Why major oil and gas projects go wrong
The underlying causes of disruptions and disputes could be moderated by improving contracts, audits and controls
Oil and gas projects are complex, usually large-scale and involve integrating complicated supply chains and diverse technologies. But this complexity does not explain the delays, disruption, defects, lost productivity and higher costs that afflict so many of these construction and engineering projects. Within the world’s largest database of real-life claims and disputes, HKA analysed 114 oil and gas projects with a capex value of US$603.7 billion from the last two years to identify and rank the underlying causes (see table). The findings from HKA’s CRUX Insight 2019 Global Market Sector Analysis found change in scope to be the dominant causation factor in this and the other five sectors surv

Also in this section
5 March 2025
The oil alliance’s decision to keep to the plan amid tightening economic fundamentals seems to have been lost in the global geopolitical maelstrom, misplaced market speculation and haze of conjecture
5 March 2025
Petronas is making huge efforts to arrest falling oil production and accelerate gas increases to meet rising demand, but political tensions persist
5 March 2025
Plans to boost capacity have seen little progress as the country lags behind other major oil consumers and importers
4 March 2025
The US and Canada are boosting capacity builds for renewable diesel and biofuels, while Central and South American countries are investing heavily to upgrade and expand their domestic refining sectors