Planned Shutdown Efficiency in the Oil & Gas Industry: Raising the Standard
- Roy Milne
- Jul 16
- 3 min read
In the oil & gas industry, planned shutdowns (or turnarounds) are essential to asset safety, integrity assurance, and regulatory compliance. Yet for many operators, they remain a major source of lost production, cost overrun, and operational stress.
Far from being routine events, shutdowns are highly complex projects that must be managed with the same level of discipline as capital investment programmes. When executed well, they not only ensure the long-term integrity of critical equipment but also unlock measurable improvements in reliability, cost efficiency, and safety performance.
The Challenge: High Cost, High Stakes
Industry benchmarks place the average cost of a medium-to-large-scale offshore shutdown between $10 million and $100 million, depending on asset complexity and scope. According to McKinsey, up to 30–40% of shutdown costs can be attributed to inefficiencies such as unclear scope, late material delivery, and fragmented contractor coordination.
The stakes are particularly high in mature basins like the UKCS, where ageing infrastructure demands increasingly sophisticated intervention strategies and where production downtime has an immediate and material impact on revenue.
A North Sea Case Study: Measurable Gains Through Integrated Planning
In a recent North Sea campaign, a UK operator engaged Asset One to provide strategic and technical support in the planning and execution of a 21-day planned shutdown on a mature offshore installation.
Through early scope rationalisation, integrated work planning, and disciplined materials readiness processes, the shutdown was safely completed in 19 days - two days ahead of schedule and delivered cost savings of over £2.5 million against budget.
Key success factors included:
A scope freeze eight weeks prior to shutdown
Fully integrated plans covering maintenance, integrity, and project work
Daily visual management of critical path activities and site progress
Live materials tracking and on-site staging verification
Clear frontline accountability supported by structured reviews and governance
Post-shutdown metrics showed a 24% reduction in corrective backlog, an increase in overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), and significantly improved start-up performance versus the previous shutdown event.
A Proven Framework for Shutdown Efficiency
Asset One applies a structured framework to drive shutdown performance, built around six key pillars:
Scope Definition & Control: Establishing clear scope early, aligned to risk-based inspection and asset strategy, with change tightly controlled throughout mobilisation.
Integrated Work Planning: Co-ordinating all work streams including maintenance, projects, inspection, and fabric work into a unified, logic-driven plan.
Materials and Logistics Readiness: Ensuring all required parts, tooling, and access are verified well in advance through field walkdowns and proactive staging.
Workforce and Resource Optimisation: Aligning skills and shift patterns with the critical path, enabling high craft productivity while maintaining safety and compliance.
Execution Monitoring and Control: Using live dashboards, tiered reporting, and control of work systems to maintain visibility of progress and proactively manage risk.
Post-Event Review and Performance Reporting: Capturing lessons learned, tracking KPIs such as schedule adherence, rework, and HSE events, and feeding insights into the next shutdown planning cycle.
Tangible Benefits
Organisations that adopt this approach consistently report:
20–30% improvement in schedule certainty
15% reduction in overall shutdown cost
Reduced backlog growth and improved asset uptime
Greater cross-functional alignment across operations, maintenance, and planning teams
Conclusion
Shutdowns will always be disruptive but they need not be inefficient. With the right processes, governance, and technical support in place, they can become strategic levers for improved asset performance, budget control, and operational resilience.
In today’s environment where the oil & gas industry is navigating ageing assets, energy transition pressure, and political scrutiny (including the UK’s Energy Profits Levy) operators cannot afford for shutdowns to underdeliver.
At Asset One, we work closely with clients across the globe to plan and execute shutdowns that deliver long-term value. Our experience spans ERP and CMMS integration, maintenance optimisation, inventory readiness, and site-based execution support.
For those planning upcoming campaigns, we welcome the opportunity to share insight, provide resourcing, or lead performance improvement programmes.
📩 Learn more or register your interest in working with us:👉 www.assetonepartners.com/
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