An Interactive 5-Day Training Course
Project Management for Exploration & Development Projects
Managing Exploration and Development Projects
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Duration
5 Days
Price
$ 3,000
Starting From
06 Sep 2027
Home Geology and Geoscience Project Management for Exploration & Development Projects
Project Management for Exploration & Development Projects
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Project Management for Exploration & Development Projects - GG-EPM-PEA27
| Code | Date | Time | Duration | Location | Currency | Early Bird Fee Per Person |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GG-EPM-PEA27 | 06 - 10 Sep 2027 | 10 AM CST | 4 Hours Per Day |
Online |
USD |
3000 |
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Project Management for Exploration & Development Projects
This training covers project management for exploration and development projects. It works through project life cycle and stage gates, scope definition and control, work breakdown and planning, schedule construction and critical path, resourcing and organisation, risk and opportunity management, interface and stakeholder management, progress measurement and control, change management and project close-out and lessons capture.
Description
Exploration and development projects are managed badly more often than they are managed badly for lack of technical competence. The characteristic failures are a scope that was never defined and therefore grew, a schedule built backwards from a required date rather than forwards from the work, dependencies on other disciplines that were never agreed, and a decision structure in which nobody could say who was entitled to approve a change. These are project management failures and they are addressable.
This training covers project management as applied to subsurface and development projects. The project life cycle and stage gates are established first, covering the standard phase structure and what each phase delivers. Scope definition and control follow, covering the specification of what is and is not included. Work breakdown and planning are then developed. Schedule construction and critical path follow, covering realistic scheduling and the identification of what actually drives the date. Resourcing and organisation are then addressed. Risk and opportunity management follow. Interface and stakeholder management are then developed. Progress measurement and control follow. Change management is addressed. The training closes with close-out and lessons capture.
A scope that is not written down will grow. Subsurface projects attract additional questions: while you are building the model, could you also look at the deeper interval, test the alternative correlation and update the volumetrics for the adjacent segment. Each request is reasonable and none is in the original scope. Without a written scope and a change process, the project absorbs them, the schedule slips and the overrun is attributed to poor estimation rather than to uncontrolled addition.
Schedules built backwards from a required date are not schedules. The common pattern is a date fixed by a licence obligation, a partner meeting or a budget cycle, with the work then compressed to fit. The result is a plan that cannot be delivered, known to be undeliverable by the team and committed to anyway. A schedule built forwards from the work, with its dependencies and realistic durations, gives a date that may be unwelcome and is at least true, and allows the conversation about scope reduction or additional resource to happen at the start.
The critical path in a subsurface project usually runs through data and decisions, not through technical work. The delay is waiting for a partner approval, for a data release, for a vendor deliverable, for a decision on the development concept, or for a specialist who is working on another asset. Identifying these as the schedule drivers, rather than the technical tasks, directs management attention to where it changes the date. A plan that shows only technical activities will be managed in the wrong place.
Finally, lessons that are not captured at close-out are lost. At the end of a project the team disperses, and the knowledge of what went wrong, what the estimates missed and which assumptions proved false goes with them. A short structured close-out, held while the team is still assembled, produces lessons that improve the next project's estimates and plan. Organisations that do this have estimating databases and realistic schedules; those that do not repeat the same overruns indefinitely.
By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
- Apply project life cycle and stage gate structures
- Define and control project scope
- Build work breakdown structures and plans
- Construct schedules forwards from the work and identify the critical path
- Identify decision and data dependencies as schedule drivers
- Plan resourcing and project organisation
- Manage project risk and opportunity
- Manage interfaces and stakeholders
- Measure progress and control performance
- Manage change and conduct close-out with lessons capture
The training works on real project cases. Participants build scopes, work breakdowns and schedules for stated projects, identify critical paths and test them against the actual histories. Change requests are introduced mid-exercise to test control processes. Project failures are analysed for their root causes and close-out reviews conducted.
Organisations sending participants to this training will:
- Define scope before work begins
- Build schedules that can be delivered
- Identify the real schedule drivers
- Control change rather than absorbing it
- Manage interfaces and dependencies actively
- Capture lessons that improve future estimates
Participants will:
- Define and control project scope
- Build realistic schedules
- Identify and manage critical paths
- Manage risk and interfaces
- Control change
- Lead subsurface projects competently
- Subsurface team leaders and project leads
- Geoscientists and engineers managing studies
- Project engineers on development projects
- Technical staff moving into project roles
- Planning and scheduling staff
- Managers accountable for project delivery
- Staff managing vendor and contractor work
Module 1 - Life Cycle and Stage Gates
- Project life cycle phases
- Identify and assess phase
- Select phase and concept selection
- Define phase and front end definition
- Execute phase
- Operate and evaluate
- Stage gate purpose and criteria
- Deliverables at each gate
- Decision quality at gates
- Gate approval and conditions
- Phase overlap and fast tracking
- Consequences of poor front end definition
Module 2 - Scope Definition and Control
- Scope statement content
- Deliverables specification
- Exclusions and their explicit statement
- Assumptions underlying the scope
- Acceptance criteria
- Scope approval
- Scope creep mechanisms
- Requests outside scope
- Change control process
- Scope reduction options
- Trading scope against schedule and cost
- Documenting scope changes
Module 3 - Work Breakdown and Planning
- Work breakdown structure construction
- Decomposition to manageable tasks
- Task definition and deliverables
- Duration estimation methods
- Estimating from history
- Three point estimation
- Effort against duration
- Resource requirements per task
- Dependency identification
- Predecessor and successor relationships
- Planning assumptions
- Plan review with the team
Module 4 - Schedule and Critical Path
- Forward schedule construction
- Network diagram and logic
- Critical path identification
- Float and its use
- Data dependencies as schedule drivers
- Decision dependencies
- Partner and approval dependencies
- Vendor and contractor dependencies
- Specialist resource constraints
- Schedule compression options
- Backwards scheduling and its failure
- Realistic date commitment
Module 5 - Resourcing and Organisation
- Resource requirement estimation
- Discipline resource planning
- Shared and matrixed resources
- Resource conflicts across projects
- Contractor and consultant use
- Project organisation structures
- Roles and responsibilities definition
- Decision rights and authority
- Team location and working arrangements
- Onboarding and handover
- Capability gaps and their management
- Team performance management
Module 6 - Risk and Opportunity
- Risk identification workshops
- Risk register construction
- Likelihood and impact assessment
- Technical risks
- Schedule and resource risks
- Data and dependency risks
- External and partner risks
- Mitigation planning
- Contingency and its basis
- Opportunity identification
- Risk review cadence
- Escalation of realised risks
Module 7 - Interfaces, Progress and Control
- Interface identification
- Interface agreements and registers
- Stakeholder mapping
- Stakeholder engagement planning
- Partner management
- Progress measurement methods
- Physical progress against time spent
- Earned value concepts
- Reporting cadence and content
- Variance analysis
- Corrective action
- Escalation and decision making
Module 8 - Change, Close-Out and Lessons
- Change request process
- Impact assessment of changes
- Approval authority for changes
- Baseline management
- Rebaselining and when it is justified
- Project close-out activities
- Deliverable handover
- Documentation and archiving
- Close-out review conduct
- Lessons identification
- Estimating database updating
- Embedding lessons in the next project
Upon successful completion of this training course, delegates will be awarded an official Certificate of Completion issued by the Petroleum Engineers Association (PEA), an ISO 9001:2015 certified training organization. The certificate carries 10 Credits and formally records the total learning hours completed.
Each certificate is signed by the Course Facilitator and the CEO of the Petroleum Engineers Association, and serves as verifiable proof of professional training that delegates can present to employers and professional bodies worldwide.
Frequently Asked Questions
All course bookings made through PEA are strictly non-refundable. By registering for a course, you acknowledge and accept that all fees are payable in full and are not subject to refund under any circumstances, including changes in personal or professional commitments or partial attendance.
PEA reserves the right to make reasonable adjustments to course content, trainers, or schedules where necessary, without entitling delegates to a refund. Comprehensive details of each course — including objectives, target audience, and content — are clearly outlined before enrolment, and it is the responsibility of the delegate to ensure the course's suitability prior to booking.
For any inquiries related to cancellations or bookings, please contact our support team, who will be happy to assist you.
