Senior Commercial & Economics Manager

Job Overview

The Senior Commercial & Economics Manager will oversee economic assessments, commercial structuring, and value enhancement for UCC Holding's upstream oil and gas portfolio. This role plays a pivotal part in guiding investment decisions for exploration, development, acquisitions, and portfolio oversight by delivering thorough economic and fiscal analyses alongside commercial strategies.

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead comprehensive economic evaluations for exploration, development, and producing assets within a global upstream portfolio.
• Develop and maintain intricate economic models analyzing NPV, IRR, break-even points, cash flows, and sensitivity to variables.
• Perform scenario and risk analyses concerning prices, costs, fiscal terms, and schedules to inform investment choices.
• Support internal sanction processes including Concept Selection, Final Investment Decisions, and portfolio reviews.
• Ensure alignment of economic assumptions with planning frameworks, price forecasts, and capital allocation policies.
• Assess fiscal regimes, Production Sharing Contracts, concessions, royalties, and taxation across multiple jurisdictions.
• Analyze how fiscal terms impact project economics and uncover optimization opportunities.
• Assist in negotiations with governments, regulators, and partners on commercial and fiscal agreements.
• Provide benchmarking reports on international fiscal regimes for competitive assessment.
• Guide portfolio management by screening and ranking investments based on risk, value, and strategic fit.
• Identify prospects for portfolio enhancement including divestitures, farm-ins, farm-outs, and acquisitions.
• Offer commercial perspectives contributing to corporate strategy and long-term planning.
• Support commercial structuring of joint ventures, farm-ins, farm-outs, and strategic partnerships, ensuring risk and commercial frameworks are well defined.
• Provide input in partner negotiations and joint operating agreements.
• Evaluate commercial structures for new ventures, developments, production, and infrastructure projects.
• Oversee contract negotiations, drafting, and administration to secure favorable terms and ensure compliance.
• Monitor trends in the global upstream oil and gas sector including M&A activities, market shifts, pricing, costs, and competitors.
• Deliver strategic market insights to senior management regarding opportunities, risks, and investment trends.
• Collaborate with business development on evaluation of new acreage and acquisitions.
• Serve as a key advisor to senior leaders on economic and commercial subjects.
• Lead and mentor commercial and economic analysis teams.
• Work collaboratively with subsurface, development, finance, and business development functions.
• Present investment proposals and portfolio recommendations to executive and board members.

Qualifications and Experience

• Degree in Economics, Finance, Petroleum Engineering, Geoscience, or a related field.
• At least 10 years' experience in commercial, economic, or strategy roles within upstream oil and gas.
• Proficiency in Arabic is an asset.
• Exposure to economics across exploration, development, and producing assets.
• Strong grasp of upstream commercial structures and investment committee support.

Technical Skills

• Expertise in advanced economic modelling and valuation techniques.
• Competency in portfolio optimization and investment screening.
• Knowledge of project development economics and risk analysis processes.
• Commercial negotiation acumen.
• Advanced skills in Excel-based economic modelling.
• Familiarity with industry datasets such as Wood Mackenzie.

Core Competencies

• Strong commercial awareness and value-driven decision-making.
• Ability to integrate technical, financial, and strategic viewpoints.
• Effective communication of complex analyses to senior leadership.
• Excellent teamwork across various disciplines.