The Finance & Economics Lead is responsible for the financial planning, economic evaluation, and commercial analysis of the company's exploration, development, and production activities. The role combines conventional corporate finance with petroleum economics, providing the modelling, valuation, and decision-support that underpin field development, investment, and portfolio decisions. The Lead ensures that capital is allocated to the highest-value opportunities and that financial and fiscal obligations across the asset lifecycle are accurately forecast, monitored, and reported.
Key Responsibilities
Petroleum & Field Economics - Build and maintain full-cycle economic models for exploration, appraisal, development, and production assets, including reserves-based valuations and decline-curve-driven production forecasts. - Evaluate field development options and phasing using discounted cash flow techniques (NPV, IRR, payback, profitability index) and rank opportunities across the portfolio. - Model fiscal terms under the applicable regime — Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs), royalty/tax systems, cost recovery, and profit-oil splits — and assess their impact on project value and government take. - Conduct sensitivity, scenario, and probabilistic analysis on oil and gas price, cost, production, and timing assumptions to quantify risk and value drivers.
Financial Planning & Analysis - Lead annual budgeting, quarterly reforecasting, and long-range planning for CAPEX, OPEX, and lifting costs across operated and non-operated assets. - Track and analyze unit costs (finding, development, and operating costs per barrel) and benchmark performance against plan and industry norms. - Prepare cash flow forecasts and funding requirements to support corporate liquidity and financing decisions.
Investment Appraisal & Decision Support - Prepare investment cases, authorization’s for expenditure (AFEs), and board-level papers for drilling, development, and acquisition/divestment (A&D) decisions. - Provide commercial evaluation for farm-in/farm-out, bid rounds, and joint venture opportunities, including due diligence support and valuation of target assets. - Advise management on the economic and financial implications of operational, technical, and strategic choices.
Commercial, Contract & Stakeholder Management - Support negotiation and administration of joint operating agreements (JOAs), PSCs, gas sales, and offtake arrangements, ensuring economic terms are accurately reflected in models and forecasts. - Manage joint venture financial interfaces, including partner billings, cash calls, cost recovery statements, and audit responses. - Liaise with government bodies, regulators, partners, auditors, and lenders on financial, fiscal, and economic matters.
Reporting & Governance - Deliver timely and accurate management reporting on asset performance, project economics, and portfolio value. - Ensure compliance with relevant oil and gas accounting standards, fiscal reporting obligations, and internal controls. - Contribute to reserves reporting processes by providing the economic assumptions used in reserves classification.
Leadership - Lead, mentor, and develop a small team of finance and economics analysts. - Champion consistent modelling standards, assumptions, and best practice across the finance and commercial functions.
Qualifications & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in finance, Economics, Engineering, or a related quantitative discipline; a Master's degree or professional qualification (e.g. CFA, ACCA, CPA, CIMA) is preferred. - Typically 10+ years of relevant experience, with a significant portion in oil and gas finance, petroleum economics, or upstream commercial roles. - Demonstrated experience building full-cycle petroleum economic models and evaluating field development or investment decisions. - Working knowledge of PSC and other fiscal regimes, joint venture accounting, and the upstream asset lifecycle.
Technical Skills
- Advanced financial and economic modelling in Excel; experience with specialist tools (e.g. PEEP, Merak/Peep, PetroVR, @RISK, or equivalent) is an advantage. - Strong command of DCF valuation, fiscal modelling, and risk/sensitivity analysis. - Familiarity with oil and gas accounting conventions (successful efforts / full cost) and reserves concepts (1P/2P/3P). - Comfortable interpreting production profiles, reserves reports, and technical inputs from subsurface and engineering teams.
Core Competencies
- Strong commercial and analytical judgement, with the ability to translate technical detail into clear financial insight. - Excellent communication skills, able to present complex economics to executive and non-financial audiences. - High attention to detail and integrity in handling assumptions, data, and reporting. - Ability to manage multiple assets and deadlines in a dynamic, capital-intensive environment. - Collaborative approach across finance, subsurface, engineering, legal, and commercial functions.