Assessing the impact of new rules of cost planning on BIM schema pertinent to quantity surveying practice

Not until recently, the establishment of a whole life cycle budget for a constructed facility largely depended on the initiative of using the standard method of measurements (SMM) structural approach to the development of a cost or budget plan. This method, argues the RICS (2009), “created inconsistency in measurement and descriptions, resulting in the production of unclear basis for the estimates”. The constraints associated with traditional cost planning and estimating tend to be compounded by the complexity associated with the deployment of building information model (BIM) technology that is pertinent to the achievement of whole life cycle cost management of a constructed facility. This research is aimed at exploring the impact of the new rules of measurement on the building information model schema pertinent to the quantity surveying practice on construction based projects. The research presumes that even though the new rules of measurement are not mandatory, they are likely to influence cost planning and estimating practice because they have been developed with a view to setting “the best practice” in the development of cost plans. The likely impact could subsequently affect the current building information model schema for cost management

Analyzing the Critical Risk Factors in Oil and Gas Pipelines Projects Regarding the Perceptions of the Stakeholders

Oil and Gas Pipeline (OGP) projects face a wide range of Risk Factors (RFs) at the design, construction and operational stages of the project particularly because of Third Party Disturbance (TPD) in the insecure environments. The lack of risk information and the root causes of pipelines’ failures are hindering the efforts of managing these risks. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the existing risk factors and recommend an effective Risk Mitigation Methods (RMMs) based on a holistic approach from the prospect of stakeholders’ interest. An investigation was carried out to identify the critical RFs and existing RMMs in different circumstances to overcome the problem of the historical records about the RFs and RMMs. The findings of the literature review were used to design a questionnaire survey to analyze RFs and evaluate the “usability and effectiveness” of the RMMs. The RFs were ranked by using Risk Index (RI) method based on the probability and severity levels of each RF. The survey results revealed that sabotage and terrorism as part of TPD, corruption and insecure areas are the most critical RFs, whereas, anti-corrosion efforts, underground pipelines and technologically advanced risk monitoring systems are the most effective RMMs. These ranking are vary based on the occupation of the stakeholder in OGPs; like the planners and the researchers said corruption is the most critical RF, and the researchers said that the advance risk monitoring systems are the most effective RMM

The Development of a Questionnaire Survey to Investigate the Critical Risk Factors in Oil and Gas Pipelines Projects

The scarcity of data about “the probability and severity” of the Risk Factors (RFs) and “the usability and effectiveness” of the Risk Mitigation Methods (RMMs) in Oil and Gas Pipelines (OGPs) are hindering the efforts of risk mitigations in these projects. Consequently, this paper aims to develop a questionnaire survey to collect these require data to analyze the RFs and effectively evaluate the RMMs. Firstly, documents qualitative analysis were carried out to identify the RFs and RMMs in OGPs projects in different countries worldwide. Secondly, an industry-wide questionnaire survey was found to be an effective quantitative approach to analyze the “probability and severity” levels of the RFs and to evaluate the “usability and effectiveness” degrees of the RMMs. A pilot-like survey was significantly needed to improve the clarity of the questions and revise the ambiguous questions. As well as, to add the necessary queries and discard the unnecessary ones. Moreover, the pilot-like survey was used to test the functionality of the rating scales; and to improve the overall design of the survey. This survey filled by a number of experts in OGPs projects; their feedback was found helpful to write the final draft of the survey. The findings of this paper was a questionnaire survey that will be used in ongoing research about mitigating the RFs in OGPs projects. Furthermore, a few authors explained their procedure of designing such survey. Therefore, researchers in this field could use the findings and comments of this to design their surveys

Utilising a systematic knowledge management based system to optimise project management operations in oil and gas organisations

Purpose: This research examined the efficacy of knowledge management based systems and best practices that could be used to address operational issues in the oil and gas sector. Design/methodology/approach: Given little was known empirically about the strategies and practices which contribute to improved performance, innovation and continuous improvement in the oil and gas sector qualitative method was used. Semi-structured interviews were used to derive senior managers’ constructs of project delivery efficiency and knowledge management based systems. The interviews were analysed through the use of a qualitative analysis software package NUDIST NVivoTM. Participants were selected using purposive sampling. Validity and reliability were achieved by first assessing the plausibility in terms of already existing knowledge on some of the operational issues raised by participants. Findings: These were synthesised into a framework capturing seven-well defined stages. All these steps emerged as being related; they are comprised of independent variables. These steps were found to comprise of knowledge management technology approaches, knowledge management people approaches, knowledge management strategies and value enhancing practices. Research limitations/implications: Although the findings are pertinent to oil and gas organisations, it will be important to conduct follow-up research validating the potential for using the results of this study to establish frameworks for knowledge and information management in different organisations and contexts. This will provide not only data about the validity of the framework in generic terms but will also generate additional data on the application of knowledge management strategy. Practical implications: As shown in this study, successful knowledge management based systems requires the aligning of business strategy, technology for knowledge management, project management operations with an enterprise-knowledge sharing culture. Such sharing requires managing the behaviour of project personnel such that knowledge transfer becomes part of the organisation’s norm. Social implications: The implementation of knowledge management based systems requires deliberate planning and action to create the conditions for success and put in place the strategy, leadership, goals, process, skills, systems, issue resolution, and structure to direct and exploit the dynamic nature of project work. The strategies proposed in this research cannot be expected to resolve all knowledge management issues in the oil and gas sector. However, their use defines an approach that is superior to the traditional approaches typically adopted and consequently merits far wider application. Originality/value: The proposed framework presents a better way of optimising the performance of project-based operations thus enabling oil and gas organisations to reform their poor performance on projects and empower them to better manage emerging cultural challenges in their future projects. Reflecting on their experiences, the participants confirmed that the proposed knowledge management framework and its seven well-defined stages were central to the effectiveness of knowledge management in oil and gas operations. Although the scope of this research was restricted to projects in Nigeria and the UK, the geographical focus of this research does not invalidate these results with respect to other countries. The fact is that the oil and gas sector globally shares some common fundamental characteristics

Using stakeholders’ judgement and fuzzy logic theory to analyze the risk influencing factors in oil and gas pipeline projects: Case study in Iraq, Stage II

Oil and gas pipelines are safe and economic to petroleum products transportation. Nevertheless, enormous risk influencing factors are threatening the safety of these pipelines during the planning, construction and operations stages of these projects. Risk analysis in these projects is hindered by the inaccurate data about the probability and severity levels of the risk influencing factors. This problem is exacerbated further in troubled and developing countries, where the documentations and records are not at the best conditions. This study aims to identify and analyze potential risk influencing factors using a more integrated risk analysis framework. In this a such framework, the critical risk influencing factors and some of applied risk mitigation methods were identified based on a comprehensive review of pipelines projects worldwide. The impact of the identified factors and the effectiveness of mitigation methods were evaluated based on an industry-wide questionnaire survey, which was conducted in Iraq. A Computer-Based Risk Analysis Model (CBRAM) was designed to analyze the risk influencing factors using a fuzzy logic theory to consider any uncertainty that is associated with stakeholders’ judgments and data scarcity. The CBRAM has confirmed the most critical risk influencing factors, which this study has explained the effective methods to manage them

Analysing the Critical Risk Factors of Oil and Gas Pipeline Projects in Iraq

ABSTRACT Purpose- Oil and Gas Pipelines (OGPs) are the safest mode of transportation for petroleum products. Yet, OGPs are facing a massive range of safety, design and operational risks such as sabotage, design defects, corrosion, material ageing, poor quality, misuse and geological disasters. These risks have resulted in OGP project management becoming more challenging and complex, particularly in developing countries with poor security systems. Additionally, there are two significant problems associated with OGP projects in these countries. The first is the different characteristics of risk factors, and the second is the real shortage of historical data required for any risk evaluation study. These problems mean that the currently accessible risk evolution methods cannot evaluate OGPs risk factors accurately. This paper aims to provide a proper understanding of the characteristics of OGPs risk factors in these countries. It also aims to identify the critical risk factors and their degree of probability and severity in pipeline projects, to avoid the loss of life and increased costs that result from risks to safety. Methodology- A quantitative research approach is adopted in this paper. Additionally, an industry survey was conducted by using a semi-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed online amongst the people who are associated with OGP projects in Iraq. SPSS 23 was used to analyse a total of 180 successful questionnaire responses. The survey findings in terms of critical risk factors and their ranking in order of risk index of severity and probability are presented in tables and graphs. Findings- A total of 30 risk factors associated with OGP projects have been identified as critical risk factors and ranked them into a scale of probability and severity index. Third-party disruption (such as terrorism, theft and sabotage) was found to be the most critical safety risk factor whereas the failure form pipe corrosion was ranked the top most operational risk. Implications- The list of OPG critical safety and operational risk factors provides the first-stage findings. These findings will be implemented to develop a conceptual framework and a computer-based model for OGPs risk management system at the next stage of the research

An Investigation of mitigating the Safety and Security Risks allied with Oil and Gas Pipeline Project: a case study in Iraq

Oil and Gas Pipeline (OGP) projects face a wide range of safety and security Risk Factors (RFs) globally, particularly in the oil and gas producing countries having insecure environment and poor safety records. Inadequate information about the causes of pipeline failures and poor knowledge about the safety and the security of the OGP hinder efforts of mitigating such risks. This paper, therefore, aims to develop a risk management system that bases on a holistic approach of identifying, analysing and ranking the associated RFs, and evaluating the possible Risk Mitigation Methods (RMMs), which are the first steps of this approach. A qualitative document analysis was adopted to design a semi-structured industry-wide questionnaire, which was conducted to collect stakeholders’ perceptions about existing RFs and RMMs for the OGP projects in Iraq. The survey results in terms of the probability and severity levels of the RFs were used as inputs for a computer-based risk analysis model. The model used the fuzzy theory to judge the probability and consequence levels of the RFs and rank them regards their degree of impact in the projects. The results revealed that terrorism, official corruption and insecure areas are the most critical risks. Similarly, the RMMs were evaluated based on their degree of efficacy to mitigate the risk in OGP projects. This paper presents a prototype of the risk management system that will be further developed in the next stage of the study

The Development of a Questionnaire Survey to Investigate the Critical Risk Factors in Oil and Gas Pipelines Projects

The scarcity of data about “the probability and severity” of the Risk Factors (RFs) and “the usability and effectiveness” of the Risk Mitigation Methods (RMMs) in Oil and Gas Pipelines (OGPs) are hindering the efforts of risk mitigations in these projects. Consequently, this paper aims to develop a questionnaire survey to collect these require data to analyze the RFs and effectively evaluate the RMMs. Firstly, documents qualitative analysis were carried out to identify the RFs and RMMs in OGPs projects in different countries worldwide. Secondly, an industry-wide questionnaire survey was found to be an effective quantitative approach to analyze the “probability and severity” levels of the RFs and to evaluate the “usability and effectiveness” degrees of the RMMs. A pilot-like survey was significantly needed to improve the clarity of the questions and revise the ambiguous questions. As well as, to add the necessary queries and discard the unnecessary ones. Moreover, the pilot-like survey was used to test the functionality of the rating scales; and to improve the overall design of the survey. This survey filled by a number of experts in OGPs projects; their feedback was found helpful to write the final draft of the survey. The findings of this paper was a questionnaire survey that will be used in ongoing research about mitigating the RFs in OGPs projects. Furthermore, a few authors explained their procedure of designing such survey. Therefore, researchers in this field could use the findings and comments of this to design their surveys

Analysing Delay Impact from Potential Risk Factors on Project Delivery of Oil and Gas Pipeline: A Case Study in Iraq

The aim of this paper is to present the design and specifications of an integrated Delay Analysis Framework (DAF), which could be used to quantify the delay caused by the Risk Factors (RFs) in Oil and Gas Pipelines (OGPs) projects in a simple and systematic way. The main inputs of the DAF are (i) the potential list of RFs in the projects and their impact levels on the projects and the estimated maximum and minimum duration of each task. Monte Carlo Simulation integrated within @Risk simulator was the key process algorithm that used to quantify the impact of delay caused by the associated RFs. The key output of the DAF is the amount of potential delay caused by RFs in the OGP project. The functionalities of the developed DAF were evaluated using a case study of newly developed OGP project, in the south of Iraq. It is found that the case study project might have delayed by 45 days if neglected the consideration of the RFs associated with the project at the construction stage. The paper concludes that identifying the associated RFs and analysing the potential delay in advance will help in reducing the construction delay and improving the effectiveness of the project delivery by taking suitable risk mitigation measures

Analyzing Stakeholders' Perceptions of the Critical Risk Factors in Oil and Gas Pipeline Projects

Currently, there are enormous Risk Factors (RFs) threating the safety of Oil and Gas Pipelines (OGPs) at all stages of projects. However, there is a lack of information about the root causes of pipeline failures and an absence of trusted data about the "probability and severity" levels of the RFs; this hinders the risk management in such projects. To improve the safety level of OGPs, this paper aims to explore stakeholders' perceptions about pipeline failures issues to analyze the RFs and recommend effective Risk Mitigation Methods (RMMs). Due to the lack of trusted data about the RFs and RMMs, this paper started with extensive investigations to identify the critical RFs and the applied RMMs in OGP projects in different circumstances. The findings of these investigations were used to design a questionnaire survey, which was distributed to analyze the "probability and severity" levels of the RFs and evaluate the "usability and effectiveness" degrees of the suggested RMMs. The survey results revealed that RFs related to Third-Party Disruption (TPD) including sabotage and terrorism, corruption and insecure areas are the most severe RFs. Additionally, based on the survey some RMMs such as anti-corrosion efforts, laying the pipelines underground and using technologically advanced risk-monitoring systems were found to be effective RMMs. These results were found to be varied based on the stakeholders' occupation in the projects; for example, the overall survey results indicated that terrorism and sabotage is the most critical RF, while the planners and the researchers identified corruption as the most critical one. It was also observed that using anti-corrosion measures such as isolation and cathodic protection would be the most effective RMM, while the other stakeholders have different perceptions like moving the pipelines underground an advanced risk-monitoring system are the most effective RMMs as indicated by the consultant, planner or designer and researches respectively