Lectures. PDFs of powerpoints and readings handed out during class. Additional (after-class) exercises & readings.

There is no single text that covers all the material in this course. The following would be useful:

Oil & Gas focused

• Mian, M.A.: Project Economics and Decision Analysis, Vol. I & II, PennWell
• Campbell, J.M. Jr., Campbell, J.M. Sr., Campbell, R.A.: Analyzing and Managing Risky Investments, John M. Campbell, Norman, OK

General Engineering Economics

• Hartman, J.: Engineering Economy and Decision-Making Process, Pearson
• Park, C.S.: Fundamentals of Engineering Economics, Pearson Prentice Hall

Websites:

• www.bp.com – in depth statistical review of world energy markets
• www.finance.yahoo.com – a great source of stock price and company information
• www.eia.doe.gov – official energy statistics from the US Government

Powerpoints and Exercises (& their solutions) will be distributed on MyUni along with additional handouts.

Good sources of help with learning are the downloadable learning guides (Writing, Effective Reading, Making Notes, Time Management, Exam Prep, etc) and links to other learning resources at:
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/clpd/all/stud_resources/ 

The "Writing and Speaking at Uni" course will help with assignments. I can provide further tips on preparing presentations for those that would like them.

The block-course format (sometimes, misleadingly, called short-course) is commonly used in industry (continued professional development) and is the norm for 4th year and post-graduate courses in the ASP.

It also represents a stage when you are expected to take greater responsibility for your own learning – lectures cover the main ideas and are pointers to the topics you should learn about – rather than comprehensive coverage of the curriculum.

One of the advantages of the block-course format is that you can immerse yourself in a single subject, without distraction or having to “re-load” for each session. Another is that there is no need to force-fit the material to the 1hr lecture/tute format – each topic can be addressed in the time it needs. Yet another advantage is that it provides an opportunity for immediate feedback as exercises are carried out, and solutions presented, in-class, after the concept has been taught.

Laptops will be provided for in-class exercises – students are expected to engage with discussions.

A disadvantage is that the compressed time-scale means that you do not have as much time to let one concept sink in before moving on to another. For this reason

• ­we integrate the exercises to practice concepts immediately after learning them, before moving on to the next concept. The amount of time for in-class exercises is set such that 90% or more of students should be able to finish them.
• you are STRONGLY ADVISED to take a break after the end of class each day and then revise the day’s material for a couple of hours.

Learning tips (not just for short courses):
For most people it takes about 4 repetitions to get information into your long term memory. Apparently (can’t remember where I learnt this from) the best way to do it is to revise the information the day you learn it (2nd time), then one week later (3rd time), then one month later (4th time).

At the start of a course section, I usually provide grey-scale versions of the PowerPoint slides shown in class Students often find it useful to have several highlighter pens for use with these handouts, because I make a lot of use of colour. PDF files of the full colour PowerPoint slides will be available on MyUni after the class.

This information is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements. This course involves approximately the same number of contact hours that would be delivered in a semesterised course (45). During a semesterised course, you would be expected to spend a approximately twice the number of hours outside of class – learning the material, revising notes, reading more widely about the topics covered, after class exercises, practicing examples, finishing in-class exercises, etc. The same is true for block-course – but this must occur after the course. Do not be fooled into thinking that, apart from the follow-up assignment, “it's an intense week (and a bit), then I’m done”. To do so is likely to lead to decreased learning and poorer performance in the exam than you would otherwise achieve – you have been advised!

The overall structure of the course material is as shown below. Details of the topics to be covered each day will be provided at the introductory session on August 6th.

The main topics will include:

• Business Context of Economic Evaluation
  • ­ Industry overview. Oil & gas decisions
  • ­ Business concepts. Role of the Company and role of Engineers in decisions
  • ­ Introduction to Project Economics
• Project cash flows
  • ­ Cash Flow Components – types and sources of information
  • ­ Depreciation and Depletion
• Fiscal regimes
  • ­ Overview
  • ­ Concessionary (USA)
  • ­ Production Sharing Contracts (Indonesia)
  • ­ Australian Fiscal Regimes
• Time-Value of Money
  • ­ Economic Equivalence
  • ­ The Earning Power of money - Interest Calculations and Financial Mathematics
  • ­ The Purchasing Power of Money - Inflation
• Evaluating Investment Opportunities
  • ­ Payout and discounted payout
  • ­ Present-worth (NPV) analysis
  • ­ Rate-of-return analysis
  • ­ Capital Efficiency
• Case Study & Software Demo (PEEP)
• Project Presentations
• Self-directed learning on Economic Evaluation topics

None

Mid-course test – 10%
Assignment – 30%
Final exam – 60%

Additional assessment: if additional assessment is required for any student, the course co-ordinator reserves the right, as per university policy, to use a range of assessment measures. Such measures may include oral assessment, additional assignments, questions of the same type as the main exam and Excel-based exercises.

Formative assessment will occur through

1. Example questions/answer in class and mid-course test (see below)
2. In-class exercises with immediate feedback, and help with, answers.
3. After-class exercises, with answers provided and associated post-course consultation. Advice on getting the most out of after-class exercises will be provided during class

After-class consultation and Provision of Feedback to Students
Solutions to in-class exercises and the mid-course test will be provided in-class. Solutions to after-class exercises will be posted on My Uni within two weeks of end of class.

I will arrange several mutually convenient time-slots when I will be available, in the weeks following the class, for questions related to exercises and course content.

Final mark will be a weighted average of each component. There is no requirement to achieve a minimum mark in any individual component of the assessment

Mid-course: 35min, around 5 short-answers questions at 3:30 on 8th August. The main function of the mid-course test will be to provide further examples of the main exam and to illustrate the standard of answers expected. To facilitate this, and to provide rapid feedback, the mid-course test will be marked, and ideal answers discussed, in-class. Although the main purpose of the mid-course test is formative, a 10% contribution to final grade is awarded to incentivise full participation and therefore deriving maximum value from it. An example question and ideal answer will be provided prior to the test.

Assignment: will be in the form of a group project. Full details will be provided during the PM session on 10th August and posted on MyUni. The purpose of the assignment is two-fold. First as a component of assessment, second as a part of course content – all class members will listen to each group presentation, on 2nd and 3rd Oct. Submission of materials is by 5pm on Friday 28th Sept. A rubric will be provided to illustrate expected achievement levels for each marking criterion.

Final exam: 2.5 hours, closed-book, during the semester 2 official examination period. About 15 short-answer questions, no choice, in the same style as the course examples & the mid-course test. There will be a discussion, and illustration, of typical exam questions in the first session, and at the mid-course test.

Further details, and tips, will be discussed in class and recorded via Powerpoint slides and Handouts.

Submission of Assignment
Details will be provided in the Assignment Handout on 10th August and posted on MyUni thereafter.

Extensions for Assessment Tasks
Extensions of deadlines for assessment tasks may be allowed for reasonable causes. Such situations would include compassionate and medical grounds of the severity that would justify the awarding of a replacement examination. Evidence for the grounds must be provided when an extension is requested. Students are required to apply for an extension to the Course Co-ordinator before the assessment task is due. Extensions will not be provided on the grounds of poor prioritising of time or minor illness.

Penalty for Late Submission of Assessment Tasks
Assessment tasks must be submitted by the stated deadlines unless you have previously arranged this with Prof Begg for extenuating circumstances – (poor time planning, conflicting activities and minor illness are not extenuating circumstances). There will be a penalty for late submission of assessment tasks. The submitted work will be marked ‘without prejudice’ and 10% of the obtained mark will be deducted for each working day (or part of a day) that an assessment task is late, up to a maximum penalty of 50% of the mark attained,

An examiner may elect not to accept any assessment task that a student wants to submit after that task has been marked and feedback provided to the rest of the class.