Westney Consulting Group
2200 West Loop South
Suite 500
Houston, TX 77027
Phone: 713-861-0800
Toll Free: 800-648-3475
Email: info@westney.com

INDUSTRIES

Westney clients represent a variety of capital-intensive industry sectors.

Offshore Oil & Gas Development

Often in very deep water, offshore development projects must deal with unique challenges.  In addition to the technical challenges associated with drilling and production in ever-deeper water depths, the size of these projects requires operators to apply program-management principles in the way they think about their organizations. Risk management takes on a new focus as mega-projects place such demands on the market for project goods and services that they can be a source of their own strategic risks.

Westney’s work on offshore oil and gas developments includes fixed platforms, subsea production facilities, deepwater drilling rigs, and floating production configurations such as FPSOs, semi-submersibles, and SPARs.  Project locations include Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, Northeast Canada, Brazil, North Sea, South China Sea, West Africa, and the Persian Gulf.

Oil Sands

Alberta, Canada is home to some of the largest onshore projects in the industry, and also to a record of significant cost overruns and schedule delays as operators and contractors address the scope and complexity of developing synthetic crude.  The challenges these projects face have often been associated with overheated market conditions, logistics difficulties, infrastructure constraints, mega-project scale, and scaled-up technologies. 

Westney’s work in the Alberta oil-sands includes both mining and Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAG-D) projects.

Onshore Oil & Gas Development

Onshore oil & gas development may include complex drilling and production facilities, or the challenge of managing a large portfolio of oil & gas drilling and production projects across a region.

Westney’s work in onshore oil & gas development includes the North Slope of Alaska, Canada, and large project portfolios in the USA.

Oil & Gas Pipelines

While pipeline projects are often viewed as routine, in fact the large-diameter, long-distance pipelines the world is seeing today present many of the same challenges as other mega-projects.  These may include the availability of large quantities of steel pipe, the ability to perform construction in hostile terrain, and the ability to mobilize qualified contractors when needed.  Subsea pipelines may be in deep water and present particular design and installation risks.

Westney’s work on oil & gas pipelines includes the $30 billion Alaska Gas Pipeline Project from the North Slope of Alaska to Canada as well as land and subsea pipelines in the USA and South America.

LNG Manufacturing and Regasification

Although LNG manufacturing technology is mature, project challenges remain in the form of large-scale projects and new applications for floating LNG.   Since the engineering of large LNG manufacturing facilities can only be done by a limited number of contractors, market conditions and contract strategy can be key success factors.  Floating LNG facilities must contend with the integration of process and marine engineering.

Westney’s work in the LNG sector includes LNG manufacturing, floating LNG, and onshore regasification facilities in the USA, Canada, and the Middle East.

Refining

Refinery projects generally involve expansions, turnarounds, compliance and upgrading.  Challenges are associated with the revamp/retrofit nature of these projects, many of which must take place in or around operating process units, as well as being highly cost-driven.  Turnarounds also present particular challenges for planning and risk management.

Westney’s work in the refining sector includes projects in the USA and Middle East.

Chemicals Manufacturing

Chemical manufacturing projects often present challenges associated with technology, complex interfaces, and volatile economics of market conditions for the products.  Additional challenges may also be associated with the integration of complex process units into an overall processing facility.

Westney’s work in this sector includes projects in the USA, Canada, Middle East, and Far East.

Mining & Metals

Mining & metals projects usually face the challenges associated with large-scale construction in remote locations.  Construction risks that must be addressed include logistics, access, as well as the availability and productivity of skilled labor.

Westney’s work in this sector includes mining and manufacturing facilities in the USA, South America, the Middle East, and Africa.

Power

Hydropower projects generally present the challenges associated with remote locations, dam-building, and electrical infrastructure.  While they share many of the same risks as mega-projects in other sectors, their heavy civil component and significant impact on indigenous populations present unique challenges that require particular attention to risk management and strategic planning. Westney’s work on hydropower projects has been focused in Canada.

Although the pace of construction of nuclear power-plants has been slow in recent decades, numerous organizations are actively developing new projects today.  Their challenges often include developing project organizations that can deliver the competencies needed for these major projects.  Westney’s work in nuclear power has been focused on organization strategy.

Conventional power projects continue to be important; these may involve integrated water & power producers (IWPP), Independent Power Producers (IPP) or Integrated Gasifier Combined Cycle (IGCC).  Westney’s work in conventional power has involved global IPP projects as well as IWPP in the Middle East and commercial scale IGCC.

Alternative Energy

Alternative energy projects generally have the challenges associated with emerging technology and often require significant scale-up to commercial operation.  The sponsoring organizations must contend with such risks as the “valley of death” (the economic risk exposure associated with rapid scale-up to commercial capacities) and the need to rapidly develop organizational capabilities to deliver the projects.

Westney’s work in alternative energy includes Coal-to-Liquids and Biomass technology projects in the USA and Africa.