API to make more standards, practices available online

Nick Snow
OGJ Washington Editor

WASHINGTON, DC, Aug. 24 -- The American Petroleum Institute will provide free online public access to more of its standards and practices, including several that deal with safety, the trade association said on Aug. 23. It said 160 standards will be available online once changes to its web site are complete.

Some API standards and practices already are available at www.api.org while others can be reviewed in person at government agency offices, according to API. The procedures are recommendations that are developed by committees from the oil and gas industry to keep operations safe and successful. API began the program in 1924.

“As API standards have been referenced in the Federal Register in rulemaking procedures, having copies available for public review in only a few locations did not meet our industry’s goal for transparency,” explained API Pres. Jack N. Gerard. “The industry’s standards represent our commitment to safe and successful operations and practices. Wider access through online viewing platforms is part of our commitment.”

API said the standards that will now be available represent almost one third of its total and will include all that are safety-related or have been incorporated into federal regulations. They will include process safety standards on refinery and chemical plant operations and equipment, offshore drilling standards, hydraulic fracturing and well construction standards, and pipeline safety standards on welding and public awareness programs.

The newly accessible standards will be available for review, and hard copies and printable versions will continue to be available for purchase, API said. The standards are generally technical and designed principally for use by oil and gas companies. Revenue from their sale supports API’s standards program, which operates on a nonprofit basis, the association said. API expects to continue to sell standards to oil and gas companies and other interested parties, it added.

Gerard noted that officials from the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement and others in the Obama administration have encouraged API to increase access to industry standards, and API is happy to comply. “Much of the nation’s energy is produced on public lands, and the public has a right to know what measures industry is putting in place to stay safe and improve its environmental stewardship,” Gerard said.

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].