Recent trends in the marketplace and the increased pace of liberalisation have joined to raise interest in natural gas storage in both traditional and new market participants. This seminar provides a practitioner’s view of the fundamentals necessary to balance cost vs. benefit, the daily optimization and the practical exploitation of sometimes hidden storage opportunities. The role of liquidity and liberalization will be discussed as well as how to exploit storage assets under less than fully liberalized or liquid markets. The workshop will cover the basic pros and cons of various storage analytical models without demanding any prerequisite analytical skills.This seminar is taught by one of the industry's foremost storage mangement experts, who pioneered many of the techniques commonly used today. In addition, he has delivered this workshop multiple times at the largest European gas forum in Amsterdam. View Past Seminar Attendees

What You Will Learn

• What is the single most important benefit of storage ownership
• How storage assets can create their own liquidity where there is none
• When it is not appropriate to use storage
• Why is managing storage so different from other gas facilities and resources
• Why you might be overpaying for natural gas storage assets
• The role of analytics in storage management and optimization
• Alternative methods for storage valuation and management
• The laws of diminishing returns – as applied to natural gas storage
• Why liquidity matters so much
• Why volatility is your friend
• Hands on practical examples works

Seminar Agenda

8:30 am.to 9:00 am - Registration

Fundamentals of Asset Arbitrage

• Defining speculation vs. market making vs arbitrage
• Storage utilization and arbitrage
• The “psychology” of arbitrage
• Managing storage for energy supplies vs. profits
• Why storage is different from other energy assets
  • Hidden or “embedded” values in storage
  • Contingent or path-dependent behavior of storage
• Maintaining a profit & loss or “risk” book for storage
  • The long and short of it
  • Multiple meanings of “delta”

Practitioner’s Tricks of the Trade

• Storage analytics
  • Different methods for valuing storage
  • The “practical” differences amongst the methods
  • Why you should value storage the sameway that you plan to manage your storage
  • Extrinsic vs. intrinsicvalue of storage
• Why some companies may be overpaying for storage
• Practitioner’s guide to exercising storage options
  • Why you have to first kill some options in order to create new ones
  • Things analytics models don’t tell you
  • “Loading” the gun vs. pulling the “trigger”
• Why analytics are not perfect
• The art vs. the science of storage utilization
• Operations vs. analytics models- why they are equally important
• Managing storage like a game of chess

Examples and Hands on Practice

• High cycle vs. low cycle storage
• The laws of diminishing returns
• Liquidity and volatility
  • Fuels for the storage engine
• Management organization foroptimal storage results

4:30 pm End of Workshop

Your Instructor

Soli Forouzan is President of Mind Span, Inc., an Asset Optimization and Trading Risk Management consulting firm. Prior to holding this position he was the Chief Risk Officer for PG&E Energy Trading, overseeing all trading in electric power, natural gas and other fuels for the third largest energy trading organization in North America. In that capacity he oversaw the integration of 5,100 megawatts of acquired power generation capacity into PG&E's risk portfolio and was responsible for internal transfer pricing, risk methodology & architecture, and performance benchmarking. Soli's career spans over 20 years in the energy industry, during which time he traded one of the largest natural gas storage asset portfolios in the industry. Mr. Forouzan has been a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) since 1987 and is a frequent speaker at energy industry forums on the subjects of trading risk management and asset optimization.

Who Should Attend this Seminar?

Among those who will benefit from this seminar include energy and electric power executives; attorneys; government regulators; traders & trading support staff; marketing, sales, purchasing & risk management personnel; accountants & auditors; plant operators; engineers; and corporate planners. Types of companies that typically attend this program include electric utilities; power marketers; banks & financial houses; industrial companies; accounting, consulting & law firms; municipal utilities; government regulators and electric generators.

Prerequisites

This seminar requires a basic understanding of the natural gas industry. A knowledge of options and/or hedging techniques is helpful but not required. No advance preparation is required before the seminar. .

Why Choose PGS?

PGS seminars are known for their clear explanations and in-depth content. Register for a PGS program today, and team up with the leader in electric power and energy education. Join over 5,000 energy and financial professionals who have already attended one or more of PGS's proven courses. View Past Seminar Attendees

Hotel & Seminar Information

This seminar will be held at the hotel listed below or can be conducted on-site at your facilities. The seminar will start promptly at 9:00 AM and will finish at 4:30 PM.. The program includes continental breakfast, lunch and coffee/cookie breaks. Attendees will also receive a professionally produced seminar manual of that serves as a valuable office reference. Dress is casual for all seminars.  

Embassy Suites Houston by the Galleria
2911 Sage Road
Houston, Texas 77056
Telephone 1-713-626-5444
View Hotel Website

PGS Energy Training has secured a limited number of Embassy Suites t hotel rooms at a special discounted rate. Please dial 1-713-626-5444 and mention the PGS Energy Training event for your discounted rate. Please sign up early to receive your special room rate. This Embassy Suites frequently sells out.

Registration Fee & Discounts

Register Now and invest in your future. The price for this one-day seminar is $895 (USD).

• Additional attendees and government employees receive a 10% discount.
   
• Sign up for 4 or more classroom seats during the same month and all attendees will receive a 20% total discount. ( If you plan to register 4 or more classroom seats, but want attendees to pay by separate credit cards, register one party now and mention this fact in the "Comments" section of the registration form. We will manually subtract the 20% discount from the first registrant's seminar fee. Tell other parties in your group to mention your name when they register, and we will give them the 20% discount as well.) Please call 412-521-4737 for more information.
  

Payment & Cancellations

Payment is due prior to the start of the seminar by Visa, Master Card, American Express, Diners Club, or corporate check. Seminar fees will be charged to your credit card at the time of registration unless other arrangements have been made. Please make checks payable to "PGS Energy Training" 43 Fawnvue Drive, Suite 700 • Mckees Rocks, PA 15136. Cancellations can be made up to three (3) business days prior to the start of the seminar for a full refund. No refunds will be made thereafter, but credit will be given toward future workshops. Substitutions may be made at any time. For more information on PGS policies regarding administrative matters and complaint resolution, please contact our offices at 412-521-4737.

CPE Credits

This group live seminar is eligible for 7.0 CPE credits. Be aware that state boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. As of January 1, 2002, sponsored learning activities are measured by program length, with one 50-minute period equal to one CPE credit. One-half CPE credit increments (equal to 25 minutes) are permitted after the first credit has been earned in a given learning activity. You may want to verify that the state board from which your participants will be receiving credit accept one-half credits.

PGS  Energy Training is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA)  as a sponsor of continuing professional education  on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on  the acceptance of individual courses for CPE  credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors  may be addressed to the National Registry of  CPE Sponsors, 150 Fourth Avenue North, Suite 700, Nashville, TN, 37219-2417. Web site: www.nasba.org. CPAs interested in attending any seminars  should contact our offices for details on CPE credits granted and any prerequisite requirements.