Case Study

Mapping and Development of Industry Capabilities in Timor–Leste

Aerial view of Timor-Leste

Advisian’s (previously WorleyParsons) Social Performance team was engaged by ConocoPhillips Australia Pty Ltd (CoP) to complete Mapping and Development of Industry Capabilities in Timor–Leste to Address Bayu-Undan Goods and Services Requirements for CoP’s operated Bayu-Undan field.

The Situation

Advisian’s (previously WorleyParsons) Social Performance team was engaged by ConocoPhillips Australia Pty Ltd (CoP) to complete Mapping and Development of Industry Capabilities in Timor–Leste to Address Bayu-Undan Goods and Services Requirements for CoP’s operated Bayu-Undan field.

The CoP-operated Bayu-Undan gas field located in the Joint Petroleum Development Area (JDPA) of the Timor Sea, supplies dry natural gas via the 502 km Bayu-Darwin pipeline to the CoP-operated Darwin Liquefied Natural Gas facility (DLNG) at Wickham Point, near Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia.

CoP has developed ‘a local content strategy designed to develop and implement opportunities to continue to maximise and further enhance Timor-Leste local content and to raise the profile of local content management to be a fundamental part of our business strategies.’

Approach

To facilitate implementation of CoP’s local content strategy, we were engaged to:

  • Identify and map existing local industry supply and service capability in Timor-Leste, for the purposes of supplying goods and services to Bayu-Undan - we also considered local industry supply and service capability which may soon exist in the next 1 to 3 years
  • Identify the main challenges to be addressed, in order to improve participation of the local business sector in Bayu-Undan activities (for example, meeting industry standards)
  • Identify businesses with medium potential to develop their capacity through greater knowledge of CoP requirements

Stakeholder engagement was an essential component of the study to assess the capacity of local businesses. Significant stakeholder engagement was completed to discuss barriers and challenges specific to ConocoPhillips’ procurement and communication processes, and to identify businesses that might have the potential to be further developed for opportunities in the supply chain.

This included undertaking interviews with 17 government and NGO organisations, and facilitating two public local industry workshops in Dili, which attracted around 100 participants after extensive national radio, billboard and newspaper advertising.

Interested local businesses were asked to complete Supplier Interest Forms, from which Advisian (previously WorleyParsons) and ConocoPhillips selected 27 businesses relevant to Bayu-Undan to be interviewed further to assess their capacity and capability. Advisian (previously WorleyParsons) was responsible for developing targeted advertisements and communication materials in English and Tetum.

Upon completion of stakeholder engagement activities, Advisian (previously WorleyParsons) produced a report identifying details of local businesses capable of servicing Bayu-Undan. We also outlined recommendations around which businesses have ‘medium potential’ for future capacity development, including next steps for engagement.

Further initiatives and activities to maximise local content were also identified to assist future capacity building initiatives to be targeted in nature, and focused on sustainable opportunities wherever possible. Additionally, we produced a Local Business Register which detailed the contact details, size and capacity of over 300 local businesses with the potential to service CoP.

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