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Introduction
Project delay globally concerns the project management community, which has been the subject of many researchers. This phenomenon is inherently important because studies over the world have reported delays in different types of projects; 40 per cent of construction projects in India (Iyer and Jha, 2006), 70 per cent of large construction projects in the KSA (Assaf and Al-Hejji, 2006), 50 per cent of construction projects in the UAE (Faridi and El-Sayegh, 2006), 70 per cent of construction projects carried out by the public agencies in the UK (Shebob et al., 2012), 97 per cent of public and private construction projects in Libya (Shebob et al., 2012) and 38 per cent of construction projects for major public organization over the past three years in Oman (Ruqaishi and Bashir, 2013). The statistics are not encouraging, which indicates it rarely happens that the project is delivered within the specified goals, particularly on the schedule. The numbers will grow, as the delay is a frequent and recurring situation and it has received considerable scholarly attention.
Technical project management provides the basis for sustainable national development, which in this case is the effective management of oil and gas projects essential for economic growth, as most Middle Eastern countries are oil- and gas-related economies, where a significant proportion of construction projects are invested in the downstream sector. The Middle East holds 54 per cent of entire world’s proven crude oil and 40 per cent of proven natural gas as of 2016 (OPEC, 2017). The growth of oil and gas projects is globally confirmed by an upward demand for both oil and gas fields. The demand for oil in 2012 is 89428.3, in 2013 is 91073.8, in 2014 is 91990.5, in 2015 is 93677.7, and in 2016 is 95115.1 (1000 barrels per day) by a slower rate of 1.5 per cent in 2016 compared to 1.8 per cent growth in 2015. Also the demand for gas in 2012 is 3388404.7, in 2013 is 3438951.9, in 2014 is 3435447.9, in 2015 is 3532541.3, and in 2016 is 3608441.6 (millions cubic meters) either by a slower rate of 2.1 per cent in 2016 compared to 2.8 per cent growth in 2015 (IEA, 2017).
As a main contributor to OPEC [July...