Oil & Gas
SITUATION
Large Canadian oil producer, with $5b in annual capital projects, needed help to resolve issues with significant cost overruns.
DRIVER GOAL
- Reduce the cost of execution by 20% for major and base capital projects.
RESULT
- On target to achieve a 20% improvement in project cost and schedule attainment.
- Implemented a methodology for tracking cost and schedule attainment.
Issue
One of the largest oil production companies in Canada was experiencing schedule and cost overruns in capital projects. With more than $5 billion dollars in annual capital projects, it was determined that significant gains could be made by implementing a more formal system to manage the project work, remove barriers and improve performance in relation to productivity, schedule attainment, headcount control, indirect costs, overtime, and the tracking of contract terms and conditions. The Highland Group was asked to customize and implement a System For Managing capital projects, to deliver improvements in meeting budget and timeline, and deliver a 20% decrease in cost of execution.
Highland Approach
The Highland Group analyzed the existing project management system to understand the cause of delays, redundancies and budget overruns, then designed a structured project management system to give visibility to project team performance and enable management to control overall execution.
Actions Taken
Designed and implemented a System For Managing with tools to manage the work, remove barriers and improve performance. Specific components include:
- Daily and weekly schedules;
- Daily project controls;
- Daily and weekly reviews;
- Short-interval management tools;
- Barrier identification and removal;
- Schedule attainment and tracking; and,
- Modularized training for future projects.
