THE ROLE OF PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN OIL AND GAS

PLATFORM CONSTRUCTION

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of study
It goes without saying that Nigeria is one of the oil rich countries, not only in Africa, but also
within the community of nations of the world. Her reserves make Nigeria the tenth most
petroleum-rich nation and by far the most affluent in Africa. Beyond production, Nigerias
proven oil reserves have witnessed astronomic progression over the years. These oil reserves are
located offshore, hence, the existence of offshore oil platforms.
Offshore platforms have many uses including oil exploration and production, navigation, ship
loading and unloading, and to support bridges and causeways. Offshore platforms consist of
huge steel or concrete structures used for the exploration and extraction of oil and gas from the
earths crust. Offshore structures are designed for installation in the open sea, lakes, gulfs, etc.,
many kilometers from shorelines. They are generally made of various grades of steel, from mild
steel to high-strength steel, although some of the older structures were made of reinforced
concrete. Within the category of steel platforms, there are various types of structures, depending
on their use and primarily on the water depth in which they will work.
These offshore structures must function safely for design lifetimes of twenty-five years or more
and are subject to very harsh marine environments such as strong currents which create loads on
the mooring system and can induce vortex shedding. Consequently the design and construction
of these platforms represents a significant challenge to the design engineer.
To ensure that the fabrication of these platforms meets all material and safety standards, Federal
government agencies such as the Nigerian department of petroleum resources (DPR) have laid
down several stringent procedural guidlines that must be attained before any oil patform can
become funtional. The guidline further states that at the completion of construction a designated
quality control company shall compile a report confirming that all material used were stictly in
accordance with approved specification (as verified through steel mill certificate) and that all the
processes of construction were in accordance with the approved standards and codes of practice.

The report shall also include all equipment, functional test carried out and test results as
available. A comprehensive report of the inspection so carried out is forwarded to DPR.
Further more the increasing complexities of fabricating an oil platform in terms of time, cost,
technology and quantity requirements have highligted the huge importance of a thorough
understanding and full implementation of project quality management in oil and gas platform
fabrication.
The purpose of this thesis is to fully explore the role of project quality management in oil
platform fabrication within the Nigerian context.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The construction of oil and gas platforms involves an enormous investment of human and
material capital. So its no surprise that it was only in 2009 that an indigenous Nigerian
fabrication company (Brown Rocks Nigeria Limited) fabricated the nations first offshore oil
production platform named 'Adanga North B (for Addax Petroleum Nigeria Limited (APNL).
Consequently a comprehensive deployment of project quality management is imperative to make
the process and product safe, viable, functional and economical.
Project quality management can be subdivided into three major steps namely;

planning quality
Performing quality assurance.
Performing quality control

The goal of this study is to investigate the involvement of all three steps in the construction
of an oil & gas platform within the Nigerian context.
1.3 Objective of the study
The purpose of this research is compressed into the following points;

To conduct an extensive review of previous works on the role of Project quality

management in oil and gas platform construction.
To introduce the quality management process and key quality management activities
To highlight the importance of project quality management to construction activities
To explain the role of standards in quality management in the Nigerian context
To describe quality planning, assurance and control
To analysis the various decision making tools used in assessing project planning,
assurance and control

1.4 Methodology
This research will primarily use qualitative methods in addition to document analysis of
literature and papers from recognized authors.
When necessary the research will utilize data and information that is either publicly available or
not deemed to be confidential to any existing firm. Where this is not possible to achieve,
rewrites will necessarily have to be done and accompanied by a disclaimer.
The research will employ the use of software in areas where some comparative analysis is
needed between two or more software brand

1.5 Scope and Limitation

1.5.1 Scope of work
This study covers delta state where the Funiwa & North Apoi Platform owned by Chevreon
multinational is located. The research covered the assessment of the oil and gas exploration
platform. The research was executed through survey data and available literature on oil & gas
plat form design specifications.

1.5.2 Limitations

The study has several limitations; amongst which is the lack of full access of the oil and
gas platform exploration site in the area due to strict security measures.
Some necessary standards and specifications were unavailable for the purpose of
collecting information. A such values from relevant literature were added where
necessary
Lastly, finances needed in obtaining a few desired data were unavailable