In an environment of oil price volatility and increasing sustainability demands, operators must not only control costs but also strike a careful balance with production efficiency, operational reliability, and HSE/PSM (Health, Safety, and Environment/Process Safety Management) standards. Solomon’s Worldwide Offshore Production Operations Performance Analysis (Offshore Study) is designed to help you navigate these challenges and successfully position your company to secure optimal profitability and resilience in the rapidly evolving industry.
"The value for changes we implemented was estimated at $5,000,000, a very good return on investment." SENIOR ENGINEER, U.K. MAJOR
Companies that participate in Solomon’s Offshore Study typically realize 5–15% operating expense savings.
Leverage a vetted, proprietary performance database of: >1,200 offshore assets and 92 FPSOs worldwide.
- Where do my offshore assets stand relative to peer fields in both operating cost and reliability?
- Are my operating expenses competitive with companies that have similar facilities?
- How reliable are my producing assets?
- How does my facility utilization compare with others?
- How do I compare across the range of performance in the industry?
- What is my competitive position within my region and the world?
- How competitive are my total production costs and net cash margins?
- How efficiently are my facilities being operated?
- Which cost areas should I target for lost opportunities?
- How frequent are my production incidents and recovery time?
- Am I using excessive boat and helicopter resources?
With 30+ years of upstream benchmarking experience and the world’s largest database of upstream performance data and metrics, Solomon knows what “good” looks like for any given type of operation. The Offshore Study assesses your performance against peers and identifies cost and production performance improvement opportunities. The study focuses on critical key performance indicators (KPIs), including operating cost, cost drivers, production efficiency, and uptime reliability.

Recent Offshore & Onshore Project Worldwide
Operations, cost, and production performance in the Offshore Study are analyzed at the asset level for all offshore production facility types/systems. This “asset-to-asset” comparison enables more accurate identification of the areas where your facilities could improve.

Peer Groups Based on Major Offshore Asset Types
Solomon experts understand that production is not the main offshore cost driver; unit costs do not indicate how efficient an operation is. The Offshore Study’s cost competitiveness and cost efficiency analyses use proprietary normalization methodology to examine how your costs compare to others in the market and how well you manage those costs. Analysis results help to identify asset and peer performance gaps and provide potential cost optimization opportunities.
The Offshore Study measures asset performance with a specific set of KPIs by analyzing your offshore operations, transportation activities that support those operations, offloading operations (tankers excluded), and overhead (management, technical, business support). This analysis enables a consistent and reliable basis for managing continuous improvement. Gain insights to enhance production efficiency, maximize uptime reliability, and optimize cost performance for your offshore assets, ensuring you achieve the best possible returns in today’s dynamic market.
The scope and format of the study helped us focus on specific areas of improvement. The results presentation was concise and informative. It reflected considerable knowledge of operations. As a result, we have been able to dramatically improve our production efficiency and lower costs. MAJOR OIL COMPANY
The result of this study is very helpful; we can see the weaknesses & opportunities to improve, such as boat cost. LOGISTICS MANAGER, US MAJOR
The value for changes we implemented was estimated at $5,000,000, a very good return on investment. SENIOR ENGINEER, U.K. MAJOR
Immensely impressive…much more detailed than other benchmarking studies. PRESIDENT, U.S. MAJOR
The study is an excellent fit with our strategic intents of operational excellence and cost reduction. We have already taken actions in several areas and have seen significant cost savings. SUBSIDIARY OF INTERNATIONAL E&P
Why Participate?
Compare with top-industry peers.
Establish performance targets and measure progress.
Assess production efficiency and reliability performances.
Analyze HSE/PSM, GHG Emission, and Sustainability performances.
Evaluate competitiveness and efficiency of operating cost-optimization strategy using a normalized cost performance assessment.
Define robust strategies and tactics to deliver sustainable performance and cost reduction.
Pinpoint “cost drivers” for each asset type.
Refine sustainability measures of carbon emissions and energy efficiency.
Analyze uptime reliability performance issues on a consistent basis across companies and assets.
Performance is assessed across the following areas:
Cost Performance (operating cost, maintenance cost & complexity, labor cost, transportation cost (i.e., helicopter and boats), energy efficiency)
Production Performance (production efficiency, reliability, planned and unplanned downtime) by nodes (i.e., Wells, Subsea, Processing & Treating, and Topside).
Carbon Emissions Index (CEI)
Energy Intensity Index™ (EII®)
Well work performance analysis
Repair & Maintenance (R&M) for Routine, Turnaround (TAR), and Subsea
Support/Overhead Costs & Staffing Levels
HSE and PSM Performance Analysis
Study Deliverables
Performance rankings on a global, regional, and peer group basis for all performance areas and cost drivers/categories.
Detailed Uptime Reliability Analysis and Cost Driver Analysis reports.
Executive summary presentation with actionable insight supported by study data.
Customized diagnostic analysis, including conclusions, recommendations, and valued opportunity potential for each asset.
Private debriefings with Solomon operations advisors.
Learn How You Can Participate
Gain insights to enhance production efficiency, maximize uptime reliability, and optimize cost performance for your offshore assets, ensuring you achieve the best possible returns in today’s dynamic market. Join other industry members that leverage the Offshore Study to guide them to higher levels of sustainable business performance and create robust informed operational strategies.
A Foundation for Effective Comparative Performance Analysis and Decision Support
We prioritize the integrity and confidentiality of participant-submitted data and rigorously review that data before benchmarking begins. Then, we employ our normalization process and benchmarking methodology to provide valuable and trusted peer group comparisons that deliver meaningful KPIs. Finally, our staff of senior consultants apply their deep industry experience to develop practical insight and recommendations to enable your success.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)
A: The Offshore Study includes a cost competitive analysis that measures cost on a unit-of-production basis by overall cost and cost subcategory. It represents an economic reality but is only a competitive measure.
A: The Offshore Study includes a cost efficiency analysis that assesses and normalizes performance. The analysis determines how efficient/effective the costs have been managed given the particular operations and other conditions. It also is used to calculate incentives/gap analysis. Field operating cost is broken down into seven major subcategories, and from the cost, production, and technical data gathered, a statistical analysis is performed. For each subcategory of cost, we look for statistically significant relationships of underlying “drivers” that seem to impact each particular cost category for that peer group.
A: The Offshore Study uses Solomon’s proprietary CPA benchmarking methodology and normalization methodology to compare the production, cost, and operational performance of offshore operators, at the asset level, worldwide. The study’s objective is to help offshore operators achieve operational excellence by identifying opportunities to optimize, improve, and carefully balance their offshore operations performance in the areas of production efficiency, reliability, sustainability, HSE/PSM (Health, Safety, and Environment/Process Safety Management), and cost performance. The Offshore Study can help offshore operators successfully position their company to exploit the current market by securing optimal profits of your assets.
A: Solomon takes data confidentiality and security very seriously. All data is anonymized and aggregated to protect individual company information, ensuring that proprietary information remains secure throughout the benchmarking process.
A: Participants have reported significant improvements in operational efficiency, reliability, and cost control. These enhancements often lead to reductions in unplanned downtime, optimized maintenance schedules, and better alignment with sustainability goals—all of which contribute to a stronger ROI.
A: The study provides a comprehensive, anonymized comparison with peers in the offshore industry, allowing you to see how your performance stacks up across key areas like cost, uptime, efficiency, and sustainability. These insights highlight where your company excels and where there is room for improvement.