The International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) has launched a newsletter to promote its fruitful collaboration with ISO (International Organization for Standardization) - a partnership which has already resulted in 50 standards for the industry, with another 20 planned by the end of 2001.
The OGP's International Standards Bulletin - which states its vision as, "Global standards used locally worldwide" - encourages the sector to make use of the new set of International Standards for a wide selection of vital oil and gas industry materials, equipment and offshore structures that is emerging from ISO and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission).
It is envisaged that the standards will be implemented widely in oil and gas provinces throughout the world, replacing existing industry, national standards and company specifications.
"For industry, they will reduce costs and delivery time and facilitate trade across national borders," the OGP states in its bulletin. "For regulatory authorities, the standards offer support for goal-setting and functional regulations, while achieving higher levels of safety through better design."
According to OGP's technical manager, Don Smith, the association plays the role of a catalyst in the development of International Standards for the oil and gas industry. "It's essential that OGP and ISO continue to work closely together if we are to meet the challenges of tomorrow."
OGP has 52 full members made up of 41 oil companies, and11 national and international oil industry associations operating in more than 60 different countries. The OGP's Standards Committee monitors, co-ordinates and influences the development of international standards to meet the needs of the OGP members. The ISO/OGP collaboration serves as an invaluable tool to help identify the standardization needs of the oil and gas industry and to help ISO gauge current and future market sector trends and conditions.
For many years, the API (American Petroleum Institute) standards served as the de facto international standards for the oil and gas industry. In recent years, however, the oil and gas sector has recognized a market need for uniform and consistent standards for worldwide application and has been making a major renewed commitment to working within the ISO system to develop a new set of coherent International Standards.
In line with this commitment, the API transferred 72 of its work items to ISO technical committee ISO/TC 67, Materials, equipment and offshore structures for petroleum and natural gas industries, to become ISO International Standards.
A study conducted by OGP member Shell confirmed industry expectations on the financial benefits of implementing ISO standards. According to the study's findings, the oil and gas industry would save an equivalent of one per cent of its annual expenditure by implementing International Standards. This translates into a savings of USD 180 million and represents a return on investment of 25 to 1.
The oil and gas industry is the first pilot sector to be targeted by ISO for implementation of its sector strategy. The fundamental aim of this initiative is to take a proactive approach to standards development by strengthening the linkage between the priorities of the target sector and the standards which ISO develops for it.
Following the positive results from the oil and gas industry initiative, ISO is extending its sector strategy to Intelligent Transport Systems as the next target sector.
More information on the OGP, including the OGP International Standards Bulletin can be found on the OGP Web site, www.ogp.org.uk. While more information on ISO's collaboration with the oil and gas industry and other industry sectors can be found on ISO's Web site, www.iso.org, at "Industry Forums".
