‘Barriers to oil and gas collaboration still remain’

A new report from Deloitte and Oil & Gas UK suggests the level of collaboration between operators and suppliers fell slightly in the last year

Barriers to improve collaboration between operators and suppliers in the oil and gas sector still remain.

That’s the suggestion made in a new report from Deloitte and Oil & Gas UK (OGUK) – the latest Collaboration Index, now its fifth year, shows there was a slight decrease in collaboration from a score of 7.1 in 2018 to 7.0 in 2019.

The index measures the effectiveness of companies as partners in projects – strong support for collaboration was still recorded in its recent edition, with an average of more than 90% of respondents committed to working collaboratively over the past five years.

The report notes to improve collaboration on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), different ways of contracting and “greater empowerment throughout companies” are cited as crucial catalysts.

It highlights 89% of people say they work collaboratively every day and 91% say they are taking strategic steps to do so.

Around 26% of respondents cited cost reduction as the main reason for collaboration, compared with 33% in 2018, while knowledge and learning sharing came in second place at 24%.

Graham Hollis, Office Senior Partner for Deloitte in Aberdeen, said: “While support for collaboration has increased over the past five years and there are some great examples of operators and supply chain finding more collaborative ways of operators working together, barriers remain to it being consistently applied across the UKCS.

“Further empowerment and incentives to encourage and reward collaboration across all levels of an organisation, combined with investment in digital infrastructure and talent, is now required to push further.”

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