Underground Gas Storage Benchmarking Program 2013
Benchmarking Operational Performance
An Invitation to Participate
Brad Wood, Juran Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Source: PB Energy Storage Services
Underground Gas Storage Benchmarking Program 2013
Benchmarking System Operational Performance
INTRODUCTION
Benchmarking has evolved to become an
essential element of the business performance
improvement toolkit and is now frequently used
by many companies in a wide range of different
industries. Executed correctly, it can provide a
powerful focus for organisations, driving home
the facts and convincing the organisation of the
need to embark upon improvement strategies. It
is a tool that provides the foundations for the
achievement of excellence.
Juran has been a leading provider of
benchmarking services to the oil and gas industry
since 1995. We have been benchmarking gas
processing plants and marine terminals
(storage and loading) annually since 1995, gas
transmission systems since 2005 and LNG
receiving terminals since 2012. Our extensive
database contains performance data from
leading companies in these fields from Europe,
South America, Middle East, Asia and USA.
Juran has been requested to approach
Underground Gas Storage operators in Europe
to establish a benchmarking exercise examining
the operational performance of these facilities.
Several companies have already declared strong
interest in participating and some of these have
offered to provide testimonials to interested
companies of the value they have experienced in
benchmarking their gas transmission systems
with Juran.
BENCHMARKING SCOPE
The precise scope of the benchmarking will be
determined by the participating companies at
project commencement but it is envisaged that
the focus will be the operational efficiency and
effectiveness of underground gas storage.
Efficiency is determined in terms of expenditure
for labour and materials, and manpower time
expended. Effectiveness focuses upon the quality
of the outcomes of performance including HSE,
process safety, reliability, availability, customer
satisfaction,
integrity
and
maintenance
management,
energy
consumption
and
utilisation.
For further information please contact:
Aideen McCrave
+31 20 305 2780
amccrave@juran.com
The benchmarking would analyse underground
gas storage operational performance relating to
2012.
The exact metrics to be employed will be agreed
collectively by the benchmarking participants. By
way of example these may include:
Efficiency
Costs and Manpower Time Expended for:
Operations
Maintenance
Business Overheads
Technical Support
Health, Safety, Security, Environment & Quality
Energy & Utilities
Effectiveness
Availability & Reliability
Downtime & Utilisation
Methanol Consumption
Emissions & Waste
Occupational Safety
Process Safety
Regulatory Compliance
Employee Absenteeism
Maintenance Backlog Management
Training
LIKE FOR LIKE COMPARISONS
The challenge in any benchmarking exercise is to
ensure that performance comparisons between
participants is made on a like for like basis
(“apples to apples”). In order to benchmark the
performance of different underground gas
storage facilities, data from participating
companies must be effectively normalised. Juran
successfully applies the Juran Complexity
Factor© (CF) to normalise performance data in all
of its oil and gas benchmarking programs. The
CF accounts for differences in the technical
complexity of the assets being benchmarked to
provide highly effective data normalisation.
In addition to the CF it is envisaged that data will
be normalised by stored gas volumes, throughput
and other factors, as required.
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Underground Gas Storage Benchmarking Program 2013
Benchmarking System Operational Performance
METHODOLOGY
The Juran 7–Step benchmarking process©
provides a tried and tested systematic approach
for the benchmarking exercise.
Sharing Best Practices
If all companies agree then Juran can host a Best
Practice Forum, exclusive to the participants of
the benchmarking, whereby companies share
their experiences of best working practices in
underground gas storage.
Step 1: Planning and Project Set-up
Step 2: Data Collection (& Normalisation)
Phase 1:
Step 3: Analysis & Identification Best Practices
POSITIONING
ANALYSIS
Step 4: Present Report
Step 5: Establish LEARNING from Best Practices
Phase 2:
LEARNING
FROM BEST
PRACTICES
Step 6: Improvement Actions Planning + Implementation
Step 7: Institutionalise Learning
Further
information
can
be
found
at
www.juran.com/benchmarking and via the Juran
Benchmarking LinkedIn page. Key activities
include:
Project Set Up
A kick off meeting will be held, attended by all
interested companies.
The purpose, scope,
methodology and schedule for 2013 will be
agreed. If required, a further subsequent meeting
will be organised to identify and define all KPIs to
be used. Note that it is the participants who
will decide which metrics are to be included in
the analysis.
Data Collection and Normalisation
Juran will issue a data collection document for all
companies to complete and return to Juran. All
data will be thoroughly validated and normalised
using the methods agreed at kick off.
Analysis and Reporting
Juran will analyse the data and prepare a
detailed written report of the benchmarking
findings including a performance gap analysis for
each
company.
Reporting
will
be
comprehensive, and is expected to include over
200 KPIs examining all aspects of underground
gas storage performance.
For further information please contact:
Aideen McCrave
+31 20 305 2780
amccrave@juran.com
CONFIDENTIALITY
Maintaining the strictest confidentiality is
paramount to any benchmarking program. All
participants and Juran will abide by the
Benchmarking Code of Conduct and will sign a
confidentiality agreement defining exactly what
data can be shared and how it can be used.
BENCHMARKING SCHEDULE
The intention is to kick off this benchmarking
initiative with an inaugural meeting to be held in
Amsterdam on 17-18 April 2013. All interested
companies are invited to attend, without
obligation to participate in the benchmarking.
The objective will be to collect, validate and
normalise benchmarking data during Q2/Q3 of
2013 with a view to completing the analysis and
report production in Q3/Q4 2013.
NEXT STEPS
Juran is currently approaching underground gas
storage operators in Europe to invite them to
consider participating in this benchmarking
program. If you are interested in the possibility of
participation, please contact Juran for further
information about the kick off meeting. Following
attendance at the kick of meeting companies will
be in a position to make an informed decision
regarding the value offered by this benchmarking
program.
If you would like further information about this
benchmarking program, please contact Aideen
McCrave amccrave@juran.com.
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