The News Pages of the Interchange Working Party

October 2001

Standards for Oil & Gas - ISO joins forces with OGP

In developing international standards, as on the dance floor, it takes "two to tango"! You need to bring together:

and

Recognising this need, ISO has launched a new initiative - "sector differentiation". The aim is to take a proactive approach to standards development by strengthening the links between the priorities of an industry sector and the standards that ISO develops for it.

Oil & Gas has been chosen as one of the sectors to pilot this approach via an industry forum, with the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (OGP) acting as co-sponsors.

OGP recognises that "global standards used locally world-wide" can bring significant benefits. OGP member Shell estimates that the industry would save some 1% of annual expenditure by adopting ISO and IEC standards; this amounts to about USD 180 million or an ROI of 25:1.

The forum also has the support of the American Petroleum Institute (API). In the past, API standards have served as de facto international standards. As part of the closer collaboration with ISO, API has transferred a significant number of its work items to ISO TC 67 - "Materials, equipment and offshore structures for petroleum and natural gas industries". These work items will therefore become ISO international standards.

The change in scope of ISO 15926 has already marked the start of the integration of standards in the oil & gas sector with those in the process and other industry sectors. The formation of closer links between TC 67 and TC 184/SC4 would seem to be a logical step forward.

For more information on OGP, see www.ogp.org.uk; details of the O&G and other industry forums are available at www.iso.ch.

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