The Hidden Backbone of Projects: Why Operations Readiness & Assurance (OR&A) Experts are Crucial from Day One.
April 2025
By Steve Fennell Senior Operations Practitioner
Steve Fennell has over 42 years’ experience with Shell International and Shell Joint Ventures, with extensive OR&A experience and commissioning & start up in brownfield and major greenfield projects, both onshore & offshore. Accountable in a wide range of roles, such as Operations Readiness & Assurance Manager, Offshore Installation Manager, Gas Plant Manager, and responsible for development of operational management and HSSE management systems, including mandatory standards compliance assessments. Technical Authority TA1.
Introduction – Why do we need Operations Readiness & Assurance (OR&A)?
Kashagan oil field project in Kazakhstan. This ambitious offshore oil field faced significant delays, safety concerns, and cost overruns. The lack of early involvement of OR&A experts contributed to challenges such as pipeline leaks due to high sulphur content in the oil, which posed safety risks and required extensive retrofitting. The project, initially estimated at $10 billion, ended up costing over $50 billion.
Shell Bijupira and Saleme (B&S) Brazil. The FPSO facility and subsea wells started up one month ahead of the promise made in GIP. However, numerous problems prevented the facilities from functioning as designed for further nine months. The field was started up with only one manifold as water injection was not available yet. A limited capacity to flare gas reduced early production, and the gas compression facilities took three months to start-up. The project had to wait on water injection, which was delayed due to the need to repair corrosion damage in the Well Integrity (WI) pumps. Finally, shutdown of the gas export facilities was required six months later to upgrade and improve the operability of the gas dehydration plant. The wells also produced at levels below the anticipated. The poor level of commissioning onshore was in part caused by the need to accelerate sail-away from the fabrication yard. In the first year, deferred revenue of only a $45/bbl oil price was over $300M.
What is OR&A and its objectives - and why does it matter?
OR&A is crucial in the oil for projects of all sizes because it ensures that assets are prepared for safe, efficient, and sustainable operation from the moment they are handed over. Here's why it matters:
What is OR&A and its objectives
The objective of OR&A is to ensure that the facilities (Greenfield or Brownfield) are designed and built to agreed standards and are started-up flawlessly. In addition, it provides assurance that the future Asset Owner is fully prepared to receive, operate and maintain the facilities.
An OR&A Lead is the intermediary between operations and the project, whereby the requirements and experience of the future Asset Operator is systematically fed in to the project delivery process. OR&A represents operations and give operations input to design during design and engineering.
The Project Manager is accountable for delivering the facility to the required operations performance criteria. The OR&A Lead represents the Asset Owner who is responsible to provide the resources to conduct and coordinate the OR&A-specific work
The Three - Pillars
The Three-Pillar model (below) shows the high-level activities for typical organisations involved in the delivery of OR in a project.
Front End Operations (FEO)
FEO This pillar plays a pivotal role in concept selection, ensuring that the organisation's operations and maintenance philosophy requirements are fulfilled. It guarantees early operational input into the design phase, integrating key operational requirements into both the Basis of Design (BoD) and the Basic Design Engineering Package (BDEP). This alignment minimizes the need for costly modifications later and prepares the project for safe and efficient operation. Additionally, FEO ensures that operations professionals are actively involved in safety studies, such as HAZOP and design reviews, to proactively identify risks and propose mitigation strategies before operations commence.
AOR: This pillar focuses on the readiness of the Asset Owner organisation and represents the operations involvement in the project from IDENTIFY/ ASSESS project phases, up to and including the initial OPERATE phase. It covers, for example, the development of the Management Systems, Operations and Maintenance (O&M) philosophy, Reference Plans, Operations Input to Design, Designing and setting up a competent permanent organisation and Maintenance and Integrity (M&I) management.
The Project Manager is accountable for delivering the facility to the required operations performance criteria. The OR Lead represents the Asset Owner and is responsible to provide the resources to conduct and coordinate the OR-specific work.
CSU Readiness: This pillar focuses on the readiness of the CSU organisation. The preparation includes early identification of the project CSU Team leader, the creation of a competent CSU organisation, the development of system-based CSU logic and schedule and preparation for the Project-to-Asset (P2A) transfer.
How do we achieve OR&A ?
There are 7 main topic areas for OR&A
Each of these areas is addressed and tracked as deliverables throughout the project phases, with their scope scaled appropriately to the size and complexity of the project. An operations management plan is developed and endorsed during the DEFINE phase of the project. This plan outlines the applicable deliverables, identifies accountable action parties, and ensures that all tasks are tracked to completion. By adhering to these principles, projects can align design, execution, and a successful CSU and handover to operations.
CONCLUSION
It is possible to achieve a flawless startup of a project—on time, within budget, and without compromising safety. The secret lies in integrating seasoned operations personnel and OR&A experts as early as possible. By embedding operational requirements into the design from the outset, this proactive approach reduces costly reworks, prevents design changes, and ensures readiness for seamless operation. Beyond cost and efficiency, OR&A involvement strengthens project safety, fostering a culture where hazards are anticipated, risks are mitigated, and lives and environments are safeguarded.
This collaboration also enhances project reliability, sustainability, and long-term performance, laying the groundwork for operational excellence. Are you prepared to ensure your project's success across all dimensions—safety, efficiency, and sustainability? That’s where Pecten can help—bringing expertise and foresight to every stage of the journey, ensuring your project operates flawlessly from day one
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