Course Introduction
Oil and gas projects are among the most complex capital projects because they combine highly integrated engineering disciplines, large-scale procurement, specialised construction, stringent safety requirements, complex contracting arrangements, demanding regulatory environments, and significant cost and schedule exposure. Effective planning and controls are therefore essential to coordinate technical delivery, commercial performance, resources, interfaces, and operational readiness across the project lifecycle.
This course provides a comprehensive framework for planning, scheduling, cost management, progress measurement, forecasting, risk management, change control, and performance reporting across oil and gas projects. It covers upstream, midstream, downstream, processing, refining, petrochemical, pipeline, terminal, storage, utilities, and associated infrastructure projects, with emphasis on practical project-control techniques applicable to complex capital developments.
Participants will learn how to establish project control frameworks from project initiation through engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, start-up, and closeout. The programme examines work breakdown structures, cost breakdown structures, control accounts, baseline development, integrated master schedules, resource planning, procurement schedules, construction work packages, progress measurement systems, and reporting structures.
Strong oil and gas project controls depend on integration between engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, operations, commercial teams, contractors, suppliers, and project leadership. Participants will therefore explore how to develop integrated schedules, measure physical progress, analyse critical paths, track procurement and engineering deliverables, monitor contractor performance, manage interfaces, forecast final cost and completion dates, and identify emerging deviations before they become major project problems.
The course also addresses the high-risk environment in which oil and gas projects are delivered. Participants will examine how health, safety, environmental, process safety, regulatory, technical, commercial, supply chain, construction, and operational risks can be integrated into project planning and control systems. Particular attention is given to change management, contingency, risk-based forecasting, claims, schedule recovery, cost escalation, and management of uncertainty.
Modern oil and gas project controls are increasingly influenced by BIM, digital twins, integrated data environments, artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, automated progress measurement, advanced scheduling, drones, digital field systems, and real-time dashboards. The course explores these developments alongside emerging industry challenges such as energy transition, decarbonisation, methane management, carbon capture, electrification, supply-chain volatility, climate resilience, and the growing need for efficient and sustainable project delivery.
Duration
5 days
Who Should Attend
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Oil and gas project managers and project directors
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Project controls managers and project controls engineers
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Planning and scheduling engineers
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Cost engineers and cost controllers
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Project management office professionals
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Engineering managers and discipline leads
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EPC and EPCM project professionals
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Construction managers and site planners
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Procurement and supply chain professionals
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Contract and commercial managers
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Quantity surveyors and cost estimators
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Risk and assurance professionals
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Commissioning and start-up professionals
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Operations and maintenance representatives
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HSE and process safety professionals
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Oil and gas consultants, contractors, and project advisers
Course Objectives
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Develop a comprehensive understanding of oil and gas project planning and controls across upstream, midstream, downstream, processing, refining, pipeline, terminal, and associated capital projects.
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Equip participants with practical methods for establishing integrated project control frameworks covering scope, cost, schedule, resources, procurement, risk, change, progress, quality, and performance.
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Strengthen participants’ ability to develop work breakdown structures, cost breakdown structures, control accounts, project baselines, responsibility structures, and integrated master schedules for complex projects.
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Develop practical capabilities in engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, and start-up planning, including the integration of technical deliverables, long-lead equipment, construction work packages, and operational milestones.
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Improve participants’ ability to measure physical progress accurately using discipline-specific rules, weighted milestones, quantities, earned value concepts, productivity measures, and integrated progress measurement systems.
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Equip participants with techniques for analysing critical paths, schedule performance, resource constraints, procurement dependencies, contractor schedules, delays, productivity losses, and forecast completion dates.
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Strengthen participants’ capabilities in oil and gas project cost control, including commitments, actual expenditure, accruals, cash flow, contingency, trends, estimates at completion, cost forecasting, and variance analysis.
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Develop practical skills for integrating risk, uncertainty, change management, claims, commercial exposure, and scenario analysis into project control systems and management decision-making.
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Improve participants’ ability to produce effective project dashboards, performance reports, forecasts, management information, early-warning indicators, and recovery recommendations for project leadership.
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Prepare participants to apply BIM, digital twins, artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, automated progress measurement, integrated data platforms, and advanced project-control technologies to future oil and gas projects.
Comprehensive Course Outline
Module 1: Foundations of Oil and Gas Project Planning and Controls
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Understanding the characteristics, lifecycle, commercial environment, technical complexity, interfaces, and delivery challenges of oil and gas capital projects.
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Examining planning and controls requirements across upstream field development, pipelines, processing facilities, refineries, terminals, storage facilities, petrochemical plants, and supporting infrastructure.
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Establishing project control objectives, governance structures, roles, responsibilities, reporting lines, control processes, and decision-making frameworks.
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Integrating scope, schedule, cost, resources, procurement, risk, change, quality, HSE, contracts, and performance management into a unified project-control system.
Module 2: Scope Definition, Work Breakdown, and Project Baselines
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Developing scope management frameworks and work breakdown structures that provide clear control boundaries across engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, and project management activities.
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Establishing cost breakdown structures, control accounts, responsibility assignment matrices, coding structures, and project information requirements for integrated controls.
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Developing scope, cost, schedule, resource, procurement, and performance baselines that establish measurable reference points for project execution.
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Managing scope maturity, interfaces, assumptions, exclusions, design development, scope changes, and emerging requirements throughout the project lifecycle.
Module 3: Oil and Gas Project Scheduling and Planning
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Developing integrated master schedules covering engineering, procurement, fabrication, logistics, construction, commissioning, start-up, handover, and key project milestones.
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Applying activity definition, sequencing, logic development, calendars, constraints, durations, resource loading, critical-path analysis, float management, and schedule optimisation.
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Integrating engineering deliverables, procurement milestones, vendor data, long-lead equipment, construction workfronts, shutdowns, commissioning systems, and operational readiness requirements.
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Developing schedule baselines, progress-update procedures, schedule narratives, look-ahead plans, recovery schedules, and forecast completion dates.
Module 4: Cost Engineering, Budgeting, and Forecasting
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Establishing project cost structures covering engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, indirect costs, management reserves, contingency, escalation, and other project expenditure.
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Developing cost estimates, budgets, cash-flow forecasts, commitment profiles, expenditure plans, accruals, actual costs, and cost-control procedures.
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Monitoring cost performance through variance analysis, trends, commitments, accruals, estimate-to-complete, estimate-at-completion, and forecast final cost.
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Managing cost uncertainty arising from inflation, market volatility, design development, productivity changes, scope growth, supply-chain disruption, and commercial events.
Module 5: Progress Measurement, Earned Value, and Performance Management
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Designing robust physical-progress measurement systems using quantities, milestones, weighted activities, earned value concepts, engineering deliverables, procurement milestones, and construction progress.
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Establishing progress rules for engineering, procurement, fabrication, construction, commissioning, and start-up activities while preventing misleading or premature progress recognition.
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Applying earned value concepts and performance indicators to analyse schedule and cost efficiency, identify deviations, and forecast project performance.
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Developing progress reports, dashboards, performance curves, S-curves, trend charts, productivity indicators, and management information for project leadership.
Module 6: Procurement, Supply Chain, and Contractor Controls
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Integrating procurement planning with engineering deliverables, material requisitions, purchase orders, vendor documentation, manufacturing, inspection, logistics, delivery, and construction requirements.
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Monitoring long-lead equipment, critical materials, supplier schedules, fabrication progress, expediting activities, inspections, shipping, customs, storage, and preservation.
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Establishing contractor control systems covering baseline schedules, cost information, progress measurement, productivity, resources, change, risks, claims, and performance reporting.
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Managing interfaces between engineering, procurement, suppliers, contractors, construction teams, and commissioning groups to minimise schedule and cost disruption.
Module 7: Risk, Change, Commercial, and Claims Controls
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Integrating project risk registers with schedules, cost forecasts, contingency, management reserves, scenario analysis, mitigation actions, and performance reporting.
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Establishing change-control processes for engineering changes, scope growth, client instructions, variations, design development, regulatory requirements, and unforeseen conditions.
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Monitoring commercial exposure including contract changes, claims, extensions of time, productivity impacts, delay events, escalation, payment milestones, and contractor performance.
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Applying quantitative risk analysis, schedule risk analysis, sensitivity testing, scenario planning, and early-warning indicators to strengthen project forecasting and decision-making.
Module 8: Construction, Commissioning, and Integrated Execution Controls
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Developing construction control systems covering workfronts, quantities, productivity, labour, equipment, materials, quality, safety, constraints, and construction progress.
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Integrating construction schedules with procurement, engineering completion, temporary works, access requirements, lifting activities, pre-commissioning, commissioning, and start-up.
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Establishing completion management systems for mechanical completion, system turnover, punch-list management, testing, commissioning, performance testing, and operational acceptance.
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Monitoring execution performance and implementing recovery strategies involving resequencing, additional resources, productivity improvement, workfront optimisation, and schedule acceleration.
Module 9: Reporting, Forecasting, Recovery, and Project Decision-Making
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Developing integrated project reporting systems that combine cost, schedule, progress, risk, procurement, engineering, construction, commercial, and commissioning information.
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Producing management dashboards, variance reports, trend registers, schedule narratives, forecasts, risk reports, and executive decision-support information.
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Identifying early-warning indicators and leading performance measures that enable project teams to intervene before emerging problems become critical cost or schedule failures.
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Developing structured project recovery strategies using root-cause analysis, scenario evaluation, resource optimisation, resequencing, commercial actions, and revised execution strategies.
Module 10: Emerging Issues and the Future of Oil and Gas Project Controls
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Applying BIM, digital twins, integrated data environments, cloud-based project controls, automated progress measurement, drones, mobile field systems, and advanced visualisation.
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Exploring artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, machine learning, intelligent scheduling, automated forecasting, anomaly detection, and data-driven project performance management.
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Examining the impact of energy transition, decarbonisation, electrification, carbon capture, methane reduction, renewable integration, and sustainability requirements on oil and gas project planning.
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Addressing supply-chain volatility, inflation, geopolitical uncertainty, climate resilience, cybersecurity, digital integration, ageing infrastructure, and evolving commercial models in future project-control strategies.
Training Approach
This course will be delivered by our skilled trainers who have vast knowledge and experience as expert professionals in the fields. The course is taught in English and through a mix of theory, practical activities, group discussion and case studies. Course manuals and additional training materials will be provided to the participants upon completion of the training.
Tailor-Made Course
This course can also be tailor-made to meet organization requirement. For further inquiries, please contact us on: Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com Tel: +254 721 331 808
Training Venue
The training will be held at our Upskill Training Centre. We also offer training for a group (at a discount of 10% to 50%) at requested location all over the world. The Onsite course fee covers the course tuition, training materials, two break refreshments, buffet lunch, airport transfers, Upskill gift package, and guided tour.
Visa application, travel expenses, dinners, accommodation, insurance, and other personal expenses are catered by the participant
Certification
Participants will be issued with Upskill certificate upon completion of this course.
Airport Pickup and Accommodation
Airport pickup and accommodation is arranged upon request. For booking contact our Training Coordinator through Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com, +254 721 331 808
Terms of Payment:
Unless otherwise agreed between the two parties’ payment of the course fee should be done 3 working days before commencement of the training so as to enable us to prepare better.
