The oil and gas sector is a deeply complex network of players across segments, all working towards producing oil, gas, and related products. When a system becomes this complicated, it requires standards across the industry to ensure that each player can communicate effectively with each other.
McKinsey & Company writes that standardisation may hold the key to eliminating inefficiencies and could contribute to improving future major oil projects. There are standards to protect health, safety, technology, and more. They are mostly quiet, unseen forces—specifications, regulations, and protocols that help ensure organisations and processes work properly, interactively, and responsibly.
Standards in the oil and gas industry
In today’s environment of increased workload and decreased human resources, standardisation has become a paramount concern for oil and gas companies, equipment manufacturers, and suppliers. Standards enhance the safety of industry operations, assure quality, help keep costs down, reduce waste, and minimise confusion. Importantly, it facilitates globalisation in the industry.
Within the oil and gas industry, strategic standardisation produces benefits such as improved safety, reliability, quality, and environmental performance which assists organisations in maintaining a leading position in such a dynamic and changing industry. Standardisation also helps ensure compliance with government requirements and boosts equipment interchangeability.
The importance of standards
In a dynamic and challenging environment, standardisation plays a major role in setting the benchmark for objectives, outcomes, and processes. Standards provide the guidance and framework for businesses looking to improve their operations and practices in any field or area. More than ever, companies around the world are discovering the power and value of standards to provide greater consistency of safety practices. Utilising standards within the oil and gas industry can assist with the creation of a flexible and resilient organisation, prioritising the safety and wellbeing of employees and the wider community.
Safety first
The oil and gas industry is constantly concerned with the safety of its employees, the community, and end-consumers. It contains inherent hazards in the course of day-to-day operation, but operators can minimise safety concerns and enjoy a safer workplace by following industry specifications and standards.
By reducing operator risk and ensuring that equipment and material satisfy regulations and laws, standards play a key role in developing greater public trust, boosting the brand’s reputation, and working towards environmental goals.
On the other hand, working outside of current standards creates increased risk—potentially compromising the integrity of entire projects.
Safely reaching technological heights
The industry is constantly developing new operational and digital technologies to continue the industry’s growth and development. Standardisation plays a major role in setting a benchmark for technology, and creating clear guidance for use and expected results. Â
Choosing the right standards
But it isn’t enough to apply standards; with thousands of relevant standards by various publishers, it is crucial for the oil and gas industry to be properly informed of which standards are necessary. If standards or regulations are missed, or skipped, this can have catastrophic ramifications and has the potential to halt international trade.
Using a reliable standards provider that is able to provide all of the standards and regulations needed by the industry is an investment into the future of the business that will bring benefits, both tangible and intangible, for years to come in the road towards global strategic standardisation.
