Improved Collaboration and Transparency of Oil & Gas Capital Projects Using a Digital Project Delivery System

The adoption of a digital project delivery methods utilized by the manufacturing industry can be applied to oil and gas capital projects. Benefits include: greater collaboration and transparency between an EPC and owner-operator, the use of near real-time data to facilitate and drive better project decision-making, and the ability to save resources through increased efficiencies. To better understand poor performance on capital projects, different methods must be looked at. A case study using implementation of a digital project delivery approach through Project Lifecycle Management (PLM) is compared to a legacy project delivery using disconnected tools. This new approach to project delivery shows how adapting PLM software brings together engineering data with planning information, digital action workflows, collaborative review sessions, and visualization of status using a 3D model into a new way of delivering oil and gas capital projects more efficiently. The project schedule is merged with the master deliverables register and data coding to create live project dashboards and end-to-end schedule visibility. Going beyond the technological aspects, the behavioral and organizational challenges of project execution are examined, highlighting the limitations of legacy approaches and the project benefits gains using the digital project delivery approach. By leveraging the interconnectedness of data, the real-time insights that can be derived, and with the right project team support model, all of these factors come together to show how application of digital project delivery systems enables better project management visibility and capital project performance.