Recently, one of our Oil 101 community members reached out for some input related to his internship. Yes, people do move beyond the e-learning modules and just talk to us directly!
After all, part of being a ‘community’ is helping each other out if we can.
It was great to be able to lend a hand since he is working in a field where I have experience. He was doing a capital markets internship and was about to rotate into the commodities group. While the Oil 101 materials were giving a good overview of the entire oil and gas industry, he needed something more focused on commodity trading.
I was able to find this amazing resource put together by Professor Craig Pirrong from the University of Houston for Trafigura.
The Economics of Commodity Trading Firms
In this amazingly exhaustive white paper you will find the following sections on commodity trading fundamentals:
- The Basics of Commodity Trading
- The Risks Commodity Traders Face
- Risk Management
- Financing, Ownership Structure and Provision of Funding to Customers
- Asset Ownership
- Are Commodity Firms Too Big To Fail?
View the full Economics of Commodity Trading Firms white paper.
Who is Professor Craig Pirrong?
Dr. Pirrong is the Energy Markets Director for the Global Energy Management Institute at UofH.
From his bio:
Professor Pirrong’s research focuses on the economics of commodity markets, the relation between market fundamentals and commodity price dynamics, and the implications of this relation for the pricing of commodity derivatives.
You can view his full bio here or view his blog at streetwiseprofessor.com.
About Trafigura
Trafigura is one of the world’s largest independent commodity trading houses and is involved in oil and petroleum products, metals and minerals, and shipping.
From the Trafigura website:
We access, develop, service and sustain international commodity markets on behalf of producers and end-users. We focus energy and resources on activities that make trade work better. We invest in high-quality infrastructure and build innovative, end-to-end services that bridge the gap between buyers and sellers more effectively. Our activities help to create more efficient markets, reducing long-term costs for participants.
Have other oil and gas learning resources to recommend?
While we offer an overview of the industry through our free Oil 101 e-learning course, it is great to be able to help our community find such useful resources that are developed by some of the best minds in the industry.
Be sure to let us know what some of your favorite oil and gas learning resources are. We would be happy to share them with the community!
