Valuing oil properties: Integrating option pricing and decision analysis approaches

There are two major competing procedures for evaluating risky projects where managerial flexibility plays an important role: one is decision analytic, based on stochastic dynamic programming, and the other is option pricing theory (or contingent claims analysis), based on the no-arbitrage theory of financial markets. In this paper, we show how these two approaches can be profitably integrated to evaluate oil properties. We develop and analyze a model of an oil property—either a developed property or a proven but undeveloped reserve—where production rates and oil prices both vary stochastically over time and, at any time, the decision maker may terminate production or accelerate production by drilling additional wells. The decision maker is assumed to be risk averse and can hedge price risks by trading oil futures contracts. We also describe extensions of this model that incorporate additional uncertainties and options, discuss its use in exploration decisions and in evaluating a portfolio of properties rather than a single property, and briefly describe other potential applications of this integrated methodology.