Dukhan Field Major Projects See Benefit From Early Inclusion of Operations Team
Authors: Wilson Adam 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Editorial Manager Adam Wilson, contains highlights of paper SPE 156098, ’Deal With Startup and Commissioning Threats and Challenges at an Early Stage of the Project for a Successful Handover and Project Completion,’ by M. Al-Bidaiwi, SPE, M.S. Beg, SPE, and K.V. Sivakumar, Qatar Petroleum, prepared for the 2012 SPE International Production and Operations Conference and Exhibition, Doha, 14-16 May. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

Qatar Petroleum (QP) involved its operations team from the early stages in two of its major projects implemented in the Dukhan field and experienced successful implementation of the projects by meeting the project schedule and cost, smoothly handing over the facility, and achieving the intended objectives with adequate safety and operational flexibility. QP-Dukhan’s operations team played a major role in providing clarity and coherence of project objectives among various divisions and geographically diverse contractors.

Introduction

QP executed two major projects in the Dukhan field. Operations management felt the need to involve the operations team throughout the project. Accordingly, the Dukhan operations department deployed a team to coordinate with the project management team (PMT) and contractors. The contributions made by the operations team were immense and resulted in successful implementation of the projects, a smooth handover, and achievement of the intended objectives.

Organizational Structure for Project Implementation

Dukhan facilities come under the Operations Directorate, whose primary functions are manufacturing and production operation and distribution. Projects are handled by the Technical Directorate.

Project proposals are initiated by operations (asset holder) on the basis of defined objectives, and they are sent to the Technical Services department. The Technical Services department processes the proposal and uses a contractor to conduct a feasibility study and concept optimization. Further phases of the project, such as the front-end engineering design (FEED) and engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning (EPIC), are handled by different departments within the Technical Directorate through external contractors. After commissioning and startup, the new facility is handed over to operations (Fig. 1).

Operation’s Role in Project Implementation

The operations team was involved in the feasibility study and concept optimization. All technical deliverables from the feasibility study contractor were reviewed, and the operations team provided comments. This was done in addition to a document review by engineers in the Technical Services department. Review comments from the operations team were forwarded to engineers in Technical Services; these comments were reviewed further and forwarded to the contractor. Thus, the operations team was involved in the feasibility study and concept optimization of the project.

The operations team was involved continuously throughout the project cycle. During the FEED and EPIC phases, the operations team was involved in the review of all technical deliverables from the contractors. Furthermore, the operations team was invited to participate in design review meetings, discussions with licensors and contractors, process flow diagram review, risk assessment, hazard identification study, safety integrity level assessment study, model reviews, factory acceptance test, site acceptance test, and all other technical meetings, along with construction supervision and all activities related to precommissioning, commissioning, and startup.