About this Workshop

The necessity of a commissioning phase in the course of a project schedule is nowadays well understood, however its scope is not always clearly shared by all project members. Each company, each project has a different definition of the commissioning activities with boundaries moving between construction and start-up phases.

Everybody agrees that a safe start-up is a common value of the commissioning activity. During its
execution, part of the plant is usually still under construction, “Simultaneous Operations” safety practices will be applied to ensure a safe commissioning completion. All plant functionalities are fully tested during the commissioning phase with a rigorous methodology. This guaranties that all major plant systems will be operational when the real fluid will be introduced: successful and safe start-up can then be met.

A clear contractual strategy is a key issue to a successful commissioning and should be defined as part of the project execution plan, like any other steps. One choice could be to select a contractor to prepare and execute the commissioning activities, under the supervision of a reduced company management team. Another one is to leave the company completely in charge of commissioning. Most important is the definition of the transfer of responsibilities between commissioning and operations teams during the hand over period: by system, groups of systems, etc.

The management principles of the commissioning phase will first reflect the contractual strategies and then integrate the project sub-divisions (e.g. one commissioning leader per sub-project, on–shore, off–shore, etc.). Management organization should be set to reflect the project specificities like brownfield project where a new facility has to be integrated within existing ones.

Various cases and experiences of project commissioning phases will be presented at this 2010 SPE Workshop. They will be chosen among traditional oil and gas production and treatment facilities which include LNG plants and refineries. Non hydrocarbon facilities commissioning experiences will also be most welcome. Commissioning strategies will be shared allowing best practices to be highlighted. Project coordination, planning and commissioning progress followup tools will be presented and discussed.

Who Should Attend:

The workshop is aimed at oil and gas professionals with a stake-holding in the delivery of a sucessful project.

• Project disciplines charged with its successful delivery, design, planning, construction,
  commissioning and project management.
• The asset holder– production operations, maintenance and monitoring groups.
• The support team– health, safety, environment and social responsibility specialists.

 

Workshop Guidelines

Format:

Two days of informal discussions prompted by selected keynote presentations and discussions. Workshops maximise the exchange of ideas among attendees and presenters through brief technical presentations followed by extended Q&A periods. Focused topics attract an informed audience eager to discuss issues critical to advancing both technology and best practices. The majority of the presentations are in the form of case studies, highlighting engineering achievements and lessons learned. In order to stimulate frank discussion, no proceedings are published and the press is not invited to attend.

Documentation:

• Proceedings will not be published; therefore, formal papers and handouts are not expected from speakers.
• Work in progress, new ideas and interesting projects are sought.
• Professionally-prepared visual aids are not required; handwritten view graphs are entirely acceptable.
• Note-taking by participants is encouraged.

Attendance:

Registrations will be accepted on a first-come first-served basis. The Steering Committee encourages attendance from those who can contribute to the workshop most effectively either in discussions or with posters. A mix of attendees in terms of geographic origin, companies and disciplines will be encouraged.

Workshop Deliverables:

• The Steering Committee will appoint a “scribe” to record the discussions and to produce the full Workshop Report for SPE.
• This report will be circulated to all attendees as the Workshop deliverable within 4-6 weeks following the Workshop. The copyright of the report is with SPE.
• PowerPoint presentation materials will be posted on a specific SPE URL address after the Workshop. Provision of the materials by the speakers will signify their permission for SPE to do so.

Commercialism:

In keeping with ATW objectives and the SPE mission, commercialism in posters or presentations will not be permitted. Company logos must be limited to the title slide and used only to indicate the affiliation of the presenter and others involved in the work.

Attendance Certificate:

All attendees will receive an attendance certificate attesting to their participation in the workshop. This certificate will be provided in exchange for a completed Workshop Questionnaire.

Continuing Education Units:

Attendees at this workshop qualify for SPE Continuing Education Units (CEU) at the rate of 0.1 CEU per hour of the Workshop.

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