Project planning and performance management in the upstream oil and gas sector

Day One – Project management in an oil and gas industry context
• Overview of project and operations management process and skills
• Project structures: activity stages and decision gates
• Planning: an essential requirement of projects and operations
• Offshore field development
• Videos: Deepwater drilling and offshore field development
• Exercise: estimating under conditions of uncertainty
• Cost estimating and approval / authorisation for expenditure
• Project management frameworks: PMBOK, PRINCE and Six Sigma
• Resource scheduling exercise: developing Gantt charts
• Key attributes of high-performing project managers
• FEED and EPC contracting in the oil and gas industry
• Video: gas liquefaction (LNG) plant construction project
• Quantifying risks and opportunities
• Exercise: evaluating extreme risks and contingencies
• Strategies to reduce risk and enhance opportunities

Day Two – Detailed planning, analysis and modelling
• Project networks and critical path analysis
• Exercise: precedence diagram construction and critical path determination
• Flawless startup concept
• Videos: gas processing plant case study
• Parallel engineering and problems that arise
• Probabilistic approach to project cost-time forecasting
• Chemical plant construction: alternating critical paths simulated
• Review of project planning, scheduling and risk-analysis software
• Cost-time control: milestone monitoring, earned value and achievement analysis
• Contracts and procurement: issues and risks
• Exercise: tendering, competitive bidding and bid evaluation
• Resource procurement and the supply chain
• Contracts that share risk: alliance, incentive and gain share contracts

Day Three – Performance and problem solving
• Project team organisation, teamwork and motivation
• Large-scale deepwater FPSO project developments and operations
• Leadership, direction and management skills
• Data management, relational databases and documentation
• Project and operations risk registers and risk assessment methodology
• Exercise: Ongoing operating performance monitoring and targets for a producing field
• Delegating and assigning responsibilities effectively
• Quality, health, safety, security and environmental systems
• Managing pipeline and other transportation assets
• Key performance indicators for measuring operating performance
• Problem solving versus decision-making
• Structured and systematic approaches to problem solving
• Innovation and creativity: Confronting a crisis and contingency planning
• Securing project closure and learning from the outcomes
• Delivering project and operational objectives