Project Management (North Sea) Basic and Variable Factors

Abstract

Project Management (North Sea) Project Management (North Sea) Basic and Variable Factors Frankhouser, H.S.; Brown and Root (U.K.) Ltd. Introduction During the past 10 years there has been a major acceleration in size, technical complexity, and cost of North Sea energy development. It is interesting to note that only 14 years ago there were no offshore energy-related structures in the North Sea. Sudden major increases in the price of oil, coupled with periodic supply shortages, made it vital to produce periodic supply shortages, made it vital to produce North Sea oil and gas. With this acceleration in size and complexity, plus the pressure for early production, the U.K. and Norwegian governments production, the U.K. and Norwegian governments became more involved in the control and operation of the developments. The combination of all of these variable and complex factors presents a major challenge for the operators and project management contractors who must work together during the development phase. The effectiveness of cooperation between operators and contractors influences not only the front-end development schedule and cost but also the long-term costs for production, operations, and maintenance. Therefore, it is important to give high priority to an efficient organizational relationship between the operator and the project management contractor. To achieve this efficiency, a working knowledge of the basic elements of project management common to all North Sea projects is essential. These elements are reviewed under the following headings:Engineering,Procurement,Supervision of Fabrication and Installation,Project Control, andAdministration. The project management organization must be designed to provide the performance, coordination, and control of these performance, coordination, and control of these elements. How this is accomplished depends on factors that vary from project to project. Some variable factors are reviewed as follows:the operator's approach to project management, resources, and experience,the contractor's resources, experience, and organization, andschedule requirements. Some organizational relationships are considered under the following headings:Separate Operator and Contractor Teams,Integration, andSeparate Contracts for Management Services and Engineering. Project Management Activities Project Management Activities Engineering Engineering includes initial studies and investigations, conceptual work, detailed design, weight control, quality assurance and quality control, and coordination with and assistance to fabrication contractors and project documentation. Initial Studies and investigations These typically include soil surveys, sea-state and weather studies, pipeline route surveys and, in some cases, pipeline route surveys and, in some cases, preliminary model testing. preliminary model testing. Conceptual Work. Conceptual work involves arriving at a basic technical solution using input from the initial studies and investigations, along with established general specifications and previous experience. This includes specifying the process to be used for handling the oil or gas; the number, size, and type of platforms; the layout of the units on the deck; and the type of offshore loading system or pipeline configuration. pipeline configuration. JPT P. 1821