Determining the discount rate for complex investment projects in oil and gas industry

Abstract

In the investment programs of modern oil and gas companies (i.e., PJSC Lukoil Oil Company, PJSC Gazprom, PJSC Novatek), complex projects are gaining more and more attention, and in this case the efficiency for an investor should be assessed in terms of the overall effectiveness of projects. As an object of research, the authors consider a set of projects for the types of gas production and transportation activities. This paper studies the question of finding a discount rate with a focus on specific features of oil and gas industry. The relevance of the chosen topic is determined by the need to find a balanced rate of return of a complex investment project for inclusion in the investment portfolio of an oil and gas company. When evaluating the economic efficiency of complex projects that include subprojects of various types, such as mining or transportation, the discount rate of the entire project should be in balance with the regulatory rates for the types of activities presented in the project. In their work, the authors, drawing on the analysis of the formulas of the mathematical apparatus for calculating complex discount rate, propose a variant of calculating the internal rate of return (IRR) for a group of projects for which there is a formed level of normative values of IRR. The article is designed within the framework of economic research methods. The analysis of scientific literature and the comparative approach are combined with the use of methods of economic and mathematical modeling. The theoretical significance of the study consists in the description of the main postulates related to the analysis of profitability of investment projects in oil and gas industry. The practical significance lies in the development of approaches to determining the discount rate when assessing the economic efficiency of complex high-risk projects on the example of gas industry and the possibility of using these approaches in investment and strategic analysis of oil and gas companies.