Recent large capital oil sands construction projects have all experienced significant cost overruns. There are a number of reasons for these overruns, some of which are listed in this article. This article provides a review of recent experiences and challenges in delivering mega oil sands projects in Alberta. In addition, this article focuses on the front-end loading (planning) phases 1, 2, and 3 and describes the effort needed to deliver mega projects, provides schedule comparisons of key engineering milestones, and analyzes scope changes and contingencies.
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