Research Initial Idea: Assessment of project Maturity level within PDO
Introduction
Oil and Gas production of Sultanate of Oman accounts for 90 % of the total income. Sultanate of Oman currently produces about 940 K barrel per day. As of today, there are twenty two firms active in this sector, Ministry of Oil & Gas (2011). Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) is the largest company in the Omani oil & gas sector which accounts for 59% of the total country's oil production. The Omani government owns 60% of PDO shares , Shell owns %34 of PDO shares and the balance shares belong to Total and Partex. Early in 2000s, PDO used to produce 940 K per day but the production had been on the decrease since then i.e easy oil got produced. PDO has accomplished many seismic and subsurface studies which conclude that oil production can be enhanced with aid of secondary and tertiary recoveries such as steam and miscible gas injections. Another plan is to produce hydrocarbons from sour fields.
Project complexity
All of the above has contributed to the increase in the complexity of projects PDO is undertaking. Over the past few years, oil and gas project cost has soared up from few $ hundreds millions (large-scale projects) to few $ billons projects (mega projects). PDO recently has awarded a project called Rabab Harweel Integrated Project (RHIP) for $ 4.7 billons. Project complexities in terms of technical challenges, number of involved equipments, novelty, used material and others are among the reasons for such costly projects.
Why to assess PDO Maturity level?
A few years back, PDO commissioned its ever largest project (Harweel 2AB) which suffered from overruns in schedule and budget. The budget at completion has gone by three times and the project was delayed by a few years. The failure of this project and others have raised many concerns from shareholders and local authorities within the government over the way PDO is executing projects. As such and therefore, it is of PDO interest to assess the level of maturity of project management within the PDO i.e explore how good corporate governance practices. My dissertation/ research intends to use the Portfolio, Programme, and Project Management Maturity Model (P3M3®) for evaluating the maturity level, Murray, (n.d). This aims to
- Identify current good practices (strength)
- Identify gaps /areas of attention (weakness)
- Capitalize on available opportunities to improve project management practices (action plan).
The outcome of this research / dissertation will be shared with corporate governance for further actions. All in all this research aims to improve PDO project delivery in terms of cost, quality, and schedule and customer satisfaction.
My research topic is aimed at evaluating the economics of establishing Mini Modular Oil Refineries as a potential global solution for mopping-up Peaked-Oil Deposits,to the last drop.Globally, many Oil deposits, that are considered non-productive in our today Oil and Gas Exploration industry, are simply abandoned and left to the community vandals to exploit.
My research topic is aimed at evaluating the economics of establishing Mini Modular Oil Refineries as apotential global solution for mopping-up Peaked-Oil Deposits,to the last drop.The Objective here is to design a new business model that can utilize the concept of modular Mini Refining plant as a useful economically viable business model to subtantially harness the full Oil-deposit capacities of the Peaked-Oil Well and or extend the life span of such Oil wells in order to further boost the economic activities of the communities and the nations where they are located, with its inherent industrial spin-offs.
Construction contracts and contract claims. Construction contracts are being formed in very complicated formation that it contains many contract types in one contract (lump sum, cost plus intensive, reimbursable,....etc.) which making the contract management process is very critical that most of clients are tending to use lump sum contracts (based on FIDIC terms & conditions) in order to shift potential risks to contractor scope. When most of construction contracts have change orders which rises the needful to deal with the generated variations (time & cost) with the proper formal way, and how the claims should be raised or responded regarding to the contract formation. dissertation upon safety within the oil and gas industries, as you may well know most of the companies within the industry use a safety methodology called Behavioural Based Safety, (BBS), however as with any behaviour they are learnt over a period of time, that is fine when we are in the office or on a production plant where we do the same thing on a regular basis and are all trained in the safety culture. Safety although at the top of the list of PMs in O & G industry was not unfortunately addressed as part of the course.
However, when a project reaches the executing phase and decamps from the design office to the site in order to commence construction, it all falls down because the contractors, especially in developing countries, pull in artisans and labourers from the local community (often out of necessity because of the decree of the host governments 'local labour content laws'). It is these people who after attending a day's induction course in the company safety systems are expected to adopt these behaviours overnight. There is a large number of minor injuries and First Aid cases because the personnel are not safety aware in the same way as people from the operating company are. It is an interesting conundrum we as PMs have to instill this safety culture and awareness rapidly enabling minds and hearts of the workers have to be won over in a short time. Thus enabling the project to move forward quickly, enabling the project to remain on schedule. The question is how can this be done in a quickley, efficiently and in a better way than at present, or is the present way the best.
The Supply Chain and Operations Management (Oil & Gas), I'm interested in investigating the feasibility of small and mid-scale LNG transportation within the Caribbean region originating from my country, Trinidad, a major producer of natural gas and exporter of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
While Trinidad has a well established LNG industry, none of its LNG production is exported to its surrounding neighbours in the Caribbean, with our LNG being exported mainly to the US and South American markets.
A number of restrictions have been identified that have thus far hindered the intra-Caribbean trade of LNG, chief among these being:
- Limited size and fragmented nature of the market
- Lack of re-gasification facilities and receiving terminals
- Existing transportation of LNG undertaken by large scale LNG tankers
- LNG supply volumes are contracted via established off-take agreements thereby posing restrictions to accessing supplies.
Many of the islands are currently powered by diesel fuelled generators and incur significant costs in meeting the energy related cost to the extent that this represents an unsustainable position. LNG may provide a cheaper alternative over the medium term.
In so far as LNG will be supplied from within the region, there is the added incentive of improved energy security in comparison to heavy fuels supplied from extra-regional sources.
From an environmental perspective, a switch to LNG would contribute to a lowering of GHG emissions for a given MW capacity. This is important given the commitment of the region to combat climate change given our susceptibility to its undesirable side effects.
My intention is to research the logistical and financial feasibilities / implications of small scale LNG shipments in selected Caribbean markets. The analysis may involve a comparative analysis with potential delivery via an LNG pipeline, which has been identified as an alternative supply option.