Devel­op­ing a Clear Plan of Action to Face Mod­ern Chal­lenges in Oil and Gas

Oil and gas (O&G) com­pa­nies are poised at a cross­roads as ener­gy secu­ri­ty, sup­ply diver­si­fi­ca­tion, and low-carbon tran­si­tion all affect the ener­gy mar­ket. But despite the chal­lenges, 93% of O&G com­pa­nies still have a pos­i­tive out­look for the com­ing years. How­ev­er, those com­pa­nies need the right plan to face chal­lenges and meet oppor­tu­ni­ties in the future.

In many cas­es, the goals and strate­gies set by O&G com­pa­nies are only skin-deep, more like mis­sion state­ments than an actu­al plan of action. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, with­out con­crete goals and a roadmap to take them there, com­pa­nies miss tar­gets and under­per­form. On the oth­er hand, a new approach to plan­ning can reverse that situation.

Why O&G Com­pa­nies Need a Clear Plan of Action

Devel­op­ing clear­er strate­gies enables O&G com­pa­nies to bet­ter out­line and imple­ment prac­tices that meet their ulti­mate busi­ness goals. Strate­gies that have a real impact on refin­ing, trans­porta­tion, logis­tics, and oth­er prac­ti­cal aspects of their oper­a­tions trans­late to reduced costs and max­imised profits.

Clear­ly defin­ing process­es, pro­ce­dures, and pro­to­cols allows O&G com­pa­nies to iden­ti­fy, con­trol, and min­imise risks. At a time when sup­ply chains and mate­r­i­al costs are more press­ing than ever, O&G com­pa­nies stand to cut costs by up to 15% by tak­ing a care­ful approach to secure their sup­ply chain.

Clear oper­a­tional strate­gies are crit­i­cal not just for pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and prof­itabil­i­ty but for main­tain­ing safe­ty stan­dards through­out the indus­try. In the UK, O&G com­pa­nies saw crit­i­cal main­te­nance back­logs increase by 50%. New solu­tions are need­ed to main­tain health and safe­ty even in the face of labour short­ages and oth­er challenges.

Increas­ing reg­u­la­tion pos­es anoth­er chal­lenge that O&G com­pa­nies need a clear roadmap to nav­i­gate. Defin­ing poli­cies and pro­ce­dures can help avoid penal­ties and fines or even the poten­tial loss of oper­a­tional licens­es. Giv­en the UK’s cur­rent tar­get of net-zero emis­sions by 2050, O&G com­pa­nies face con­sid­er­able chal­lenges over the com­ing decades.

Devel­op­ing and Imple­ment­ing an Action Plan

While the oil and gas indus­try faces sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenges, there are also oppor­tu­ni­ties on the hori­zon. Fol­low these steps to devel­op and imple­ment a clear action plan that can allow O&G com­pa­nies to enjoy a strong per­for­mance in the future:

1. Devel­op a Sin­gle Source of Truth
   Lever­ag­ing data is every­thing when it comes to set­ting goals, bench­mark­ing, and mon­i­tor­ing progress. Bring­ing togeth­er man­age­ment con­trol sys­tems from senior man­age­ment through floor oper­a­tors into a sin­gle source of data ensures that your orga­ni­za­tion can make the most of all met­rics, meet­ings, reports, and short-interval con­trols. Orga­ni­za­tions can then offer new insights to guide decision-making and dri­ve accountability.
2. Ensure Clear Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Across All Levels
   Any bar­ri­er to com­mu­ni­ca­tion is a poten­tial bar­ri­er to per­for­mance. O&G com­pa­nies must ensure that their strate­gies are com­mu­ni­cat­ed to all employ­ees, con­trac­tors, and stake­hold­ers. When every­one under­stands the company’s goals, objec­tives, and tar­gets, they can make mean­ing­ful progress with every deci­sion. Fre­quent updates on progress moti­vate teams and draw atten­tion to areas where it’s need­ed most.
3. Detail Every Aspect of Your Plan
   When you are devel­op­ing a strat­e­gy, noth­ing should be left to chance. O&G com­pa­nies must define spe­cif­ic tar­gets, time­lines, and per­for­mance indi­ca­tors in their action plans. Clear cri­te­ria for suc­cess will help guide per­for­mance. Assign­ing defined roles and respon­si­bil­i­ties is just as vital to ensure account­abil­i­ty and pre­vent any essen­tial tasks from being overlooked.
4. Cre­ate a Cul­ture of Con­tin­u­ous Improvement
   O&G com­pa­nies will con­tin­ue to face new chal­lenges in the future, which means that action plans can’t be a one-time fix but must instead tar­get con­tin­u­ous improve­ment. Encour­ag­ing employ­ees to share ideas and feed­back can let com­pa­nies adjust their strate­gies, and reward­ing inno­va­tions and cre­ativ­i­ty in any role can unlock hid­den val­ue. As the best strate­gies start to pro­duce tan­gi­ble results and more goals are met, O&G com­pa­nies can con­tin­ue to set new tar­gets for their process­es, pro­ce­dures, and systems.

Turn­ing an Action Plan into a Reality

For an O&G com­pa­ny to achieve the goals laid out in its action plan, it needs the right tools and pro­fes­sion­al sup­port to get there. Renoir deliv­ers these oper­a­tional and finan­cial ben­e­fits for our clients by pro­vid­ing ser­vices and solu­tions that work toward goals at every lev­el of the organization.

Under­go­ing a busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion to devel­op more effec­tive sys­tems and process­es can reduce pro­duc­tion loss­es and ensure opti­mal cost-effectiveness. We can help you cre­ate a cul­ture of dis­ci­pline and struc­ture that ensures tar­gets are met and exceed­ed. We also pro­vide a wide range of dig­i­tal tech­nol­o­gy solu­tions that will enhance the impact of your oper­a­tional and busi­ness processes.

You can talk to one of con­sul­tants today to see how our solu­tions can help your organ­i­sa­tion address the unique chal­lenges effi­cient­ly and sustainably.