Exploring risks causing schedule overrun in upstream natural gas projects - A critical review and implications for future research

Schedule overruns in oil and gas projects are a serious concern worldwide because of the detrimental effects of delays, severe cost increases, and reduced return on investments that these slips cause. Despite the increasing occurrence of delays in natural gas projects globally, limited research exists concerning delays in oil and gas projects, and no attention has been paid to the upstream project phases though industry reports have been highlighting those phases as a significant part of the problem. Towards making scholarly literature reflect this emerging truth, this paper critically reviews existing literature to provide comprehensive understanding of risks causing delays in upstream gas projects. Findings are: (1) literature is still inconclusive about impact of nontechnical risks on schedule performance; (2) project performance is influenced by numerous exogenous risks; and (3) absence of sophisticated tools to analyze different dimensions of project delays. This paper accordingly makes a contribution by providing research-driven suggestions for areas requiring further investigation