Agile PMO for Oil and Gas Capital Projects Training Course

Course overview

Oil and gas capital projects must preserve disciplined stage-gate control, HSE assurance, contractor accountability and long-lead procurement management while responding quickly to evolving subsurface data, fabrication constraints, regulatory requirements and operating-asset interfaces. Traditional PMO reporting can become slow and retrospective; unstructured agile practices can weaken schedule integrity and decision rights. This course addresses the practical middle ground: an Agile PMO model that improves responsiveness without compromising capital governance, cost control or project assurance.

Participants learn to design hybrid governance for upstream, midstream, LNG, refinery and petrochemical projects. They connect workfront planning, rolling-wave planning, sprint cadences and visual management with FEL decisions, WBS/CBS structures, integrated master schedules, change control and earned-value reporting. The course develops practical skills in backlog design, prioritisation, RAID management, Kanban workflow limits, portfolio dashboards, dependency mapping and escalation paths for engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning work.

Instruction combines oil and gas capital-project case studies with facilitated workshops using Jira Software, Oracle Primavera P6 and Microsoft Power BI examples. Participants work through a simulated brownfield compression upgrade with competing construction windows, vendor delays and operations handover constraints. They leave with an Agile PMO operating blueprint: governance map, meeting cadence, prioritised improvement backlog, KPI set, dashboard specification and 90-day implementation plan. A certificate of completion is awarded at the end of the five-day course.

The course is designed for experienced project, PMO and operations professionals who need to improve delivery flow across capital-project portfolios while retaining the controls expected by asset owners, partners, lenders and regulators.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Design a hybrid Agile PMO operating model aligned to FEL gates, project assurance and delegated decision rights
• Build a capital-project backlog that converts engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning constraints into prioritised work items
• Configure Kanban workflow policies and work-in-progress limits for multidisciplinary engineering and workfront planning
• Create a rolling-wave planning cadence that reconciles sprint commitments with the Primavera P6 integrated master schedule
• Establish PMO governance rituals, escalation thresholds and RACI responsibilities for owner, EPC contractor and operations stakeholders
• Apply RAID logs, dependency boards and change-control triggers to manage interface risk across capital-project work packages
• Develop Power BI dashboard requirements for schedule health, cost exposure, constraint removal and portfolio flow metrics
• Present a 90-day Agile PMO implementation roadmap with measurable adoption actions and control checkpoints

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• PMO Managers — who need to introduce faster portfolio coordination without diluting capital governance
• Project Managers — who must align EPC delivery, operations interfaces and executive reporting across complex project schedules
• Project Controls Managers — who need to connect agile delivery signals with cost, schedule, risk and change-control disciplines
• Engineering Managers — who coordinate multidisciplinary design work, technical approvals and contractor dependencies
• Construction and Commissioning Managers — who need reliable workfront readiness and rapid removal of field constraints
• Asset Development and Capital Portfolio Managers — who prioritise investment initiatives and need credible delivery visibility

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience on oil and gas capital projects, shutdowns, brownfield modifications or major maintenance programmes, ideally in project management, project controls, engineering, construction or PMO roles. Familiarity with basic project concepts such as WBS, schedules, milestones, risk registers, change control, stage gates and contractor interfaces is assumed. Experience reading a Primavera P6 schedule or project dashboard is helpful, but advanced scheduling or data-analysis capability is not required. Participants do not need prior Scrum certification, coding skills, Jira administration rights or detailed knowledge of Power BI.

Training methodology

The course uses instructor-led briefings to establish the hybrid PMO model, followed by workshops built around an oil and gas brownfield compression-upgrade case. Participants map owner–EPC–operations decision rights, create a constraint-based backlog, set Kanban policies, reconcile rolling-wave plans with a Primavera P6 schedule and define dashboard measures for Power BI. Small-group reviews test each design against HSE hold points, management-of-change requirements and contractor interfaces. The final session converts the group work into an individual 90-day application plan for a live project or PMO environment.

Course outline

Day 1: Agile PMO foundations for capital delivery

• Agile PMO roles within oil and gas owner, EPC and operator structures
• Hybrid delivery models for FEL, detailed engineering, construction and commissioning
• Capital-project value streams from opportunity framing to operations handover
• Decision latency and constraint removal as PMO performance problems
• Agile principles adapted for HSE-critical and regulated project environments
• PMO maturity diagnostic for governance, data, workflow and stakeholder alignment
• Selection criteria for agile, predictive and hybrid work packages

Workshop: Participants assess a simulated brownfield compression project and produce a current-state PMO pain-point map identifying reporting delays, blocked decisions and interface failures.

Day 2: Governance, backlogs and delivery cadence

• Agile PMO charter structure and service catalogue definition
• RACI design for asset owner, EPC contractor, discipline leads and operations representatives
• Backlog hierarchy linking portfolio epics, control-account work packages and field constraints
• Prioritisation using cost of delay, risk exposure and operational-window criteria
• Sprint, planning, review and retrospective cadences for capital-project teams
• Kanban board design for engineering deliverables, technical queries and procurement actions
• Work-in-progress limits and explicit workflow policies for multidisciplinary teams

Workshop: Participants build a prioritised capital-project backlog and governance cadence for engineering, procurement and operations-interface decisions.

Day 3: Integrated planning and workfront readiness

• Rolling-wave planning across FEL gates and the integrated master schedule
• Primavera P6 milestone mapping and near-term commitment planning
• Look-ahead planning for engineering release, materials, permits and construction access
• Definition of ready and definition of done for capital-project deliverables
• Dependency mapping across process, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and civil disciplines
• Interface management between EPC work packages and operating-asset requirements
• Management-of-change triggers within agile delivery cycles

Workshop: Participants create a six-week look-ahead board that links a P6 schedule extract to readiness criteria, dependencies and accountable constraint owners.

Day 4: Controls, risk and portfolio visibility

• Flow metrics for blocked work, ageing items, throughput and commitment reliability
• Integration of agile progress signals with earned-value and schedule-performance reporting
• RAID logs and escalation thresholds for technical, commercial and execution risks
• Change-control workflow for scope growth, design changes and vendor deviations
• Power BI dashboard requirements for portfolio health and decision support
• Leading indicators for procurement expediting, engineering maturity and workfront readiness
• Assurance checkpoints aligned to ISO 21502:2020 project governance principles

Workshop: Participants define a PMO dashboard specification and escalation matrix for a portfolio facing vendor delay, late design approvals and commissioning risk.

Day 5: Implementation and adoption in the PMO

• Agile PMO pilot selection for brownfield, greenfield and turnaround project contexts
• Stakeholder engagement strategy for project directors, functional leads and contractors
• Training and coaching needs for planners, engineers, controls teams and field supervisors
• Data ownership and governance for Jira Software, Primavera P6 and Power BI
• Adoption measures, benefits tracking and PMO operating-review routines
• Common failure modes of agile implementation in capital-project environments
• Ninety-day roadmap sequencing for governance, workflow, reporting and capability changes

Workshop: Participants complete and present an Agile PMO operating blueprint and 90-day implementation roadmap for their own project or a supplied capital-project case.

Tools & standards covered

Jira Software, Oracle Primavera P6, Microsoft Power BI, ISO 21502:2020

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions