Middle East NOC
Oil & Gas Benchmarking Skills Training (5-Days)

Master the Hard Benchmarking Skills every Middle East NOC professional needs.

Learn how Leading Oil & Gas companies Turn Benchmarking into Measurable Operational and Financial Results.

Programme Overview  |  Benefits  |  Who is this for  |  Content  |  Certificate of Competence

Programme Overview

This 5-day Fulcrium Oil & Gas Benchmarking Skills Training is designed specifically for Middle East National Oil Companies (NOCs), using regional peers, KPIs, and case examples – reflecting the scale, complexity, and governance requirements of integrated regional portfolios.

Participants are equipped with the methodologies, tools, and analytical skills required to design credible benchmarking studies, interpret results accurately, and support informed operational and strategic decisions within complex asset portfolios.

The programme emphasises practical methodology, data integrity, and decision relevance, enabling participants to apply benchmarking effectively in real business contexts.

The training is applicable to Upstream, Midstream, and Downstream activities and is designed to promote operational excellence, cost efficiency, production optimisation, and informed strategic decision-making.

The programme supports national value creation and workforce localisation objectives by developing best-in-class in-house benchmarking capability that enables NOCs to assess performance objectively, strengthen cost and capital discipline, and benchmark confidently against leading International Oil Companies (IOCs) and National Oil Companies (NOCs).

Through a structured and defensible approach, participants are equipped to identify improvement opportunities that support long-term competitiveness and sustained outperformance.

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Days Intensive Training
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Value Chain Segments
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Practical Application
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Focused NOC Curriculum
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Benefits

Unlock practical, job-ready Oil & Gas Benchmarking Skills in just 5 days

A structured approach to performance, cost, and competitiveness benchmarking in the Oil and Gas industry.

Stop guessing where your operations are underperforming. This hands-on training equips you to:

  • Benchmark entire Oil & Gas Value Chain: Upstream, Midstream, and Downstream
  • Define the right scope and objectives for a benchmarking study
  • Select relevant peer groups and KPIs across upstream, midstream, and downstream activities
  • Collect and standardise operational & financial data across multiple assets
  • Normalise data to ensure fair and meaningful comparisons
  • Distinguish between structural and controllable performance drivers
  • Calculate and analyse key KPIs including Opex, Capex, lifting costs, downtime, and production efficiency as well as many other KPIs
  • Benchmark against peers and global best practices
  • Identify gaps and develop actionable improvement plans using industry-accepted methods
  • Use industry-standard tools to sustain performance gains
  • Communicate benchmarking results clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders

Why this training converts knowledge into results

  • Designed exclusively for Middle East NOC context
  • Tools and frameworks you can apply immediately
  • Covers entire Oil & Gas Value Chain: Upstream, Midstream and Downstream
  • Actionable strategies that impact operational efficiency, production and profitability
  • Practical, hands-on exercises – no theory overload
  • Benchmarking insights used by leading Oil and Gas companies

Training Deliverables

  • Benchmarking framework templates
  • KPI libraries by Oil & Gas segment
  • Sample datasets and dashboards
  • Case study workbook
  • Benchmarking insights used by leading Oil and Gas companies
  • Certificate of attendance; and competence

Training Approach

  • Instructor-led sessions with industry-relevant examples
  • Practical exercises using realistic datasets
  • Group discussions and applied case work
  • Reusable tools, templates, and frameworks

The focus is on practical application and consistency, rather than theoretical benchmarking concepts.

Gain the exact skills top Oil and Gas companies rely on to drive efficiency and optimise all aspects of the Oil & Gas value chain

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Content

Objective: Build a strong foundation in benchmarking concepts and industry context.

Topics

  • Introduction to benchmarking
    • Definition, purpose, and value
    • Internal vs. external benchmarking
    • Competitive, functional, and best-practice benchmarking
  • Overview of the Oil & Gas value chain
    • Upstream, Midstream, Downstream
    • Key cost and performance drivers
    • Middle East NOC context and how it is different to IOC-contexts
  • Role of benchmarking in:
    • Cost reduction
    • Operational excellence
    • Capital efficiency
    • Production optimisation
    • Manufacturing optimisation
    • Throughput optimisation
    • Strategy and investment decisions
  • Benchmarking frameworks

Activities

  • Group discussion: Why benchmarking fails or succeeds
  • Case example: Benchmarking lifting costs across assets

Objective: Understand what to benchmark and where data comes from.

Topics

  • Key benchmarking metrics by segment:
    • Upstream: lifting cost, finding & development cost, recovery factor, uptime, conventional and unconventional reservoirs, etc
    • Midstream: pipelines & terminals, throughput efficiency, tariff benchmarks, Opex per unit, etc
    • Downstream: refinery margin, energy intensity, utilisation, etc
  • Financial vs. operational KPIs
  • Normalisation of data (currency, inflation, scale, region, assets, maturity, facilities, etc)
  • Data sources:
    • Internal company data
    • Industry benchmark databases
    • Public filings and reports
  • Data quality, confidentiality, and ethics

Activities

  • KPI mapping exercise for a sample asset
  • Data quality assessment workshop

Objective: Understand what to benchmark and where data comes from.

Topics

  • Step-by-step benchmarking process:
    • Define scope and objectives
    • Select peers and metrics
    • Collect and validate data
    • Normalise and analyse
    • Interpret results
  • Peer group selection strategies
  • Statistical tools for benchmarking:
    • Percentiles, quartiles
    • Trend analysis
    • Gap analysis 
  • Cost structure decomposition
  • Identifying structural vs. controllable cost gaps

Activities

  • Hands-on benchmarking analysis (sample dataset)
  • Gap analysis exercise with interpretation

Objective: Convert benchmarking results into actionable insights.

Topics

  • Turning numbers into insights
  • Root cause analysis for performance gaps
  • Linking benchmarking results to:
    • Operational improvement initiatives
    • Cost and production optimisation programs
    • Capital allocation decisions
  • Overview of the oil & gas value chain
    • Upstream, midstream, downstream
    • Key cost and performance drivers
    • Middle East NOC context and how it is different to IOC-contexts
  • Visualisation and dashboards for benchmarking
  • Communicating results to executives and non-technical stakeholders
  • Common pitfalls and misinterpretations

Activities

  • Role-play: Present findings to senior management

Objective: Apply all concepts in a realistic Oil & Gas scenario.

Topics

  • End-to-end benchmarking case study:
    • Asset or company performance comparison
    • Identification of improvement levers
    • Recommendation development
  • Benchmarking best practices from leading operators
  • Continuous benchmarking and performance management
  • Transformation benchmarking

Activities

  • Group project: full benchmarking study and presentation
  • Peer review and facilitator feedback
  • Wrap-up and competency assessment

Who is this for

  • Mid-level and senior NOC professionals in the Middle East
  • Operations, production, and strategy teams
  • Asset, operations, or engineering support roles
  • Finance, commercial, and technical teams
  • Decision-makers seeking immediate, measurable impact

Certificate of Competence

This programme aligns with Middle East NOC competency domains typically referenced in corporate and professional frameworks, including technical, analytical, business, and professional practice domains:

  • Internal corporate competency frameworks
  • Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements
  • Technical capability or assurance development pathways

Programme Overview

  • Understanding of Oil & Gas value chain cost and performance drivers
  • Knowledge of benchmarking types, methods, and limitations
  • Familiarity with industry-standard KPIs and metrics

Analytical & Problem-Solving Skills

  • Structuring benchmarking studies with clear objectives and scope
  • Peer group selection and data normalisation
  • Quantitative gap analysis and trend evaluation
  • Differentiation between structural and controllable performance drivers

Communication & Professional Practice

  • Clear presentation of benchmarking findings
  • Data governance, confidentiality, and ethical considerations
  • Effective engagement with technical and non-technical stakeholders

Business & Decision Support

  • Translating benchmarking outputs into management-relevant insights
  • Supporting cost optimisation, operational improvement, and investment decisions
  • Integrating benchmarking results into planning and performance processes

Learning Outcomes (Assessable)

On successful completion of the programme, participants will be able to:

  • Design and execute a benchmarking study aligned with defined business objectives
  • Apply consistent metrics and normalisation techniques across assets or peers
  • Analyse and interpret benchmarking results using standard statistical methods
  • Identify performance improvement opportunities supported by evidence
  • Communicate findings in a clear, structured, and decision-focused manner

Assessment and Certification

Evidence of competency development will include:

  • Participation in, and successful completion of exercises
  • Completion of a structured benchmarking case study: end-to-end
  • Presentation of benchmarking findings and recommendations

Upon successful completion of the programme, and assessment, participants are awarded the:

Fulcrium Oil & Gas Benchmarking Skills
Certificate of Competence

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