Roger Sepkes, Managing Director of Asdem, Stuart Whitelock, Worldwide Operations Manager for Masefield, Martin Stokes recently retired from Intertek, Caleb Brett and now Asdem’s senior technical consultant and Martin Wisdom, a partner in London lawyers, Arbis LLP, have combined their many years of experience in trading, shipping, operations, inspection and contract law to provide a highly professional training course for oil operators. The objective is to give operations staff the information they require to perform their role in the cost-effective and efficient manner that oil trading now demands. Many oil and trading companies have said that their less-experienced operators benefit greatly from the knowledge that this course gives them, particularly as it draws on a wider range of experiences and viewpoints than their own organisations can normally supply.
This two-day seminar is designed to be as relevant as possible to the operator’s day-to-day responsibilities and will involve active participation by the delegates. The emphasis throughout will be on avoiding expensive errors and anticipating the type of problems that habitually draw trading companies into disputes.
The course is aimed at Operations staff who have less than two years’ experience or who feel that they would benefit from a more structured understanding of the elements of the oil operator’s role. The comprehensive course documentation has been designed as a useful guide for future reference. The full range of topics to be covered is listed below. The course will be limited to a maximum of twenty-four delegates, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
THE SPEAKERS
Stuart Whitelock B.Sc.(Hons). Stuart served as a Navigating Officer on tankers for 12 years and has a degree in Shipping Business Studies. He headed up the Operations team of a large London trader for many years. Over the last ten years Stuart has founded several entrepreneurial businesses including an oil environmental company, an oil consultancy company and an international import and export business specialising in environmental technologies. He is now head of operations worldwide for Masefield, a well-known international trading group.
Martin Stokes B.Sc.(Hons). Martin trained as an analytical chemist and worked initially for ICI before joining the international inspection company, Caleb Brett, in 1975. He has been based in Houston, Singapore and Nigeria and obtained first-hand operational experience working with the Sumed pipeline in Egypt. He has wide experience of all aspects of quality and inspection relating to oil cargoes. He recently retired from his role in Intertek Caleb Brett coordinating all the company’s inspections in Europe, Africa and the Middle East and is now Asdem senior technical consultant.
Martin Wisdom, Partner, Arbis LLP. Martin Wisdom qualified as a solicitor while at Joynson Hicks (now Taylor Wessing). In 1982 he joined Horrocks & Co, becoming a partner in 1986 and has specialised in charterparty, bill of lading and commodity trading disputes with a particular emphasis on those arising in connection with the oil industry. He was a founding partner of Waterson Hicks in 1990 and established Arbis LLP with several other partners and lawyers from Waterson Hicks in October 2009. A supporting member of the LMAA, he has published a number of articles and given lectures on various legal/maritime issues primarily in the oil trading/tanker chartering field.
Roger Sepkes FEI, Managing Director, Asdem Ltd. He has had a wide-ranging career during more than 40 years in the oil industry, initially in distribution, shipping and refining with Petrofina in London and Brussels. Subsequently, he was a director of an independent storage company and then spent many years as an oil trader. He frequently acts as an arbitrator and mediator in trading and shipping disputes. He set up Asdem at the suggestion of several oil trading companies in 1988. Asdem Ltd is an independent consultancy that specialises in the recovery of claims and the settlement of disputes and operational problems arising from charter parties and oil trading contracts.
TOPICS - DAY 1
09.30 Introduction to Oil Operations (Stuart Whitelock)
· The role of the Operator
· Strategies to avoid errors
· Proactive operations and planning
· Protecting the trader’s bottom line
10.45 Coffee
11.00 Oil sales contracts (Roger Sepkes)
· FOB, CIF, CFR, DES and hybrid contracts - Incoterms 2000
· Bills of Lading – Document of title, receipt for goods and pricing mechanism
· Letters of Indemnity
· Nomination clauses
· “Final and binding” save for manifest error
· Dispute resolution: High Court, Arbitration and Mediation
12.00 Marine Operations - Pre-empting and avoiding problems (Stuart Whitelock)
· How to draft voyage orders
· Understanding Letters of Credit
· Basic principles of Cargo Insurance
· How to make successful cargo insurance claims
13.00 Lunch
14.15 Working with Independent Inspectors (Martin Stokes)
· How to optimise the Inspection company service
· Pre-empting quantity shortages
· Why sampling is critical to cargo quality
· Interpreting certificates of quality and the
significance of test results
· Repeatability and Reproducibility
· Dealing with off-specification cargoes
15.30 Tea
16.00 Dealing with off-specification cargoes (Martin Stokes/Stuart Whitelock)
· How to load, carry and discharge crude and product cargoes and avoid problems.
· Handling special cargoes in difficult circumstances. Crude oil, VGO. LSWR, Jet Fuel.
· Causes of contamination on board ship and how to avoid them
· Case studies on quality and quantity issues
17.00 End
17.15 Cocktail reception
TOPICS - DAY 2
09.30 Fundamentals of English contract law (Martin Wisdom)
· What do you need to make an enforceable contract?
· Different categories of contract terms – conditions, intermediate clauses, warranties and implied terms
· Negotiating contracts - the “last shot doctrine”
· Ambiguous clauses – The “contra preferentum” rule
· Mistake and duress
· Force majeure clauses
· Managing contracts - variation, waiver and estoppel
· Breach of contract – the recovery of damages, minimising one’s losses
· Jurisdiction & Law
10.45 Coffee
11.00 What operators need to know about demurrage and why (Roger
Sepkes)
· Why is demurrage such a complex subject?
· Laydays. Accepting vessels arriving early/late
· Laytime allowance
· When laytime begins and ends
· Exceptions to laytime
· Demurrage in sales contracts
· Pro rating laytime and the demurrage rate
.
12.00 How to avoid and minimise claims (Roger Sepkes)
· Day-to-day operation of sales contracts
· Time bars and how to avoid them
· Companies’ general terms and conditions
· Writing sensible clauses in sales contracts
12.45 Lunch
14.00 Problem solving and trouble shooting (Interactive session) (Stuart
Whitelock/ Roger Sepkes)
· Case studies on problems encountered by oil operators
· Practising negotiating techniques
16.30 Open discussion and summing up
17.00 End
COST
The fee for this intensive 2-day seminar is £880.00 plus VAT at 17.5%. Under U.K. Excise regulations all delegates are required to pay VAT on conferences and seminars held in the U.K. (Delegates from outside the UK should be able to reclaim the VAT and we can provide details on request). This fee includes all refreshments, lunches and the course documentation, but not accommodation. If you require accommodation, our special delegate rate at The Radisson Portman Blu Hotel (tel: +44 207 208 6000) for a limited number of bedrooms is currently £189.00 night including breakfast and VAT. Expotel, our reservations agents can offer competitive rates at other hotels nearby. Contact them on +44 141 331 1771, quoting our reference “ASDLON” or e-mail glres@expotel.com. This is a free service to delegates.
GROUP BOOKINGS
When 3 or more bookings for this seminar are made by one company a discount of 10% will be available for all the delegates.
HOW TO REGISTER
Please confirm your reservation either on line at www.asdem.co.uk, by fax on +44 (0)20 7499 5270, or by post to:
ASDEM Ltd., 6 Brook Street, London W1S 1BB, UK
Bookings may be made by telephone but must be confirmed in writing. If you have not received your joining instructions by 12 April 2010, please contact us to make sure we have received your booking.
PAYMENT
Payment may be made by cheque, credit card or by direct bank transfer to Barclays Bank PLC, Hanover Square Corporate Banking Group, PO Box 15163H, 50 Pall Mall, London SW1A 1QD. Bank Sort Code: 20-36-47. IBAN Code: GB80 BARC 2036 4740 1299 17. Account Number: 40129917. When paying by bank transfer please quote our invoice number and the names of your delegates. Payment must be received prior to the seminar.
CANCELLATIONS
Cancellations must be received in writing by 12 April 2010 and will be subject to an administration fee of £130.00. It is regretted that cancellations received after 12 April 2010 cannot be accepted and your company will be liable for the full fee. Substitutions may be made at any time.
ENQUIRIES
Enquiries, telephone bookings, and changes to delegate information should be made on +44 (0)20 7493 0973. Please inform us in advance if you have any special dietary requirements.
