Technical Agenda

Sunday,13 December 2009

1700–1900

Badge and Delegate Pack Collection

Monday, 14 December 2009

0900–1230 hours

Session 1: Customers, Market, Environment – Sharpening Your Sights

Pre-2008, client company project managers were preoccupied with cost containment and on-time delivery in an overheated and resource constrained market. The providers of engineering services and equipment also found business difficult as their material and labour costs appeared to be spiraling out of control.

In 2009, so much has changed.

To effectively plan and execute the complex projects of our oil and gas industry, project staff must develop and frequently update their perspective on internal requirements and constraints and how best to take advantage of new opportunities whilst managing the risk potential.

Before exploring project execution or new world project strategies, we need to build a common appreciation of the priorities that are driving our industry companies, what does today’s market place really embody and how the business world may transform as economic activity and stability returns.

1400–1730 hours

Session 2: Challenging Projects Execution Practices to Reflect Lessons Learned

This session will focus on identifying areas in projects execution where traditional current practices can be challenged and modified towards the improvement of project life cycle.

Presentations and brain-storming sessions will cover the following aspects of project execution:

• What improvements can bring alternative contracting strategies to the standard EPC lump-sum turnkey contract?
• How can the traditional project execution processes be improved and simplified for optimum project life cycle?
• How alignment of technical requirements between oil companies can improve project execution. Can technical requirements for material and equipments be standardised rather than reinventing the wheel for each project?
• How can construction and commissioning phases of the project be optimised? What project execution resources and contractor organisation are needed to meet which challenges?

Tuesday, 15 December 2009

0900–1230 hours

Session 3: Risks and Opportunities in Implementing Projects Under the Current Market Conditions

Under the current market conditions many companies are cancelling or postponing projects while others are taking the opportunity of lower material cost and better availability of resources to execute their projects.

However, taking the opportunity of the market conditions should not be at the price of losing contractors and suppliers from the industry, thus creating a negative impact for future projects. Accordingly, companies should adopt a well balanced approach to achieve gains while maintaining a healthy market in term of resources.

The main objective of this session is to identify risks and opportunities and how we can reflect it in a well balanced contract strategy, benefiting both companies and contractors whilst taking into consideration the lessons learned in the past by the industry.

1400–1730 hours

Session 4: Can the Use of New Technology Reduce Life Cycle Costs of Projects in the Middle East?

The recent evolution of technology has allowed for oilfield developments to move towards an unmanned operation philosophy, through “Real Time” communication and collaborative working environment (digital oilfield technology, foundation field bus, multiphase pumping and metering, etc.). Would this evolution in strategies permit a significant reduction in the life cycle costs of oil and gas developments in our region? Would the advantages of such solutions (reduced manpower, enhanced safety) outweigh the drawbacks (maintenance, obsolescence, security)?

The use of modern engineering tools (e.g. intelligent plant design, paperless operations) should improve the quality of the design and allow integrated plant management from conception to decommissioning. Are our operators and contractors ready for it?

Is the rigidity of our specifications preventing the introduction of new technology and causing unnecessary increases in costs? More standardisation would bring simplification of operations but may sacrifice competitive bidding: is there a satisfactory compromise?

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