Senior Commercial Advisor - Gas Business Development

OBJECTIVE/PURPOSE Provides senior advisory support within the Gas Business Development Division in identifying and developing new business opportunities locally, regionally, and internationally across upstream, midstream, and downstream avenues.

OBJECTIVE/PURPOSE  

• Provides senior advisory support within the Gas Business Development Division in identifying and developing new business opportunities locally, regionally, and internationally across upstream, midstream, and downstream avenues to promote the company’s growth strategy and increase profitability across the group, including its subsidiaries and business alliances.
• Promotes new commercial opportunities to support the international vision and mission of NGC and create exceptional value from natural gas and related energy businesses through valued partnerships and arrangements.

FUNCTIONS

• Develops the business case for new business opportunities and coordinates cross functional teams to develop strategy and tactics for evaluating business opportunities in alignment with NGC Strategic Pillars utilizing NGC and Commercial Group Project Management stage process. Coordinates and is able to lead the project evaluation presentations to defend business case recommendations.
• Develops and assesses terms of reference to conduct project evaluation feasibility studies, prepares market analysis reports and reviews business proposals to ensure alignment with corporate strategy.
• Coordinates NGC’s due diligence efforts on upstream, midstream and downstream organic and inorganic opportunities to ensure alignment with the company’s strategic pillars and coordinate multidisciplinary teams as required handling business development due diligence to determine if proposed project meets the criteria for progression along the NGC Project management Methodology.
• Able to lead value optimisation opportunities for increased utilization of NGC’s existing infrastructure within the business development portfolio and advances opportunities according to plan and stipulated PMM stage gates.
• Has deep knowledge of economic models and ensures that key assumptions and components used are accurate and properly documented when executing sensitivity analyses to determine economic viability & feasibility of potential business opportunities. Considers the impact of relevant fiscal policies and can generate key economic indicators associated with quality investments and conducts sensitivity analysis to ensure alignment and accuracy.
• Prepares and updates the division’s risk management plan in conjunction with the Commercial Group risk management plans and monitors division’s risk mitigation strategies to reach ALARP (as low as reasonably possible) levels.
• Conducts Bid Evaluations and prepares recommendations in accordance with NGC 's Tender Rules and Regulations
• Reviews contracts to identify risks, flags issues pertaining to liability clauses. Reviews and makes recommendations to mitigate risks and issues in accordance with existing contract terms within set time frames.
• Remains current on industry transactions / trends and metrics to assess rate of return of opportunities, assess relevant economic factors and makes a determination on the viability of the proposed opportunity.
• Supports the Vice President, Commercial and Gas Business Development Manager in all negotiations of new contracts including but not limited to memorandums of understanding, project agreements, shareholders agreements and purchase and sales agreements etc and advances the development of the suite of agreements to initiate new business endeavours for the NGC by applying approved negotiation framework at all relevant stages of the contract and conducts dispute resolution interventions to mitigate risk and obtain the best possible outcomes for the NGC. Makes recommendations on best alternatives for negotiated positions during the negotiation.
• Prepares internal position papers to elaborate on potential investment opportunities and in seeking internal approvals for moving opportunities along the NGC project management methodology.
• Leads assigned NGC corporate requirements to ensure compliance and alignment with departmental and company goals.
• Collaborates with internal stakeholders to ensure agreements are executed and participates in financial review of projects.
• Engages and collaborates with relevant external stakeholders to ascertain market intelligence, collect data, negotiate business ventures, and ensure alignment of relevant initiatives.
• Interprets and negotiates contracts, operating agreements and other legal documents to minimize exposures to liabilities.
• Provides mentorship to Commercial Advisors/Commercial Analysts to grow their commercial, business development and economic modelling acumen and competence
• Provides feedback to the Gas Business Development Manager on task achievement and responsibilities delegated to Commercial Advisors and Commercial Analysts.
• Executes any other related duties as assigned.

 MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

The minimum requirements for the position are:

• BSc, Engineering, Geology, Law or Economics
• Recognised certificate in contract management would be an asset.
• A minimum of ten (10) years’ professional experience in the energy sector with over three (3) years relevant experience in a senior commercial advisory or business development role

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

Knowledge of:

• Oil and gas industry locally, regionally and internationally
• Joint operating agreements/unitisation agreement
• Risk management methodology
• Mergers, acquisitions and disposals
• Allocation methodology including modelling, commercial agreements, hydrocarbon value chain, global energy industry trends
• Types of government imposed taxes in energy and related industries
• Natural gas management systems
• Phases in the NGC Project Management methodology
• Economic indicators associated with investment quality, economic models, sensitivity, probabilistic and deterministic analyses
• Commodity price forecast
• Varying types of commercial contracts.

Skills:

• Relationship management and Networking (Customer and Stakeholder)
• Communication (oral and written)
• Negotiation and conflict management
• Problem Solving and analytics
• Planning and organising
• Business and commercial acumen
• Technical and Professional:

Investment Management, Commodity Price Forecasting, Contract Negotiation and Management, Management of Non-Operating Venture Commercial Arrangements, Commercial Assurance Management, Business Opportunity Development, Market and Trade Opportunity Development, Project Management

KEY ATTRIBUTES

• Ability to network, partner and collaborate with stakeholders and build strategic alliances without conflict
• Ability to effectively communicate and deliver presentations to NGC Group Presidents and Leadership Team
• Ability to build NGC brand locally, regionally and internationally through leading presentations, preparing and presenting technical papers and representing NGC at panel discussions
• Ability to translate complex financial information into an organised easy to understand presentable manner
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with employees, supervisors, other departments, and the public.
• Ability to lead certain aspects of complex multiparty negotiations of multiple commercial agreements simultaneously
• Ability to lead multidisciplinary teams through the NGC PMM stage gas process.
• Ability to draft and administer commercial agreements,
• Highly engaging leadership style, ability to connect well and lead diverse teams.
• Is process driven with the ability to perform work independently by following an associated process strictly and persistently.
• Attention to detail, requires being careful and thorough about details, recognising the impact of decisions.
• Results oriented, requires establishing and maintaining challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
• Service oriented, ability to engage and effectively manage customer expectations.
• Complex problem-solving skills, ability to identify complex problems and review related information to develop and evaluate options and identify solutions.