Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Refineries · Pipelines · Petrochemical Plants · Chemical Manufacturing Facilities
Sector Overview
The oil, gas, and petrochemical sector involves large-scale, capital-intensive industrial facilities operating under strict safety, environmental, and regulatory constraints. These projects span greenfield installations, brownfield upgrades, and plant expansions—often requiring complex coordination across engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, and vendor management.
Typical project types include
Greenfield and brownfield refinery units
Petrochemical process facilities and expansions
Pipeline and utility networks, including cross-plot and interconnecting systems
Hazardous chemical storage, transfer, and processing units
The execution environment in this sector is defined by high deliverable volume, evolving scope, stringent interface requirements, and schedule-driven priorities across multiple stakeholders.
Experience
Matei Kevenaar has been directly involved in several large-scale EPC projects with international execution footprints, supporting both site-based execution and central engineering coordination roles. These projects were undertaken across Europe and the Middle East, with engineering performed from centers in the Netherlands, UK, Poland, South Korea, the Philippines, and other locations.
His experience includes
Engineering coordination for modular refinery auxiliary systems (designed and fabricated as modular units) including control buildings and utility integration.
Engineering coordination for modular refinery auxiliary systems (designed and fabricated as modular units) including control buildings and utility integration.
Piping and layout coordination for chemical plants, involving high-volume isometric issuance and revision tracking.
Piping and layout coordination for chemical plants, involving high-volume isometric issuance and revision tracking.
Vendor interface tracking and document readiness management across multi-discipline execution teams.
Vendor interface tracking and document readiness management across multi-discipline execution teams.
Leading the development and implementation of structured dashboards and deliverable tracking systems, built using Excel, SharePoint, Power BI, and SQL, and adopted by construction, engineering, and project control departments.
Leading the development and implementation of structured dashboards and deliverable tracking systems, built using Excel, SharePoint, Power BI, and SQL, and adopted by construction, engineering, and project control departments.
The methods now applied through Buro Matei are based on these roles, with tools and standards developed in active project environments.
Challenges
Observed execution challenges from past projects in this sector include
Unclear deliverable scope across disciplines in early design phases, leading to overlap, missing content, or late additions.
High revision rates in piping deliverables, particularly isometrics, often driven by inconsistent input readiness or undocumented upstream changes.
Lack of visibility on document readiness, which resulted in misaligned expectations between engineering and site teams.
Late identification of vendor document gaps, delaying system walkdowns and construction handovers.
Inefficient model review cycles, often milestone-based, leading to bulk comments, design churn, and missed coordination opportunities.
Lack of visibility on document readiness, which resulted in misaligned expectations between engineering and site teams.
These issues repeatedly emerged across different geographic regions, execution strategies, and project organizations.
Our Approach
Mindset
Buro Matei approaches this sector by prioritizing execution clarity and eliminating guesswork from deliverables, interfaces, and status reporting. The goal is not to increase workload but to make progress and gaps traceable—across disciplines, teams, and tools.
Technology
No proprietary tools are required. All solutions are built on standard platforms already in use across most EPC projects:
Microsoft Excel and SharePoint for data tracking
Power BI for live visualization
Dashboards integrated into engineering folders, or using model review overlays if applicable
Practical training sessions to help teams use these tools effectively and improve how they work together.
These changes give teams a clear, reliable way to work together and build the foundation for better data management and decision-making.
Execution
Proven working methods applied in this sector include:
LOD (Level of Development) Frameworks
Defined per deliverable type, these ensure that expected content, status definitions, and handover conditions are clear across disciplines and phases.
Isometric Tracking Dashboards
Used to monitor deliverable status, revision trends, and hold points. Teams were able to pre-empt backlogs and detect documentation loops.
Model Review Structuring
Model reviews were broken into package-based, LOD-tied checkpoints. This reduced rework and introduced faster coordination loops without large milestone delays.
Vendor Document Dependency Mapping
Tools were used to track documentation needs per system or area, helping site teams and construction managers prioritize early actions and avoid last-minute surprises.
Practical training sessions to help teams use these tools effectively and improve how they work together.
These changes give teams a clear, reliable way to work together and build the foundation for better data management and decision-making.
These working methods have been applied in practice, iterated in real projects, and are now standardized within Buro Matei’s service offering.
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