Abstract
Executing oil and gas projects in water depths greater than 500m can pose a lot of challenges, from safety to cost. Asides the inherent challenges faced in execution of deepwater projects, the oil and gas industry has experienced a lot of volatility in the last few years resulting from the need to address climate change and transition to low carbon future, COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and supply chain disruptions. To be competitive and thrive in a changing world, the deepwater project organizations evolved and took on new challenges.
The Shell Nigeria Deepwater Projects organization (DWP) therefore embarked on a transformation journey in 2020, aimed at becoming a resilient organization that consistently delivers safe, globally competitive and affordable assets. The transformation entails strategy re-shape, culture and behavioral changes, people development and process improvements across the organization. The program was defined in phases from point A to point C, using external benchmark to set bold targets and inspire commitment to improve cost, schedule performance and become a centre of excellence for project delivery.
The DWP transformation journey revealed key steps that should be taken, structures and enablers that will ensure a transformational change, how to measure and track the benefits of the transformation. This paper discusses the lessons learnt to achieve major performance improvements in DWP delivery and highlights how to ensure that everyone in an organization buys into a business transformation programme, where employees have clarity on how they fit in and how leadership commitment plays an important role in sustaining the gains.
