BP Case Study

PSC’s long track record of engagements with BP - www.bp.com - began with our assignment in 1983 with Sohio Alaska (San Francisco and North Slope, Alaska). This was a multi-phase, turnkey assignment to supply a Project Management System for Sohio’s US $8 billion North Slope Project; then provide a Project Control Service in support of Sohio’s management of the Prime Contractor (Fluor Engineers & Constructors) and the Sea Lift Program; and subsequently contract on-site System Support Services for the operation of the Sohio’s North Slope Project Control System. This was the first implementation of PSC’s MAX/ARTEMIS Application, and represented a multi-million $ assignment for PSC over its 4 year duration.

In parallel with the above, we secured an assignment with ARCO Pipe Line Company (Independence, Kansas), to turnkey the project control systems and supporting project controls services for ARCO’s $200M Sheep Mountain Pipeline Project.

Our success on the Alaska North Slope caught the attention of British Petroleum, and we were engaged by BP International, Ltd. (Engineering Technical Centre, London) to define and implement a uniform Project Control System (subsequently named ‘PROMS’) for British Petroleum’s North Sea Exploration and Production Projects. PROMS was based on our MAX/ARTEMIS Applications, together with the addition of a number of BP-proprietary models that BP commissioned us to develop. We based a four-person team with BP in London for over two years to complete this assignment and support the deployment of PROMS/MAX on several multi-billion £ North Sea Projects.

In the early 1990’s we were awarded an assignment by BP Offshore USA in Houston, where we baselined their project-related job functions and information flows by interviewing twenty Project and Department managers. Subsequently we produced a top level management report and recommended that improved work flow, streamlined communications and strengthened management control.

Our Houston work led directly to a series of engagements with BP Exploration Columbia in Bogotá, Colombia on a on their multi-billion $ Cusiana Project. PSC’s deliverables over an 18 month period included: a critical assessment of the in-place project management systems and procedures; recommendations for an improved Project Management Practice, and development of a Handbook to support this; provision of on-site Project Control services; and development of a company-wide Priorities Definition & Management process.

In 2001 PSC won and led an assignment to execute key elements of BP’s Group-wide Mercury Project, working as part of a BP team led by a Group Director and alongside Bain & Co., Cambridge Consulting and KPMG. This was a series of proofs-of-concept for how BP could manage performance at Group, Stream, Cluster and Business Unit levels. Our five person team worked within a ~ 35-person Mercury Team, delivering two ‘proofs’ and supporting demonstrations for BP executives over seven months.

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