Owner's Engineering

We provide the manpower through our expertise when our clients don’t have internal capability or simply prefer to assign Technical Advisors such as us to represent them as technical advisors so that they can concentrate on running their business

Delivering for you

Using an experienced owner's engineer such as Cobra will ensure that potential challenges and issues can be avoided and projects can benefit from the expertise of our team who have completed this role many times before. Having been involved in all phases from Feasibility right through to Commissioning, Operations and even Decommissioning we really understand what is important to deliver a successful project and we represent our clients

Owner’s engineering services are normally required by companies who don’t have the in-house expertise or available resource to carry out the due diligence process to ensure that assigned engineering contractors carries out work from Conceptual Engineering to Pre-FEED through FEED and then EPC and finally handover for Completions, Commissioning and Operations. The most effective Owner's Engineers are those who serve in broader, longer roles that give them time to develop a keen understanding of owner objectives and develop a close relationship with the owner. This close relationship can be essential because the Owner's Engineer serves as an advocate for the owner’s business objectives and identifies skill gaps in the owner’s staff that can be filled by the owner’s engineer team.

Cobra offers a dynamic and customer inclusive owner's engineer service in the energy sector. With our expertise supporting clients through the delivery of conceptual studies we can offer vital continuity or simply form an owner's engineer team at any phase of a project. Cobra can also assist financial institutions looking at investments or operators looking at Mergers & Acquisitions or even total relocation of plant.

Our owner’s engineer services include assistance with:

• Project/ Engineering management;
• Feasibility and development (Concept, Pre-FEED and FEED);
Preparation of ITT for EPC phase.
• Detailed Engineering;
• Quality, environment and health and safety;
• Pre-construction;
• Construction;
• Handover to operations;
• Operations;
• Decommissioning.

Cobra provides independent engineering review services for clients to ensure that project development complies with the design basis, objectives and specifications as per the design and/or construction agreements.

Typically for an engineer, design and build type contract the Owner's Engineer stays on the project from the feasibility stage right the way through to commissioning and handover as the owner's integrated team. The reasons for this are:

• Meeting owner’s business objectives – In essence as the owner’s team the objectives of Cobra would be to act as part of the client team sharing the same objectives and thus supporting the client until such point as the client have built their own internal team to operate the facility
• Continuity of Knowledge – the knowledge built by the Owner's Engineering team from the early phases through to design are second to none as the Owner's Engineering team understand fully all aspects of the project and complete detail
• Continuity of Team – The team can transition from technical design support through to commissioning support. No other party will have as strong a knowledge of the project to support these activities
• Procurement knowledge transfer – During procurement (the P part of EPC) technical knowledge is required. The only people who can support this are the Owner's Engineer team since they have been intimately involved in all engineering phases previously. Any party managing the construction phase cannot effectively handle the procurement phase. This is a straight fact and is key to the concept of an Owner's Engineer team

For these reasons and for the success of a project Owner's Engineer teams generally stay pivotal in detail in the Pre-FEED, FEED and Detailed Design phases (the E part of EPC and normally technically support the P part of EPC) and then progress to commissioning. Off course we can also support construction but occasionally clients may have a reason to engage a specialist construction company.

FEED for success

Cobra Owner's engineer team normally extend into FEED phase on behalf of the client since our team have built up strong engineering knowledge in earlier phases either as the primary engineering contractor or as owner's engineer in the conceptual phases. Continuity of the knowledge gained makes complete sense and will ensure that the interests of the client are maintained in a strong, diligent manner. In the FEED phase our responsibilities would include:

• Engineering and Project Management on behalf of the client organisation;
• Reporting and project controls activities such as Cost, Time and Resource activities;
• Overall Design Due Diligence for FEED;
• Review and approval of engineering documentation;
• Representation and involvement in Design reviews such as model reviews;
• Attendance at HSE & Q reviews such as HAZOP, SIL, ENVID (If appropriate) etc.;
• Support for any legislative SHE&Q activities;
• Document control activities;
• Preparation of ITT for EPC phase.

Supporting Engineering Procurement & Construction

In the EPC phase it is essential for engineering continuity and for those who have built up the expert knowledge of the early phases of design to continue to impart this knowledge but also to act on and for the client to ensure the project meets business objectives. For this reason we believe the Owner's Engineer team must be responsible for monitoring and approval of the EP part of the EPC contract. The Construction element could be transferred to another party although the relationship would need to be close with the Owner's Engineering team and ideally the Owner's Engineering team would manage the construction contractor.

In the EPC phase our responsibilities would include but is not an exclusive list:

• Engineering and Project Management on behalf of the client organisation;
• Reporting and project controls activities such as Cost, Time and Resource activities;
• Overall Design Due Diligence for detailed design;
• Review and approval of engineering documentation;
• Technical support for Procurement activities;
• Representation and involvement in Design reviews such as model reviews;
• Attendance at HSE & Q reviews such as HAZOP, SIL, ENVID (If appropriate) etc;
• Support for any legislative HSE&Q activities;
• Document control activities;
• Support for completions packages;
• Support for Commissioning packages;
• Support for Operating procedures;
• Support to develop maintenance activities to include maintenance schedules etc.;
• Support for the Construction Management entity

Successful Commissioning & Start Up

The in-depth technical knowledge of the Owners Engineer team at Cobra would be essential for developing the commissioning and operations procedures. Beyond design activities our team would be responsible for supporting clients operational staff to write the commissioning and operations procedures and also to support the physical commissioning activities.

Leading you to success

Cobra can be your trusted partner to support you as owner's engineer. We have the experience, expertise and passion to represent you in partnership. Let us lead you to success…