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EXECUTIVE MBA
IN ENERGY
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With a legacy spanning more than a century, the University of Oklahoma has consistently led the forefront of energy education and leadership. Our Executive MBA in Energy program stands out for its focused commitment to the energy field and has been meticulously refined to stay in perfect sync with the industry’s ever-changing landscape.
Backed by a rigorous curriculum crafted by global energy leaders and subject matter experts, the program seamlessly merges business acumen with energy expertise. Specializations in Renewables and Hydrocarbons offer tailored paths for future leaders.
Program
Overview
Join the C-Suite with an Executive MBA in Energy from the University of Oklahoma. Offered by the Price College of Business, the EMBA in Energy empowers professionals to grow their careers in leadership roles within the dynamic energy industry. Students select an area of specialization in Hydrocarbons or Renewables and will complete the primarily online program in 15 months.
Two Specializations
Specialize in Hydrocarbons or Renewables, giving you the options that best meet your career goals.
Executive Coach
Our executive coach brings energy industry career expertise to accelerate your career.
Expert-Led
Learn from expert faculty who work in senior leadership positions at PwC, bp, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), ConocoPhillips, and other Fortune 100 energy companies – all with extensive experience in energy.
In-Person Residencies
Students participate in three 7-to-10-day residencies. Two are on campus in Oklahoma. One is for 10 days in Europe, which provides invaluable global experiences and opportunities to engage with your peers in the field.
Expansive Energy Network
Develop valuable energy industry contacts among your classmates, instructors, and a global network of energy leaders who are proud to be OU Alumni. We selected each student in this program for their experience in the energy industry.
Program
Requirements
The EMBA in Energy program is highly selective. We evaluate applicants based on their professional experience, their potential to make rich contributions to the learning experiences of others and their academic suitability for graduate study. A GMAT or GRE score is not required, however, to be considered for admission to the EMBA in Energy, applicants should have:
- A bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution
- At least seven years of total work experience*
- Preference for active employment and some experience in the management of people, projects, or business units.
- A minimum of two years of work experience in the energy industry. This can include working for an energy company, energy-related company or energy-related work within a company.
*We will consider exceptional students with fewer than seven years of work experience if they can demonstrate a high level of responsibility and achievement.
- Resume
- Letter of Corporate Acknowledgement – This should come from the applicant’s employer on corporate letterhead. It can be from a supervisor, manager, HR department, etc.
- Personal Statement – To help the admissions committee gain a better understanding of you, your professional accomplishments to date and your career aspirations
- International students may be asked to submit either a TOEFL or an IELTS score
The 36-credit hour program consists of six online modules and three in-person residencies. The residencies consist of two weeks spent on the OU campus and an international perspective on the energy industry in Europe.
CORE COURSES
ELECTIVES – HYDROCARBONS
ELECTIVES – RENEWABLES
CORE COURSES
An introduction to the global energy industry’s past, present, and future, along with the history and current issues/challenges that different regions face. The course provides a broad look at the fundamentals (resources, politics, culture, regulatory and legal framework plus environmental issues) that impact world energy supply and demand.
Examines global energy policy and regulatory development emphasizing: resource access, business- government relations, environmental protection, social responsibility, and sustainability. Topics explored from the perspectives of government, business, citizens and civil society stakeholder groups, emphasizing unique positions of various major energy-producing regions worldwide. Students demonstrate how to manage and mitigate political risk through participation in a political simulation exercise on energy development.
This course provides an overview of the power systems and environmental consequence, fundamental principles in electric circuit theory, a working knowledge of the principles and practices of the electrical power industry regarding regulations, utility rates, generation, transmission, and distribution, and the role of renewable energy in the power markets, an understanding of how in an electricity grid, power generation and power consumption are closely matched, smart grid, integrating renewable energy resources into the grid, and the role of energy storage, and an understanding of general business model of regulated and unregulated utilities, generation options and economic dispatch.
This course uses concepts from financial accounting and managerial accounting and applies them to specific reporting issues in the energy industry as well as presentation of the information on the financial statements of an oil and gas company. Reviews the accounting cycle with an emphasis on the proper accounting treatment of energy-related activities, actions (e.g., acquisition of mineral interests).
Provides a strong foundation for an understanding of financial markets and the main types of securities traded in these markets. The topics covered in the course include trading structure, risk and return, portfolio theory, asset pricing models, market efficiency and an introduction to the nature and valuation of equities, bonds, and options.
Provides a comprehensive review of the organization and structure of the market for energy assets and commodities: including trading platforms, pricing issues, forecasting, role and linkage with associated futures, forwards and options contracts, “basis” and spreads, hedging strategies, the principles governing the valuation of these “derivative” securities, and the ways in which these securities can be used effectively.
This course will focus on understanding and applying quantitative methods and models in the context of energy management. The content of this course is organized around three modules: summarizing quantitative data: relating and comparing data: and, predicting outcomes based on sample data. The topics covered in these modules include descriptive statistics, associative statistics, regression, multiple regression, and inferential statistics.
Sustainability factors are part of the fundamentals needed to attain higher returns, organizational resilience, and stakeholder trust. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks have gained increasing attention, and organizations are seeking to proactively manage and report on their ESG risks. This course will provide an understanding of ESG and how to implement sustainable ESG requirements.
Considers interest in renewable energy from the view that meeting global energy demand is “all of the above.” Examines traditional energy firms possibly adding alternative energy to its offerings. Provides student with a broad overview of how renewable energy affects markets today, renewable energy technology, and its cost effectiveness compared to other energy sources and its future penetration rate projections.
Provides students with the analytical and conceptual skills required in the modern practice of corporate financial management in energy organizations. Will focus on three key areas: (1) optimal allocation of capital; (2) optimal choices for raising capital; (3) optimal management of risk in conjunction with (1) and (2), including measuring and managing risks in energy companies.
For students responsible for leading and managing HR in the energy industry and seeks to increase students’ understanding of individual behavior in organizations. Explores theories and concepts of organizational behavior to address managerial problems. Topics include: management challenges; the use of evidence-based management: managing diversity; motivating, evaluating, and rewarding employees: and creating a positive work environment and achieving personal well-being.
Provides an overview of data analytics and how orgs use this capability to deliver value to their customers and remain competitive in the marketplace. The focus of the course is on the targeting and management of orgs’ analytics investments and analytics-enabled business solutions, not on the engineering of these capabilities. Participants will have the chance to gain hands on experience with modern analytics techniques including data management, forecasting, machine learning, visualization, cybersecurity, governance and how capabilities in these areas can deliver organizational value.
Economic concepts and analysis as used in managerial decision-making in energy companies with emphasis on demand, supply, market equilibrium, elasticity, perfect competition, external effects and public goods, market power and monopoly, natural monopolies, dominance and economic regulation, mergers, cartels, collusion and antitrust, oligopolistic models, GDP, unemployment rates, and price indices, and the interrelations among the different sectors of the economy.
Examines management decisions and actions to improve an organization’s competitiveness in global business environments. Uses a variety of pedagogies to integrate strategies, and students will develop skills to formulate, implement, and evaluate organizational strategies that play across the energy industry in rapidly changing environments.
Carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide, or Greenhouse Gas Emissions, that organizations contribute to the environment. This course is on developing and implementing a long-term carbon management plan to provide an organization with strategies and steps to reduce their carbon footprint and remain competitive in a low carbon economy.
Security and resilience mechanisms by design are important to provide guarantee operations for the system. The smart grid is a large-scale complex system that integrates communication technologies with the physical layer operation of the energy systems. This course covers introductory topics in cyber-physical systems security, provides a layered perspective of the smart grid security and provides an overview of the interactions among system components and the interaction between external forces and the system, breaches and enforcement, standardization, best practices, policies, privacy, and legal issues.
Provides a theoretical understanding and skill development necessary for being an effective leader and managing organizational change. Identify ways to become a more effective leader by applying theories of human behavior to solve day-to-day problems of organizational administration. Examines core decision- making challenges, complex change scenarios, and leadership approaches and strategies to manage change in the context of the energy industry.
ELECTIVES – HYDROCARBONS
An overview of supply chain management principles and management considerations vis-a-vis the energy industry. Students are exposed to frameworks to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of a supply chain function, methodologies for managing organizational expenditures, and techniques for maximizing value from supply chain operations. Additional topics are: strategic sourcing, inventory management, global sourcing, contract management, and ethics.
From “wellhead to burner-tip” or “shale to sail” – This course will cover the law and regulation related to the full value chain of energy: upstream, midstream (transport, gathering, processing, fractionation); downstream (oil, gas, liquids – petrochem, refining, industrial, commercial, residential). This class will primarily focus on oil and gas but will also cover electric, coal, renewable, and international energy.
This course brings together concepts to make better economic decisions in the energy industry. Examines ways to evaluate an energy project’s economic viability from an investment opportunity and develop the skills needed to make economic evaluations to assess such projects. The participants perform economic evaluations of field development projects and practice creating value during negotiation skills for an oilfield acquisition.
Covers the challenges faced by the energy industry in developing new markets for its products, and how to manage customer and client relations. Students will learn practical marketing tools and how they can be used to affect corporate strategy. Topics include the strategic marketing process, oil, gas and NGL valuation, market segmentation, supply chain and logistics, pricing mechanisms and hedging.
The hydrocarbon industry is under increasing pressure to reduce costs and increase efficiencies so it can remain competitive in an evolving energy landscape. Capital constraints are more firmly in place, there are fewer cost saving opportunities to wring from an already stressed supply chain, and there is a greater scrutiny on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the entire hydrocarbon value chain. Effectively managing these multiple demands, while respecting emerging operational and fiscal constraints, requires fundamentally new approaches to developing and operating in hydrocarbon value chain. Emerging technologies and innovations, which are the foci of this course, is at the heart of these efforts.
The course is designed to teach students how to secure investments for hydrocarbon projects and will encompass the information, layout, and steps involved to do so, including valuation, financing, structuring a deal, addressing environmental considerations, and presentation.
ELECTIVES – RENEWABLES
Innovations in renewable energy encompass all new approaches that help to overcome barriers and result in an accelerated deployment of renewables to support the energy transition. Innovation is the engine that powers the ongoing transformation of the global energy system and a multitude of innovative solutions have been key to making renewables into the competitive energy option that they are today. The pace of renewable energy innovation, meanwhile, keeps accelerating, with power generation solutions at the forefront. This course provides a broad overview about energy-related innovation and technology issues and what they may mean for the future of energy and energy transition.
To reduce the uncertainty inherent in demand and generation, system operators rely upon load and generation forecasts to balance electricity supply and demand. Generating forecasts are critical to reducing the uncertainty associated with variable renewable energy (RE) generation. This course will provide an overview on forecasting to inform estimates of the level and location of generation in the near future.
The course will be an introduction to the ethical and regulatory issues as well as the legal framework governing renewable energy production and consumption.
This course will cover advanced financial topics for renewable energy companies, such as financial statement disclosures specific to entities engaged in renewable energy, depreciation and depreciation reserves, accounting for derivatives, and tax equity and tax benefits for renewable energy industry.
This course will cover advanced financial topics for renewable energy companies, such as financial statement disclosures specific to entities engaged in renewable energy, depreciation and depreciation reserves, accounting for derivatives, and tax equity and tax benefits for renewable energy industry.
This course provides overview of preparing a business plan for a renewable energy project and how to evaluate renewable energy project financing and investment opportunities, with particular emphasis on intermittent technologies like solar and wind.
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After graduating, my OU degree continued to open more opportunities. Recruiters were calling me. Ultimately, I am fortunate to earn at least three times more in total compensation than when I started the program.
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The EMBA has allowed me to be more competitive at higher levels within my company. Since joining the program, I have changed roles within Chevron four times, increasing my responsibility with each assignment.
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My favorite aspects of the EMBA program were twofold. First, the professors teaching have real-world experience and the classes offered are immediately useful to someone in the energy industry currently. Second, my cohorts who I was in class with were very impressive and we ended up learning a lot from each other as we worked through the coursework together.
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Earning an EMBA from OU helped me to embrace leadership opportunity with deliberate purpose. Before completing my EMBA, I took my career and successes for granted. My circle of inclusion of ideas and perspective grew immensely because of my OU EMBA studies.
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