Standardization of Procurement Equipment Specifications: A Step Change in Facility Cost and Schedule Reduction

Abstract

Over the past decade, projects across the oil and gas industry have been plagued by cost and schedule overruns, exacerbating underlying cost escalation. Rising project costs must be addressed to ensure long term viability of the future capital programs. Standardization is widely recognized as part of the solution, and individual companies have been progressing standardization of specifications within their own businesses. However, the standardization journey is only just beginning: the oil and gas industry still lags others such as the automotive and aviation, as individual companies each maintain their own amendments on otherwise established industry or international standards. Joint Industry Program 33 (JIP33), now in its third phase, aims to unlock significant value and drive a permanent reduction in project costs through the development and use of industry-level, global technical specifications for procurement of bulk materials, packages, modules and potentially, even projects.