Project management on the rise in oil and gas sector
Engineering, procurement, construction and drilling support services supplier ICON Engineering will implement project-based ERP suite IFS Applications to manage its operations and expansion, indicating the growth of project management in the oil and gas sector.
The oil and gas industry is increasingly using a project-based approach to manage its engineering, procurement and construction activities, which provides opportunities for specialist engineering services said Chris Harrigan, ICON Engineering’s General Manager – Finance and Commercial.
Harrigan believes ICON could double in size in the next 2-5 years by leveraging demand for specialist solutions, such as mitigation of deepwater drilling risks. “We have created specific bespoke designs for drilling rigs and floating drilling rigs that help minimise risk and we are getting a lot of enquiries from major oil and gas operators for Compensated Tension Lifting Frames [CTLFs],” he said.
“This is a niche market opportunity for the company, and the complexity of these CTLF projects means we need a fully integrated project management system to better manage these projects on a daily basis.”
ICON chose IFS Applications to integrate its systems and provide up to date project reporting, which will assist project managers in informing the board of project progress.
“There will be a lot of information we currently don’t get such as precise measures of project status and forecast project costs to complete,” said Harrigan. “[It] will free operational people up from administrative work so they can carry out more business development, innovation projects or, better still, make more time available to our clients.”
Rob Stummer, managing director at IFS Australia and New Zealand, said the uptake of project management technology by the oil and gas sector indicated a more vigilant attitude to expansion.
“Improvements in technology are having a profound influence on the resources and oil and gas industries, particularly when it comes to project and asset management,” he said. “Fast growing services companies that invest in robust and agile ERP systems continue to win new business based on their high levels of innovation, quality and productivity.”
