Historical Analysis of the Causes of Delay in Oil Industry Projects

The large set of development projects of Pars Energy Region of Iran is the first integrated national experience to create upstream and downstream infrastructure focused on the oil industry, which faces a huge amount of delay. Historical analysis of the development path of this set of projects with the aim of explaining the occurrence of failure, discovering its causes and extracting lessons learned can lead to a new vision for success in other oil industry development projects. In this regard, the present study with a qualitative approach based on narrative strategy and data collection through semi-structive interviews with managers and professionals active in these projects consisting of clients, contractors and engineering consulting firms identified four periods in the process of developing industrial projects in the Pars Energy Region, Assaloyeh, between 1998 and 2021. The results show an outward look at the development process in the first period. Failure to use the capacity of competent managers due to frequent changes in the political arrangement of the main decision-makers of the Ministry of Oil during the second period; Attention to the issue of increasing oil sales in the face of development-oriented Industry during the third period and the escalation of sanctions, along with the massive migration of skilled manpower abroad in the forth period, are studied as the most important delay causes in the development process of projects. The historical course of development of the oil industry indicates the need to create a fundamental change at all macro and micro levels with the aim of efficient planning, increasing technological capability, localization of technical knowledge, self-sufficiency in equipment construction and project implementation by Iranian contractors.