different methods of analysis adopted by economists through an awareness of the importance of model building and the choice of assumptions.

The course will focus on consumer theory,  examining how consumers make chooses, under the constraint of a budget, to generate demands. This theory could be extended to include choice under uncertainty and intertemporal choice. Producer theory will also be examined providing an understanding of how firms decide what and how much to produce. The demand and supply side will be drawn together to consider the different market structures and how they determine the price and quantity at which the good will be traded in the market. Other relevant topics, such as auctions and contract structure could be covered.

Dissertation project for MSc Law & Economics of Oil and Gas