What does a planning engineer do in oilfield operations?

I. Core Responsibilities — Planning Engineer (Oilfield Operations)

Owns the integrated plan for drilling, completions, workovers, production operations, logistics, and shutdowns/turnarounds. Converts objectives into executable, resource-feasible schedules and cost-phased plans.

• I.1 Build and control the integrated schedule
  • Develop L2–L3 schedules across wells, rigs, facilities, logistics, and SIMOPS; identify critical path and total float.
  • Maintain 7/14/28/90-day lookaheads; perform resource leveling (rigs, boats, crews, services, materials).
  • Run what-if scenarios for rig moves, NPT spikes, weather, and late materials; recommend mitigations.
• I.2 Cost phasing, AFEs, and earned value
  • Time-phase AFEs and OPEX; produce S-curves for EV, PV, and AC; forecast cash flow and accruals.
  • Track variances and reforecast EAC and ETC; quantify impacts of change notices and scope growth.
• I.3 Materials and services readiness
  • Maintain long-lead register (casing, wellheads, trees, ESPs, specialty chemicals, coil/tubing, cement blends).
  • Align purchase orders, QA/QC, FATs, and logistics with need-by dates; coordinate demurrage-sensitive marine plans.
• I.4 Operations readiness and SIMOPS
  • Sequence field activities to avoid SIMOPS conflicts (lifting, hot work, pressure testing, well interventions).
  • Plan rig-up/rig-down, mobilizations, permits to work, isolations, and campaign bundling to cut flat time.
• I.5 Performance analytics and reporting
  • Publish weekly/monthly dashboards: ROP, NPT/ILT, plan vs. actual duration/cost, CPI/SPI, TRIR/recordables trend.
  • Benchmark against type curves and AFE baselines; conduct after-action reviews and capture lessons learned.
• I.6 Risk and change control
  • Own the risk register; quantify schedule and cost risk using Monte Carlo; maintain contingencies.
  • Chair change control gates, ensuring scope deltas are approved and integrated into plan and budget.
• I.7 Shutdown/turnaround and campaign planning
  • Level 3/4 job packs, CTR aggregation, crew calendars, and critical lift/test sequences for turnarounds.
  • Cold-eye reviews of path-of-construction and tie-in windows to safeguard production.
• I.8 Stakeholder alignment
  • Run lookahead meetings; lock plan freezes; align subsurface, wells, production ops, and supply chain to dates.
  • Interface with regulators to sequence permits and inspections against schedule gates.

II. Required Skills and Physical Demands

• II.1 Technical skills
  • Primavera P6 and MS Project (WBS design, calendars, resource loading, leveling, baselines, claims analysis).
  • Project controls: estimating/CTR, EV, S-curves, cash-flow, trend and change management.
  • Operations literacy: drilling/completions sequences, logistics/marine, production operations, shutdowns.
  • Risk quantification: probabilistic duration/cost, contingency setting, @RISK/Crystal Ball-style simulations.
  • Data/BI: Excel advanced, Power BI/Tableau, SQL basics; Python/R desirable for automation.
• II.2 Soft skills
  • Concise communication; crisp decision framing with options and implications.
  • Facilitation of lookahead and SIMOPS meetings; conflict resolution between competing priorities.
  • High discipline in configuration control and versioning; detail-oriented under time pressure.
• II.3 Physical and certification demands
  • Primarily office/ROC-based; periodic site/rig visits including offshore and harsh environments.
  • Offshore survival and medical fitness (e.g., BOSIET-equivalent, OGUK-equivalent); H2S, confined space awareness.
  • Extended screen time; occasional night/weekend support during critical operations and rig moves.

III. Typical Tools, Software, and Equipment

• III.1 Planning and controls
  • Primavera P6, MS Project (L2–L4 schedules, baselines, resource/cost loading).
  • Project controls: cost systems (e.g., SAP/Oracle ERP), AFE/workflow tools, estimating spreadsheets.
  • Risk tools: Monte Carlo simulators (@RISK/Crystal Ball class), bow-ties, heat maps.
• III.2 Oilfield data systems
  • Well operations databases: WellView/OpenWells, offset well databases, morning reports.
  • Maintenance and shutdown: CMMS (e.g., SAP PM/Maximo), turnaround planning modules.
  • Logistics/marine: vessel and aviation scheduling, manifesting, warehouse inventory.
• III.3 Analytics and reporting
  • Power BI/Tableau, Excel (Power Query, Power Pivot), SharePoint/EDMS.
  • GIS/plotting for access and route planning when relevant.
• III.4 Field and inspection
  • Permit-to-Work interfaces, isolation registers, lifting plans, and standard QA/QC checklists.
  • Basic measurement devices for verification during site walks (tape/laser, gauges) as needed.

IV. Work Environment

• IV.1 Location and pattern
  • Mostly onshore office or remote operations center with field/rig visits (onshore pads and offshore units).
  • Standard 5/2 office schedule; during intensive campaigns may support extended hours.
  • When embedded with rigs/turnarounds: rotations such as 14/14 or 28/28 (estimated).
• IV.2 Travel
  • Domestic field relocation and offshore travel 10–30% (campaign-dependent; estimated).
  • Short-notice travel for rig moves, SIMOPS windows, and critical path interventions.
• IV.3 HSE culture
  • Participates in toolbox talks, SIMOPS reviews, and MoC; enforces plan freezes to reduce risk.
  • Ensures logistics and maintenance windows comply with lifting and energy isolation standards.

V. Reporting Lines and Cross-Functional Interfaces

• V.1 Reporting
  • Reports to Planning Manager, Operations Superintendent, or Project Controls Manager (context-dependent).
• V.2 Key interfaces
  • Subsurface: reservoir, geoscience for well priorities and targets.
  • Wells: drilling, completions, interventions, well integrity for sequencing and durations.
  • Operations: production supervisors, maintenance, I&E, construction for shutdown and tie-in windows.
  • Marine/logistics/aviation: vessels, helicopters, yard/port, warehousing, customs.
  • Supply chain and contracts: long-lead procurement, contract release, vendor readiness.
  • HSE and regulatory: permitting, SIMOPS, audits, and readiness reviews.
  • Finance: cost control, accruals, cash-flow, and AFEs.
  • Digital/IT: data sources, integrations, and reporting automation.
• V.3 Deliverables & interfaces
  • Delivers: Integrated Operations Plan, L2–L3 schedules, 90-day lookaheads, rig line-ups, material and crew forecasts, risk register, S-curves, EV reports, weekly/monthly dashboards, close-out and lessons learned.
  • Hands off to: well engineers, operations supervisors, logistics coordinators, maintenance planners, and cost controllers for execution and tracking.

VI. Career Ladder and Progression

• VI.1 Next steps
  • Senior Planning Engineer ? Lead Planning Engineer ? Operations Planning Manager or Project Controls Manager.
  • Alternative pathways: Drilling/Completions Engineer (with domain training), Operations Superintendent (with field exposure).
• VI.2 What’s needed to move up
  • Demonstrated delivery of multi-rig campaigns, major shutdowns, or brownfield tie-ins with measurable variance reductions.
  • Mastery of P6 (global changes, claims/forensics, resource/cost integration), robust EV reporting, and risk quantification.
  • Certifications: PMI-SP or PMP; AACE PSP/CCP; Primavera Practitioner (estimated typical requirements).
• VI.3 Progression trigger
  • Typically promoted after 2–3 end-to-end campaigns or 10–20 wells plus PMI-SP or AACE PSP, and successful leadership of cross-functional lookahead forums (estimated).

Key Formulas and Metrics Used

• Schedule fundamentals
  • Total Float: $TF = LS - ES = LF - EF$.
  • Critical path: path with $TF = 0$; drives project duration.
• Earned Value (EVM)
  • Schedule Performance Index: $SPI = \\dfrac{EV}{PV}$.
  • Cost Performance Index: $CPI = \\dfrac{EV}{AC}$.
  • Estimate at Completion (simple): $EAC = \\dfrac{BAC}{CPI}$.
  • Forecast with schedule–cost interaction: $EAC = AC + \\dfrac{BAC - EV}{CPI \\times SPI}$.
• Risk and uncertainty
  • Use P10/P50/P90 duration and cost inputs; contingency typically set at P80 (context-dependent).
  • Planned buffers for weather, logistics, and NPT driven by probabilistic analysis.
• Operations KPIs
  • NPT/ILT %, ROP vs. plan, flat-time reduction, rig move duration, turnaround critical path adherence, production deferral vs. plan.

Toolchain Snapshot

• Planning: Primavera P6, MS Project.
• Cost/AFE: SAP/Oracle ERP modules, AFE workflow tools, estimating sheets.
• Well ops data: WellView/OpenWells; morning report systems; offset databases.
• CMMS/Shutdown: SAP PM, Maximo; turnaround planning modules.
• Risk: @RISK/Crystal Ball-class tools.
• BI/Analytics: Power BI/Tableau, Excel (Power Query), SQL; SharePoint/EDMS.