Oil and gas companies rely on small and mid-sized projects to balance risk and cash flow in their portfolios. To maximise the pay-off of these investments, companies are standardising operational processes.

The greatest benefits are achieved when project teams approach their first project with replication in mind, according to a new report from the Economist Intelligence Unit, Economies of Scale: How The Oil and Gas Industry Cuts Costs Through Replication.

A proactive approach effectively integrating owners, contractors and project teams is crucial to achieving these results. The report, sponsored by Oracle, looks at how oil and gas businesses have approached project replication, identifying key opportunities and challenges.

Companies have found that construction standardisation enables project teams to reduce delivery time, cut costs and secure incremental advantages on each subsequent investment.

However, executives highlight that this is not a process of cutting corners but the deliberate application of acquired experience. This process takes several years diligently building expertise in particular projects and then sharing that knowledge. Furthermore, it is challenging to attract adequately skilled project managers to smaller projects.

Large projects tend to attract the top talent, but seasoned oversight is vital to successfully carry out replication projects.