kl.
10.15
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16.00
Webinar, Zoom event
Title of the Thesis: 'Digital Transformation in the Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration and Production supply chain operations'
Summary
This research addresses the challenges that the offshore oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) industry faces by investigating the transformation already started in the offshore E&P supply chain operations support underway in an established Norwegian operator. It aims to contribute to the success of this transformation through (1) an analysis of how the operational functions can be made more efficient, (2) a presentation of potential alternatives based on research into state-of the art options, and (3) a strategic roadmap as a guide for their implementation. The body of knowledge of this research lies mostly within supply chain management and system theory, while systems engineering and systems thinking have greatly influenced this research. Systems engineering and systems thinking provided the foundation to design and execute this research. The results from this research are presented in relation to the supply chain operations’ “AS-IS” and desired “TO-BE” states. This investigation showed that the current “AS-IS” supply chain operations are fragmented into silos within and across the organisation, lack software and data interoperability, and have a high dependency on manual inputs to collect the information that is required to execute the operational tasks. Three root causes were identified: (1) a traditional organisational culture that dictates how operations are conducted, (2) a traditional lack of urgency in improving supply chain operations due to high profit margins, and (3) failure to invest in technology that focuses on supply chain operations. The desired “TO-BE” vision presented by the stakeholders involved in this research shows an end-state for supply chain that addresses different organisation levels, with focus spread into cultural, organisational, operational, and technological elements. The results indicate that technology and organisational change are at the centre of the desired transformation for supply chain operations. With technology at the centre of supply chain activities, the focus shifts to automation, software, and data interoperability, and the use of data as triggers to operations to decrease the dependency on manual intervention. The results show that such an infrastructure could be expected to lead to more autonomy, that is, less reliance on human decisions that could be a bottleneck to the efficiency of operations and suggests potential changes to many other aspects of current operations. The results also indicate that this transformation and vision can only be reached through organisational and cultural changes that embrace new approaches to how operations are to be conducted.
Karen V. Czachorowski is a Brazilian professional living in Norway. She received a BBA degree in Business Administration from Paraná Social Studies Foundation/FESP institute, Curitiba, Brazil, in 2011 and a MSc. degree in maritime management from University of South-Eastern Norway, Horten, Norway, in 2017. From 2008 to 2015, she held several supply chain positions in different organizations, being the lengthiest in the oil and gas industry. Since 2018, she has been in different supply chain improvement and digital transformation projects and currently works as a product owner and senior enterprise architect positions at Aker BP, Oslo, Norway. Her main areas of interest and research are maritime and offshore digital transformation, technology and systems, innovation, and supply chain & logistics.