At a Project Management Institute (PMI) Business Roundtable here Tuesday, Saudi Aramco general manager of Area Projects Mohammad A. Al-Juwair said the company's ability to execute mega projects with consistently high quality comes from years of continuous learning from its past projects. Al-Juwair noted that due to the recent rise in demand for energy, Saudi Aramco is engaged in the largest expansion program in its history, encompassing crude oil production, refining and petrochemicals production. Saudi Aramco currently has approximately 150 active projects, ranging in cost from $2 million to $10 billion. Of that number, Al-Juwair noted, five are mega projects. To get to where Saudi Aramco is now in its ability to execute mega projects, Al-Juwair recounted experience gained during past efforts, including the Ras Tanura Refinery upgrade (1998), the Shaybah Field Development (1998), Hawiyah Gas Plant (2001), Haradh Gas Plant (2003), and the Qatif Crude Increment (2004). Al-Juwair singled out the Ras Tanura project as a turning point in the company's mega-projects management, as the results were mixed. "Although some of our contract packages for this project had degrees of success, I have to be honest here, we still had many uphill challenges," he said. "The experience gave us a world of lessons learned that we could build on." Al-Juwair noted that Saudi Aramco's "Lessons Learned" process has evolved into a web-based, user-friendly system that is methodical and detail-oriented. Lessons are collected through a series of facilitated workshops, followed by an analysis of these lessons by a team of subject matter experts. Finally, these lessons are implemented into new projects by another series of facilitated workshops. --More
