Book Description

As current headlines show, the Oil and Gas Industry faces profound fluctuation. The United States and Canadian production has increased to rival Middle East levels. Crude oil prices have fallen. OPEC has engaged in a market strategy to keep production levels high; Geopolitical unrest has seen Russia, Iran, and even China moving toward a greater impact in this industry. On top of all of these economic and political realities, emerging technologies (e.g., fracking, shale, oil sands utilization) to alternative energy focus (e.g., hydrogen, solar, wind, tide, and electric) are competing with oil and gas consumption markets. Big oil companies, and especially mid-sized oil companies such as Saudi Aramco, have been facing enormous challenges recently in enhancing production and operational efficiency in the face of market and competitive change. Almost due to decades of success, a lean strategic operational procedure across the Saudi Aramco organization may not have been as strong as necessary. The changes mentioned appear to have made it mandatory in the last 1-3 years to apply new process optimization techniques to face these challenged and to improve productivity, quality delivery and reduce operational costs. Operational efficiency suggests more strategic analysis, technology enablement, asset utilization, and supply chain alignment, among others. This research will examine related industry-leading practices around asset management, transportation management, production operational improvement, technology transfer, and a variety of other gains occurring at companies that are similarly asset-heavy, transportation dependent, and actively attempting to shed 20th-century remnants. Organizations cited include Ford, Fiat, Caterpillar and, others. Oil and Gas consulting studies from Bain, Chevron, British Petroleum, Argo, and Accenture are referenced to capture trends that have been observed and documented. The progression of the research flow will be that after the context, literature, and research are completed, an operational blueprint will be developed to examine areas where Saudi Aramco may be able to add business acceleration to their continuous improvement methods and standards to achieve improved results. The outcome of this research is the actionable blueprint that will be recommended to be effectively and efficiently utilized to improve production operational efficiency and the technique of continuous improvement as well as its pace and return at Saudi Aramco.