Macway Uhl helped a multi-national oil company manage the performance of four international contractors on a multi-billion dollar oil development project.

Challenge

Developing one of its four highest visibility oil development projects, a major multi-national oil company recognized the need to establish strong alignment and communication with its four primary contractors, each of whom was responsible for a complex project scope and integration with the owner as well as other contractors.

Solution

Macway Uhl conducted a series of schedule risk workshops jointly with the major contractors and the client.  In each of these workshops, the contractors own internal schedule was analyzed and assessed from a risk perspective by both owner and contractor.  The resulting risk results were used to identify schedule opportunities and mitigations and manage these over the life of the project. 

The overall program consisted of:

• Four individual risk sessions with each of the individual contractors.  Each session was a joint effort of contractor and owner, helping to improve dialogue regarding the project objectives
• Development of an integrated risk analysis for the client across all four contracts.  This analysis combined the results from all four major contractors into an overall project assessment, helping the client focus on the most critical of the contractor interfaces
• A quarterly re-assessment of overall project risk and progress, enabling the client to monitor progress and communicate a consistent message to management

Results

• The project is currently on track to meet its ambitious goal regarding first oil production
• Key contractual decisions were made on the basis of schedule risk analysis
• The project risk management model was communicated as a best practice throughout the company