White Paper

Oil and Gas Megaprojects

Using Technology and Collaboration
To Drive a Step Change in Value

Authors
Tony Court
Peter Hughes

April 2013

Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG)

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 White Paper

Oil and Gas Megaprojects

Using Technology and Collaboration To Drive a Step Change in Value

Introduction
The demand for energy is predicted to increase by up to 50 percent over the next 30 years,
and oil and gas will continue to be a major part of the mix. As a result, capital investment in
the oil and gas industry is at unprecedented levels, reaching an estimated $600 billion in
upstream exploration and production in 2012. Megaprojects have long lead times, and
execution can be delayed, resulting in cost overruns of up to 20 percent.1
Many steps have been taken already to improve the performance of project delivery, but
there is a need for new solutions that can reduce cycle time, ensure quality of design, and
deliver to budget. The industry is plagued by a persistent record of budget overruns,
delayed schedules, and missed targets for peak production and reserves. In addition,
operational problems often emerge after commissioning.
The Cisco® Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) believes the next frontier in driving
improvement in capital projects is in applying people, technology, and collaboration to drive
business process improvement.
In its studies of energy industry leaders, Cisco IBSG has identified key opportunities for
network-enabled collaboration technology to reduce project cycle times. In the engineering
design stage of one project, there was an estimated improvement in cycle time from 16 to 10
months.2
This paper will discuss some of the core areas of focus, including conceptual design,
detailed design, and construction; ensuring real-time collaboration across contractual and
intercompany boundaries; and achieving a working environment that speeds decision
making and is quick to resolve issues throughout a project’s lifecycle.

A Search for Improved Performance

The current drive for growth in the oil and gas industry is leading to unprecedented levels of
investment. Annual upstream exploration and production (E&P) capital spending (CapEx) has
more than tripled since 2001, reaching an estimated $600 billion in 2012.3
Of this increase, international expenditure is up 11 percent year over year; North America is
up 8 percent year over year. Globally, the top 20 E&P spenders account for 57 percent of this
total spending, and all were expected to increase CapEx during 2012 (by an average of 13

1
Cisco IBSG, 2013.
2
Ibid.
3
Barclays Global 2012, E&P Spending Outlook.

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percent). The number of megaprojects (greater than $1 billion) has nearly quadrupled over
the last decade.4
Compounding the issues facing the industry, accessing hydrocarbons requires ever-
increasing project complexity, both technically and commercially. On the technical front, the
industry is learning to operate in environmentally sensitive areas, such as the Arctic, while
maintaining complex subsurface configurations. The rising levels of risk and investment
require new commercial approaches. As a result, oil and gas companies have gained greater
expertise in developing partnerships with resource holders, setting up joint ventures, and
engaging with a wider range of interest groups.
Project management processes have been fine-tuned from years of experience and are well
codified. The industry has developed well-documented, stage-gated capital management
processes to ensure a rigorous approach to any investment, while creating a portfolio of
commercial and procurement strategies to manage risk and ensure quality project delivery.

Figure 1. Typical Stage-Gated Capital Management Process.

Source: Cisco IBSG, 2013

Within a framework of the capital management process, organizations have adopted new
approaches to the design and construction of capital projects to drive greater value, improve
quality, and ensure that they deliver on commitments.
These are some of the strategies that have been adopted for offshore oil and gas projects:
● Modular design philosophy: the jacket, subsurface, and topsides are frequently
designed and developed by different global contractors
● Global project teams: geographically dispersed project teams now work with different
engineering design contractors and construction teams—making global coordination
and orchestration essential
● Global performance management: complex ecosystems of numerous parties have
emerged, resulting in an even higher number of interfaces and interactions (not just
intracompany, but intercompany as well)

4
Schlumberger Energy Perspectives Report, summer 2012.

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Yet the industry’s capacity to deliver on its investment promises is not keeping pace with its
growth in activity. There is a persistent record of budget overruns, delayed schedules, and
missed targets for peak production and reserves. In addition, operational problems often
emerge after commissioning.

Figure 2. Success and Failure in Megaprojects.

Source: Independent Project Analysis (IPA)

Numerous studies have diagnosed the reasons for this poor performance. One source,
Independent Project Analysis (IPA),5 has evaluated industrial projects both large and small
across a number of industries such as petroleum, minerals, chemicals, and power (see
Figure 2). In all of these industries, the trend is the same: larger, more complex projects that
are failing much too often.
Recent projects and analyses conducted by Cisco IBSG indicate that in oil and gas, two
factors currently impact the success of capital projects:
1. Economics of project performance. There is continued evidence of budget
overruns and schedules being delayed. One organization cited project spending that
was 20 percent above the sanctioned estimate over the last five years. Of this gap, 5
percentage points were attributed to supply-chain inflation, and 15 percent to
internal project execution or management, addressable by internal improvements.6
2. Market for human resources and its changing dynamics. A recent study of the oil
and gas industry by Schlumberger,7 the international energy-services company,
covered global majors, large independents, contractors, and national oil companies
(NOCs). It found that the single largest risk to project delivery was inadequately

5
“The Seven Deadly Mistakes in Industrial Megaprojects,” Independent Project Analysis, Ed Merrow, January 6,
2012.
6
Oil industry analysis, 2010.
7
Schlumberger Energy Perspectives Report, summer 2012.

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resourced project teams (see Figure 3). The study found that operators are
constrained by the availability of experienced staff for critical roles, and by the
challenge of attracting new employees to the demands of working in project teams. A
rapidly aging workforce sees little appeal in remote, faraway engineering projects.
And many oil and gas companies are finding it harder to attract younger, skilled staff
in both project and operational spaces.

Figure 3. Most Common Root Causes of Capital Project Issues.

Source: SBC Capital Projects Research, 2012

Given these challenges, which steps should oil and gas companies be taking in the capital-
projects space to improve performance of their projects and overcome the additional
constraints that are emerging? In the past, the project-management process has been a key
focus, with a particular emphasis on bolstering leadership and management skills. But where
will the next wave of business benefits come from? And how will it drive down cycle times,
improve productivity of skilled staff, and ensure better-quality project delivery?

Where To Find the Next Level of Benefits

Cisco IBSG believes the next wave of improvements in capital projects will come from
applying technology. This will enable project teams to work in more efficient and effective
ways, and in a more attractive and collaborative work environment. It will also deliver impor-
tant economic benefits. We see some progress in this area, but there is great potential for
further improvements.
Recently, Cisco IBSG worked with a number of oil and gas companies to explore how to
upgrade the performance of project-management teams by creating improvements in
project outcomes. Another core goal was to enhance working environments. This paper aims
to outline the five areas that could deliver significant improvements (see Figure 4). We also
present potential actions to drive new and enhanced behaviors by project teams.

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Figure 4. Opportunities for Improving Delivery of Capital Projects.

Source: Cisco IBSG, 2012

1. Focused Problem Solving

Project teams in oil and gas are supported by large, often geographically dispersed sets of
subteams and task groups. This large ecosystem of partners requires an even greater
number of individual contributors and connections across organizational and company
boundaries. Given this environment and the nature of work dynamics, ensuring effective and
timely problem solving becomes a challenge. As one project director asked, “How do you get
a team to kill the problem in two hours and not two weeks?”
Typically, the process involves defining the problem, gathering relevant data, and arranging
the appropriate time and place for individuals to meet and determine the solution. Often,
after a delay in finding a convenient time and location, the meeting is held. Then, a series of
actions may be defined, leading to further data gathering, soliciting the views of others who
could not attend, and confirming a time to reconvene. Multiply this process by the number of
meetings held in, say, the design phase of a project and the schedule consumes more and
more time. In the last three to four years, however, breakthroughs in technology have been
enabling project teams to work in new and more productive ways. These new technologies
challenge established ways of working, along with entrenched attitudes concerning “how
long it takes to get stuff done around here.”
Collaborative work environments that combine video technology, SMART Boards, and
multiple displays for data and drawings can create a virtual meeting room with the function-
ality of a “real” environment. Third parties are connected to the room on as-needed basis via
any endpoint devices, including tablets and smartphones.
Cisco IBSG’s work in the domain of engineering design has demonstrated that it is possible
to reduce the cycle time of the overall design process from 16 to 10 months using these IT
tools and techniques. The challenge is less technical than behavioral. To encourage true
problem solving in a virtual setting, teams need technology that is instinctive to use, “one
touch” in operation, and able to support high-energy, interactive discussion and annotation.

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In some cases, a dedicated problem-solving collaboration “room” can offer teams an

opportunity to work with great efficiency across far-flung geographies and time zones. Such
environments will drive next-level benefits in schedule improvement without compromising
the quality of output.
The challenge for project directors is to understand the human networks and interactions
that are potentially critical to activities within the project. Then they must create the
infrastructure of real and virtual meeting facilities that will enable optimal work. There will
always be a role for face-to-face problem solving and decision making. But the opportunity
to drive interactions and discussions earlier—before a final decision or stage gate—will
demand virtual collaboration.

“We need to go beyond the standard one-on-one video meeting. We must aim to make the
conversations between project teams more proactive and avoid all taking an action and
working on it sequentially outside the meeting. Why can't we just tackle it there and then and
get resolution!”

— Oil and Gas Project Director

2. Greater Meeting Effectiveness

Working on an oil and gas project team typically involves much travel to remote locations. To
achieve the required objectives, enormous amounts of data and information need to be
shared, and a multitude of contributors must be orchestrated to achieve the required objec-
tives. This involves numerous meetings and interactions. But how effective are all these
meetings, and what can reduce the cycle times for getting the actual work done?
Email and instant messaging are convenient and immediately available, but if they over-
shadow face-to-face communications, misunderstandings can plague a project. Video
conferencing—whether in a formal setting or to the mobile device—enables much more
effective communication. This is especially true of groups that are in a continual state of flux
and dispersion. A technical environment teeming with engineering drawings, terms, and
data, for example, can be fraught with misinterpretations and misunderstandings. By
bringing body language and nonverbal communications to the fore, video helps all parties
understand how colleagues are reacting to the information being shared.
Leadership training that focuses on project management will always be a key investment.
But video technology—enabling meetings on a one-to-one level—can build relationships
and personal connections among team members. This creates a foundation for more
effective leadership. In an oil and gas project, overreliance on email can create a sense of
isolation and disconnection among employees. To influence and lead a team to reach an
objective, workplace relationships and team cohesiveness must be strong. Face-to-face
interactions, albeit through video-based technology, can be an essential element in sowing
personal connections, relationships, and trust throughout the team.
The challenge for the project director is to identify where the problem exists, configure an
appropriate solution, and drive implementation of new behaviors. To encourage a new style

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of working, they should first pinpoint processes that will benefit from improved collaboration
and more efficient meetings. A wide number of information technologies and connectivity
are available to promote a high percentage of face-to-face communications. Today, inno-
vative architectures and endpoints provide a platform to reshape the traditional behaviors of
project teams, while driving greater productivity and connections among team members.

“We used to do project review meetings face-to-face, traditionally. Now, we seem to over-
rely on email, updates, and reporting. How can we achieve the same level of engagement as
face-to-face, but do that remotely? Getting individuals to work effectively using virtual tools
is our next challenge.”

— Oil and Gas Project Manager

3. Project Team Networking

The cycle time for a project, from inception through commissioning, can typically take four to
five years. As each project stage is completed, a wide and diverse group of organizations
and individuals comes together to focus on achieving the next milestone. In this highly
dynamic and fluid environment, multiple parties touch the project—some for only a few
days, others for much longer periods of time. Traditionally, the value of these networks and
relationships is focused on the near term. But how can this value be captured and exploited
in the longer term? Even after the final asset is operational, further tuning and improvement
are often required. If that same collective expertise were available, it could be used to drive
an extra level of performance from the equipment.
Fortunately, there is an opportunity to change the established ways of working by providing
greater leverage from these relationships. During the design phase, for example, engineers
may want to get a peer review or contribution from others so they can test their ideas and
share their challenges. Naturally, individuals will form their own work groups through formal
or informal networks in the project organization. Technology, however, can enhance and
broaden these networks. It can connect people with others beyond their immediate circle of
relationships, creating a much wider pool of help.
Social-media tools have been implemented at a number of organizations. But there is now
an opportunity to create a social network for a specific asset, as it is being designed and built
during the project phase. This helps improve the quality of decisions while reducing the
cycle time. In addition, this social network can be used after the asset is operational.
The current model for project networking is often limited to groups of people who have
worked together previously. With social-media tools, insights can be shared throughout the
project and used to create better overall outcomes. Contact details, areas of expertise, and
contribution to a project can be uploaded and shared, as with LinkedIn and other social-
media tools. A project social-media application, however, enables dynamic updating of
expertise based on current work challenges. An individual team member can auto-track,
accept, and even apply ranking mechanisms to see who has the most current experience on
a particular issue. A tool can be created to be specific to one project, linking all relevant

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players, including the owner, the lead contractor, and the subcontractors. Informal
workspaces can be created to complete the corporate information management systems,
which are in place to manage documents, data, and information.
During a project, team members often gravitate to an informal, easily accessible workspace
where issues can be discussed, shared, and developed. This approach has clear benefits
during the project phase, and offers potential leverage in the handover and eventual
commissioning and operation of the asset. Frequently, however, after a project is success-
fully completed, production targets are missed in the early stages of asset life due to
unexpected operational issues. In the early part of asset life, it is often necessary for the
operational team to do rapid problem solving. This usually requires access to the project
team’s expertise, but by this stage, many of them have moved on to other projects. Here, the
network tool can provide an additional source of knowledge for the asset’s operational team,
including whom they can contact and consult for help in addressing their challenges.
Designating a social-media tool for the project will provide enhanced opportunities to
supplement corporate memory and intelligence. Once the project is completed, the tool can
become a legacy asset to the operational team. Social-media tools can also preserve
institutional knowledge as experienced staff members leave the industry.
Combining the right expertise with the appropriate information will drive improved decision
making. A social network of experts provides significant benefit, especially when it is com-
bined with tools created by the asset for managing information.

“Over the lifetime of a project, many staff will come and go. During the engineering process,
for example, I will want to get a peer review or contribution from others so I can test my
ideas. At the moment, the engineers will rely on their personal network. But there must be a
way to enhance this which goes beyond the chance meeting in an airport lounge or back of
a cab.”

— Oil and Gas Engineering Manager

4. Information Handover and Management

During the capital-project process, critical asset data and project information are created
and must be transferred across multiple stage gates. Numerous parties are involved, and
each may have its own systems and methods for managing data and information. Too often,
the handover across stages—and from the project to asset owner—is not as smooth as it
should be. Asset data is frequently lost or misplaced, creating problems in early life of the
asset operation. Process and instrumentation diagrams can be missing, data specifications
not available, and relevant specialists impossible to locate when an issue arises. Clearly,
owners need a new approach that will minimize the probability and impact of these issues.
With the development of cloud-based capabilities, there is an opportunity to create a unified
environment for capturing all asset data and information over the duration of a project. Any
party will be able to input data into this virtually hosted system, creating a hub around which
all interactions are executed. Too often, dedicated systems are created to sort and manage

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data for each separate operation and contractor. The unified environment provides one area,
owned and provisioned by the asset owner, where all parties can make their contributions
and seek project information. This cloud-based approach ensures that the asset owns all the
relevant knowledge while giving all players access to the same core applications and data.
This requires new approaches to security and connectivity. But recent developments in
wired, wireless, and mobile technologies make it a much more feasible option.

5. Internal Communication and Alignment

Analysis of successful projects has highlighted the role of project directors and their
leadership teams in maintaining alignment, engagement, and momentum across all other
teams. In oil and gas, as in other megaprojects, it is difficult to maintain a sense of teamwork
among vast numbers of stakeholders from inside and outside an organization. Additional
challenges include time-zone differences; the long duration of projects, which can last years;
and participants moving in and out of the team as each milestone is achieved.
How can project directors maintain enthusiasm, motivation, and connection across a vast
number of staff and contracting companies? And how can they create an environment or
project culture that is unique and engaging?
Traditional strategies have included town-hall meetings, emails, newsletters, and other
passive forms of communication. Today, with the ability to access video messages anytime,
anywhere, a project team can reinvent how it connects. Using cost-effective tools, video clips
and town-hall meetings can be broadcast on high-quality video to laptops and mobile
devices. To raise safety awareness, video messages and safety insights can be shared in a
more digestible and higher-impact format. Updates on key milestones and achievements
can be broadcast, recorded, and consumed on demand.
A project director and an on-site fabricator, for instance, can maintain a personal connection
via wireless infrastructure, intrinsically safe end devices, and digital signage. Connecting
web broadcasts with an interactive chat facility can encourage dialogue, discussion, and
alignment across geographically dispersed teams.
Overall, IT infrastructure can engage the human element of project leadership in a cost-
effective way. Project directors and their teams will gain a wider set of communications tools
with which to communicate, influence, and lead.

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Call to Action
At all major oil and gas companies, the goals are similar: maximize return on investment in
the short and long term, and deliver projects on time and on budget, while meeting all
technical and operational standards. Cisco IBSG believes that network-enabled collabo-
ration tools will help achieve these goals while driving additional positive changes.
As we have seen, the capital-project ecosystem will gain significant business benefits once it
is enabled to work more efficiently. And there is a clear opportunity for collaboration tools to
make those improvements a reality. By connecting energy-industry partners across conti-
nents, oceans, and time zones, and by bringing expertise to bear on problems in real time,
the industry can drive significant economic value.
The first step for the energy industry is to recognize that some long-established patterns for
executing major capital projects can and should be disrupted. One way to do this is to iden-
tify areas where time is lost or inefficiencies exist, and then apply technology to transform
the manner in which people interact and collaborate.
The energy industry is ripe for a new, highly collaborative working culture that will span its
entire global ecosystem. As Cisco IBSG believes, this new culture should challenge the
norms of today and create new rules for tomorrow. The result will be shorter cycle times,
significant cost savings, and much greater efficiency over the entire lifecycle of projects.

For more information, please contact:

Tony Court
Director, Global Energy Practice
Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group
[email protected]

Peter Hughes
Director, Global Energy Practice
Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group
[email protected]

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