Analysis of Oil and Gas Projects-With Focus on SAGD Projects
Abstract
Alberta projects have experienced cost growth, schedule growth and low productivity, necessitating a need to measure and compare project performance and productivity of oil and gas projects. There is limited research on the project performance of Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) projects.
The primary purpose of this research was to quantitatively assess the project performance of oil and gas projects in Alberta with special focus on SAGD projects. The quantitative assessments included the project performance and productivity analysis for location of projects (Alberta and U.S. projects), different time periods (Phase 1: 2006-2009 vs. Phase 2: 2010-2014), and different types of projects (pipeline and SAGD projects), and examination of the relationship between project execution strategies and project performance. SAGD projects were analyzed separately, and industry experts were interviewed to understand industry perspective on cost and schedule performance, risks and lessons learned on SAGD projects.
During the research, 73 oil and gas projects from Alberta were analyzed. Data were collected using the Construction Owners Association of Alberta (COAA)-PAS. Statistical tools were used to analyze project performance and to assess the impact of project execution strategies on project performance. Different trends have been observed between Phase 1: 2006-2009 and Phase 2: 2010-2014. The comparison of project performance and productivity directed industry to where efforts could be made for continuous improvement.
Data from 18 SAGD projects were analyzed to develop characteristics of SAGD projects. The project performance, which includes growth factors, phase duration factors, phase cost factors, equipment ratios, and engineering and construction productivity metrics that could have practical applications for estimating and project performance benchmarking is listed in tabular form. Interviews from industry experts provided definition of capacity, 52 new metrics, and a list of major risks and lessons learned during the SAGD project execution.
This research improved the industry understanding of challenges and risks faced on SAGD projects. This research also observed the trends and comparison of project performance, engineering and construction productivity, which identified the areas for continuous improvement. This also concludes that there is room for further improvement in project and productivity performance for oil and gas projects in Alberta.
Description
Keywords
Engineering--Civil
Citation
Kumar, J. (2016). Analysis of Oil and Gas Projects-With Focus on SAGD Projects (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/24820