Coreworx Interface Management Program

Deployment Lessons Learned from the Middle East

Paul TompkinsJune 2012

Agenda

• Interface Management Program “Definition”• What is the Business Problem – Why Bother ?

– Customer Snapshot – Saudi Aramco– Project Profiles – Wasit and Shaybah

• Interface Management Meetings – “The New Way”

• Deployment Learning• Q&A

What is Interface Management?

• Interface management is the control and oversight of technical interactions and information flow between the major contracting parties on large, complex, often modular-based mega projects

Interface Types

• Tangible or Hard Interfaces. – Physical connection such as a structural steel

connection, pipe termination, or cable connection

• Intangible or Soft Interfaces– Involve the exchange of information such as

design criteria, clearance requirements, security access(SIMOPS, etc)

• Execution interfaces– Occur when different parties conduct their scope

of work in series with interfaces that are dependent on each other or simultaneous when concurrent activities impact each other(such as shared systems – telecom, etc)

The Problem – Why Bother ?

• With mega projects, the risk of cost growth without properly managed project interfaces is tremendous– The industry’s largest projects have experienced 46% cost growth

over project sanction.1

– In offshore oil & gas projects, interface issues account for up to 20% of TIV1

1. “Interface Management: A critical area for improving on-time, on-budget deliver,” Uri Nooteboom, www.safan.com

2. “Interface Management in Complex Projects,” Richard Collins, www.eptq.com.

Multi-Operator Scenario

EPC 1

EPC 2

EPC 3EPC 4

EPC 5

Inter-Project Interfaces• Technical• Physical• Logistical• Commercial• Organizational

Intra-Project Interfaces• Tie-ins

Independent Projects

Extra-Project Interfaces• Local infrastructure systems• Local and national approvals

Interfaces in a $5 billion Oil & Gas Expansion Project

Customer Profile – Saudi Aramco

• Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia• 2010 Revenue > $200 Billion• Proven oil reserves > 260 Billion bbls (global

18 %)• Largest daily oil producer, yearly production

7.9 billion barrels• Manages > 100 oil and gas fields in Saudi

Arabia, including 279 trillion scf of natural gas reserves– Ghawar Field(world’s largest)– Shaybah

Profile - Wasit Gas ProjectOwnership Saudi Aramco (100%)

Asset Gas Plant

Production 2.5 billion cubic feet per day (cfd)

Location Saudi Arabia

Total Installed Value $6 billion

Timeline Startup 2014

• Onshore grassroots central processing facility (CPF)– Will provide for processing of

gas from the Arabiyah and Hasbah offshore sour gas fields

– Includes a gas unit, a cogeneration power plant, a sulphur recovery unit with utilities

Why ?

• Risk Mitigation – minimize rework at commissioning

• Compliance – consistency of project execution• Harvesting of Intellectual property• Project complexity

– Size and scope– Multiple locations, time zones, languages– Insufficient visibility of interface related issues– Contractual complexity(JV, LSTK, LSBP)

“Early Warning” Visibility by Scope Package

Interface Point Summary

Configurable Dashboards

Learnings

• Establish and communicate program goals– Buy in to master interface plan/procedure is critical– Set expectations on participation and approach to

active issue management– Establish “integration strategy” with project

planning• Early interface definition is critical to success

– Technical descriptions included in contract process– Sensitivity to contracting strategy - flexibility

• Focus on contractor on boarding process– User interface simplicity– Contractors create bulk of content, need their buy

in– Focus on value to EPC as well – process

improvements– Be aware of contractor/project culture