How to best use 200 yrs of oil and gas project experience and avoid past mistakes

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Introduction:? The iVal tool is a searchable database, developed by ValVestris, that is primarily aimed at the oil and gas industry. The tool makes the hundreds of years of collective experience of the ValVestris partners and associates available for technical and managerial reviews. Using iVal ensures that the right questions are asked in technical and management space to help our clients learn and avoid past mistakes. Specific topics addressed in iVal are?pre-FID surface and subsurface studies, engineering and well engineering, project management, supply chain management and CO2 storage with integration between functions as a key focus area. iVal also covers general management aspects like risk and uncertainty management, strategy and decision quality. In addition iVal?allows benchmarking of client maturity in the various technical, commercial and leadership areas to develop a “best in class” approach.???

At ValVestris we are convinced that our integrated approach to considering our client’s challenges can help to quickly identify areas for improvement. At the core of this is our team of very experienced multi-functional practitioners who all have worked for major oil and gas operators in senior roles. With the support of iVal we put our collective experience and insights at work in a very structured manner.??

?Background:?The iVal tool supports most aspects of decision-making excellence and provides a deep insight into a company’s performance potential ranging from technical aspects all the way up to project definition and execution. There are many aspects that together determine whether a project decision or a decision regarding an important initiative will be successful. Not only should the right plan be matured to deliver the best value, but the organisation should also be capable to safeguard and deliver that value. That is why the iVal tool allows a review to be conducted through multiple lenses. Next to providing a technical and commercial lens, the tool allows the generation of useful insights into staff capabilities and integration. It furthermore provides a view whether management systems, partner alignment and company strategy are aligned to deliver on an important project or initiative.

iVal set-up:?First and foremost, the iVal allows the user to generate a subset of questions from a database of well over 350 questions to conduct a review. The questions used by ValVestris when they review performance, processes or project proposals are complemented by a description of "need to knows", key learnings and potential pitfalls. These are based on the extensive experience of our staff and the many issues and problems they have encountered throughout their careers.

For each of the questions a set of 4 graded answers or proof-points was developed that helps placing responses into a perspective of quality and/or maturity as is shown for the subsurface related questions below.

By grading the answers during a review, ValVestris can provide a deep insight into the maturity of the various aspects underpinning a high-level decision. This covers everything ranging from technical maturity of the completed work to staff capabilities and integration as well as the quality of the lower-level decisions already made. With the answers to the questions ranked along the proof-points, plots are generated that show the maturity of an aspect of an organization or a piece of work in a relative perspective, like risk assessment radar plot below.?

Current status of the iVal tool:?ValVestris has been using this tool since its first project and will continue to develop its contents further both through the learnings from the ValVestris reviews and from bringing in more external knowledge to improve or deepen certain areas. Our view is that a tool like iVal will always benefit from further development as learning is never exhausted.?

As a side note, ValVestris is not proposing that all answers need to meet a “world class” standard. However, we are convinced that a lower score will lead to a fruitful discussion on whether improvement will impact project value or can lead to a significant reduction in project risk.???

For more information, please visit www.valvestris.com or contact one of the ValVestris partners. The iVal tool and this blog are fully aligned with earlier blogs shared by ValVestris on a wide variety of topics regarding decision making in the oil and gas industry (https://valvestris.com/articles/).?