Effective management control of capital projects is an issue of critical importance to this sector. Stage gate control of capital expenditure projects has been shown to provide significant improvements in the quality, cost effectiveness, and schedule compliance in the oil and gas industry. The stage gate process controls the development of major projects throughout their life cycles, ensuring that:
• original objectives are achieved
• value proposition is maintained, or improved
• project design is sufficiently mature to progress to each next phase of the project
• risks of the project are kept under control
• executive level decisions are made at the correct points in the life cycle.

This case study reviews the implementation of a stage gate process in a major Middle Eastern National Oil Company. The development of the process, working closely with the executive management team, is reviewed. The process itself is presented (modified to protect the National Oil Company’s interests of course), with the key elements described. Challenges in the implementation are described, along with appropriate ways of overcoming organizational resistance to such a control process.

The presentation will include the opportunity for delegates to ask questions about the case study, and share their own experiences with the implementation of these types of executive level management processes.