Project Management in the Oil and Gas Industry

1.3.6 Design 
Management
The target is to control the design stage to provide high quality with a bet-
ter price. The design input is all the technical information necessary for 
the design process. To be clear, the basis of this information comes from 
the owner through the statement of requirement (SOR) document, so the 
engineering firm should review this document clearly and, if there is any 
confusion or misunderstanding, it should be finished and clarified in the 
document and through meetings.
Instructions for controlling the design are often provided in the con-
tract. The client puts in some instructions to control the whole process or 
request some specific action, such as a representative from the audit during 
the design phase.
The designer must take into account the available materials in the 
local market of the project country and its location and they must match 
with the capabilities of the owner. The designers must have contact with 
and full knowledge of the best equipment, machinery, and available 
materials.

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Project Management in the Oil and Gas Industry
The design must be in conformity with the project specifications and 
the permissible deviation and tolerance should be in accordance with the 
specifications and requirements of the owner.
Health, safety, and the environment are critical subjects nowadays, 
so every design should match with health, safety, and environmental 
regulations.
The computer is one of the basic tools now in the design process as 
well as in the recording and storage of information, with the possibility of 
changing the design easily. It is easy now to modify the drawings by using 
Computer Aided Design (CAD) software in order to obtain more precise 
information with the access to information through various forms of tables 
and diagrams.
The design output must be compatible with all design requirements, 
and the design should be reviewed through the internal audit. The design 
must be compared to an old design that has been approved for similar proj-
ects. Any engineering firm should have a procedure, such as a checklist, to 
review the design.
The audits of design review are intended to be on a regular basis. In 
the case of important stages in the design, the audit must have complete 
documentation and could take the form of analytical forms such as the 
analysis of collapse, with an assessment of the risk of Failure Mode and 
Effects Analysis (FMEA). In the case of oil and gas projects, operating risks 
such as Hazard Operation (HAZOP) are being studied. The review will be 
conducted by engineers with higher experience.