Investigating Project Management Techniques and Software in Oil Facilities Projects in Nigeria

Project management techniques and software (PMTS) are important tools for effective procurement of construction infrastructures and facilities. The focus of this research centers on the application of novel PMTS in oil facilities projects, so as to enhance delivery. The specific objectives are to find out the awareness and application of PMTS in oil facilities projects and as well determine the level of proficiency of the professionals on the PMTS. The population of the study is the professionals in the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the largest petroleum regulatory body in Nigeria. The entire population size forms the sample size which is 51. Structured questionnaire was employed to elicit information from the respondents, while descriptive statistics tools were utilized. The results shed light that the awareness of nine project management techniques (PMT) and 41 project management software (PMS) are all ‘very low’; and professionals rarely use a few of them, while most of them are never used. Similarly, the proficiency of the professionals on the PMT and PMS is either in the level of ‘non-users or intermittent users’, which is very poor. It is concluded that professionals in oil facilities projects are not good in handling and usage of PMT and PMS, implying poor delivery of their projects. The study recommends that oil facilities projects’ professionals should engage the techniques and software in the procurement of their projects. This can be done by learning the PMT and PMS via extra coaching and be mandated to employ them.