Project Management in the Oil and Gas Industry

8.5 Define 
Priorities
There are many ways to define the risk ranking for each risk item that was 
defined before. In this step, the facilitator will ask the team in the meeting 
to define the degree of likelihood that the event will occur and, also, define 
how much it can impact the project. There are two traditional methods. 
The matrix method is the most popular and is defined in the PMOBOK 
guide. The other way depends on ranking the risks in a table and defining 
them in three categories: red, yellow, and green for every identified risk.
8.5.1 Matrix 
Method
In the previous meeting everyone wrote down all expected risks. Now you 
want to determine the priorities of those risks. We will use this experi-
ence in assessing the risk at the same meeting and there will be a two-stage 
evaluation process.
The first phase requires determining the likelihood of a risk and rating it 
from one to nine, one being the least likelihood of the event occurring and 
nine being the greatest probability of the event occurring.
In the second stage, the team determines the outcome of an event on the 
project or the expected losses due to this event occurring and it is divided 
into the following cases:
• High: It has a greater significant impact on the time schedule 
or the cost of the project.
• Medium: It has a medium impact on the time schedule 
and cost.
• Low: It has a lower influence on the time schedule and little 
impact on the cost.
In summary, the following table can be used to determine the risk 
priorities.
The team must know what the probability of the event occurring is and 
what its impact is to the project. The impact will be obtained through the 

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The History of Graphene 303
discussion for each event by answering the two questions: What is the 
probability of potential risks and what is their impact on the project?
From the previous matrix shown in Table 8.2, one can determine the 
risk category.
In the case of an unacceptable risk, the event needs to be analysed with 
high accuracy and a thorough examination or by focusing on finding solu-
tions to them. If their occurrence will cause failure for the whole project 
and the project cannot be done as planned, the risks are unacceptable and 
must be resolved now.
In the case of high-risk, this situation occurs when the event could have 
a significant impact on the project schedule and cost. Therefore, sustained 
monitoring is required.
In the case that a medium-risk event occurs, medium impact is expected 
and not all the key points of the project will be affected. Therefore, the risk 
mitigation must be reviewed at each meeting of the project and evaluate 
their action work and follow it up periodically.
In case of a low-risk event, it is not expected at the time of the event to have 
a significant impact on the project and must follow up from time to time.
The risks that have been assessed as high risk at the follow-up may cause 
some changes due to some work or actions performed, which can reduce 
or increase of the probability of the event occurring. 
After identifying the risks, rank them from highest to lowest risk.
In every item, find a solution and accurately identify the responsibilities 
as to who will do the activity. This will reduce the risk of the event and it 
will be registered, as shown in Table 8.3.