One theme ran through every session: projects behave as production systems, and the field is moving from qualitative judgment to quantitative measurement. Gary Fischer of the Project Production Institute closed the Fourth Annual Technical Conference with the takeaways he recorded across the day.
Research is advancing but far from finished, and artificial intelligence is changing the equation in ways the field is only starting to see. The shift applies wherever work is repeatable, from nuclear and data centers to unconventionals and drilling programs, and it extends from managing one project at a time to delivering a sequence of projects as a program. Fischer highlighted the primacy of rates in understanding how work will unfold, the distinct sources of variability grouped under uncertainty and the different response each requires, and Keith Grimes’s framing of the move from reactive recovery to controlled delivery. He closed on progress toward intelligent production, where plan status draws on data untouched by human hands.
Gary Fischer is the Executive Director of the Project Production Institute (PPI) and Chair of the PPI Energy Working Group. He has over 40 years of experience in all aspects of capital project development and execution across downstream, chemicals and upstream in Chevron. As GM of Chevron’s Project Resources Company, he was responsible for Chevron’s ...