Managing your engineering consultants: Steps for simultaneously improving operations, project implementation, and your bottom line

Conference · Wed Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1997

OSTI ID:347842

Kirchen, E R; Perilloux, B L ^[1]

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1. Albert-Garaudy and Associates, Inc., Metairie, LA (United States)

The domestic oil and gas industry has responded to depleting reserves and increasing operating costs by downsizing the overhead required to maintain production and processing facilities. For many companies this downsizing has resulted in a reduced in-house engineering staff and a greater reliance on consulting engineering services. To get the most benefit from consulting engineering companies, the partnership between consultants and the oil and gas company needs to be carefully considered. Unfortunately, these partnerships are often developed at the home office with visionary goals in mind, only to be implemented reluctantly on a local level. A better strategy is to implement partnering tools on the local level and allow these partnerships to develop naturally, and at times, uniquely, at each location. The following such tools detailed in this paper are: manpower leveraging -- using field-trained consulting engineers to address project design/implementation and field/construction support so that the operating company`s engineers may focus on management and detailed development of high-return projects; enhanced project scope and design review -- developing and reviewing project scope(s) and preliminary engineering designs to minimize engineering/construction costs as well as optimize the operability and constructability of the project; and consulting rate standardization -- understanding and structuring the consultant`s rates so that neither side is exploited and so that the project is staffed in the interest of project execution and not maximum profits for the consultant.

• OSTI ID: 347842
• Report Number(s): CONF-9703180--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
03 NATURAL GAS
CONSULTANTS
ENGINEERS
NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT