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Comment
Excellence in oil and gas is dynamic, rather than static. With the regulatory and competitive landscapes constantly in flux and new and emerging technologies continually pushing at the boundaries of what can be achieved, even the top performers are continually reviewing and developing their corporate and operational strategies.
It is the same in Formula One, where the playing field is, arguably, even more competitive.
In this issue, which has a theme of top-quartile performance, it was a natural choice to lead with Shell’s relationship with the most successful team in the history of the sport: Ferrari.
The stakes are high and the margins between glory and also-ran are razor thin. When I watched Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso steal ahead of McLaren-Mercedes’ Jenson Button to secure a triumph in Italy in September, Ferrari Scuderia outperformed its rival by less than one-tenth of a second per lap. It really is that close.
In refining, the difference between top and second-tier performance can be equally narrow. For instance, a 10¢-a-barrel saving at a 200,000-barrels-a-stream-day refinery can be worth some $7.3 million a year.
On page 7, we scrutinise Ferrari’s modus operandi and ask whether there are any lessons that executives in the oil and gas business can apply to their field of expertise.
Of course, we also examine best practices from the oil and gas sector. On page 12, we study the characteristics of successful mega-projects such as the Perdido ultra-deep-water spar in the Gulf of Mexico and the Pearl GTL project in Qatar.
We also look at asset management, which is key to top-quartile performance because it can help to drive production, margins and safety. On page 10, we analyse Shell’s approach to this, which involves incorporating technical and operational integrity while a plant is under construction and leveraging lessons learned from other facilities.