Y2K program merges concerns of power, petroleum, gas industries

March 8, 1999
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION, transmission, and distribution industries are joining a technical program established by EPRI, Palo Alto, Calif., to gather data related to the Y2K problem.

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION, transmission, and distribution industries are joining a technical program established by EPRI, Palo Alto, Calif., to gather data related to the Y2K problem.

EPRI, a scientific and technological organization for the energy industry, says it established its Y2K technical information-sharing program in response to prompting from electric-industry leaders. "It didn't take long," says EPRI Y2K program manager Charlie Siebenthal, "for gas and electric industry leaders to see that joining forces would be a cost-effective way to address the embedded system issue."

The program's Gary Green, whom EPRI hired for his 18 years' oil and gas industry experience, says that the EPRI Y2K program has more than 110 major-company participants in industries with similar process control equipment; gas, oil, petrochemical, electric power generation, and dual-energy utilities.

Testing, membership

The focus of the program, says EPRI, is on testing and contingency planning. Benefits to program membership include detailed understanding of the embedded-system Y2K issues, data-filled website for members' Y2K testing and program information, workshops, and information for major vendors serving energy and process industries.

The program will neither develop nor certify industry-wide nor company-specific solutions. Its value, according to EPRI, lies in providing a way to gain the experiences of other members through information sharing.

Membership, as of late 1998, included Chevron, Conoco, CMS Energy Corp., Duke Energy, Enron, Pacific Gas & Electric Corp., Pemex, Shell Oil Co., Texaco, and Enbridge Ltd. (formerly Interprovincial Pipe Line Inc.).

Any organization willing and able to share technical information of common interest to others may join, says EPRI.

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