With capital costs rising and schedules tightening, project success now hinges on early risk mitigation from reusing licensed design packages to standardising equipment specifications, B Narayan, Group President – Procurement & Projects, Reliance Industries, said in his keynote address at the 5th edition of The Economic Times Oil & Gas Annual Conference & Expo, being held from November 26–28 at Yashobhoomi, New Delhi.
The 5th edition opened Day 1 with a keynote focused on the operational levers that determine whether large oil and gas projects meet cost and schedule targets.
Narayan said that a major share of risk can be reduced before construction begins. He added that RIL has repeatedly accelerated execution by adopting ready-made, licensed process design packages, making only minor adjustments for local conditions.
In cases where complete engineering packages from previously built plants were accessible, early layout finalisation enabled quicker piping, cable routing and material planning — saving months in the project cycle.
He also pointed to measures that helped eliminate on-ground delays during past refinery projects, including investments in in-house cranes, fabrication facilities, and even mining permissions for granite and sand. These interventions removed bottlenecks created by rented equipment and external supply chain constraints.
To break the complexity of megaprojects into controllable components, Narayan listed key pathways:Reuse validated design and engineering packages to minimise uncertainty.Secure early information on material quantities to advance procurement decisions.Reduce field-level dependencies through owned equipment and fabrication assets.Co-locate engineering, owner and supplier teams for real-time design decisions.Adopt reimbursable/cost-plus contracting where trust and cost transparency are maintained.
A significant portion of his address focused on the need for structured collaboration across engineering firms, equipment suppliers and construction contractors. Clear approval timelines, direct coordination, and embedding supplier engineers within project offices were cited as measures that prevent cascading delays in raw material orders or design clearances.“A collaborative execution model is essential for large projects. When owners, engineers, suppliers and contractors align on information flow and timelines, engineering decisions and equipment deliveries become significantly faster,” he added.
Narayan said that cost and schedule performance improve measurably when stakeholders “collaborate, communicate and commit” to shared outcomes — a principle he added remains central to delivering complex energy infrastructure at scale.
