Offshore staff
OSLO, Norway – A review by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate of 66 projects offshore Norway between 2007 and 2018 suggests that most stuck to the cost estimates in the development plans.
Niels Erik Hald, assistant director development and operations at the NPD, said: “The big picture shows that the projects have progressed positively in terms of both cost control and planned execution.
“This emphasizes the importance of the companies pursuing detailed early-phase work in projects. That said, it’s also important to go on working hard to improve the execution of new developments even further.”
The report compares costs, start-up time and reserve developments with the estimates made in the original plan for development of operation (PDO). It found that for just over 80% of projects, costs were within or below the uncertainty range (plus/minus 20%) included in the estimates.
Subsea developments were a greater success story, with 90% completed in line with or below the PDO forecast. Platform-based developments proved more problematic, with some experiencing cost overruns, although more than 70% ended up within the estimated cost range.
One positive trend for projects in recent years has been market developments since the oil price slump of 2014, the report added, because the availability of resources and capacity at suppliers has improved.
Typically, completed projects have taken around 3.5 months longer than planned, with the average delay greater for platform than subsea developments.
03/13/2020
