Addressing the productivity challenge using a build, own, operate, maintain (BOOM) contracting model

Abstract

Poor productivity is one of the major challenges facing the oil and gas industry in Australia. This is evidenced by significant cost and schedule overruns on every major LNG development during the recent Australian LNG construction boom. In a world where gas is a global commodity that can be easily exported, the consequences of poor productivity mean that investment dollars are directed overseas to lower risk environments to the detriment of resource development in Australia. This extended abstract explores the causes of poor productivity and it argues that one of the principle reasons is a fragmented contracting strategy, which results in the scope being split among different contractors at various phases of the project lifecycle, requiring complex and often inefficient interface management. This combined with little commercial incentive for contractors to minimise cost for the subsequent phase of the project means the responsibility falls with the operator to optimise costs during the project lifecycle. This extended abstract proposes that BOOM commercial model and contracting strategy is one way to address the productivity challenge. This model incentivises the contractor to engineer to reduce construction cost and to construct to minimise operational and maintenance costs by ensuring the contractor has a significant stake. This better aligns the commercial interests of the contractor and operator. This extended abstract also addresses the types of infrastructure development the model is best suited to and some of the critical success factors required to deliver a successful BOOM outcome.