Within our Australian pipeline industry International Standards Organisation (ISO) standards are typically not ‘front-of-mind’ when working on pipelines. And while acronyms such as API, ASME, BS and of course AS roll off the tongue, the increased industry commitment to harmonisation of international standards raises the prospect of ISO joining that list of familiarities. From an Australian perspective, we need to be participating more strongly in ISO considerations to ensure that any standardisation outcome suits our industry here. This has led to more prevalent Australian ISO activities in the last five or six years.

In April this year, I was given the opportunity to take up the role of the ISO representative on the ME38 committee. This role is essentially to provide the link between the Australian Standards committee and the ISO Technical Committee - TC67 SC2 - which is devoted to the suite of ISO standards centred around Oil and Gas Pipeline Transportation Systems. The current drive of the ISO committee is to develop and improve ISO standards in order to achieve harmonisation of all country standards, with their primary AS2885 ‘equivalent’ standard being ISO 13623 - Pipeline Transportation Systems.

The primary task of my role is to ensure that the ISO standard updates and ballot drafts get communicated to the relevant experts within the Australian pipeline community, for comment and feedback to the ISO committee, to ensure we have the opportunity to influence the progress and development of these standards. In addition, it was exciting for me that as the Australian delegate, I was fortunate enough to attend the annual ISO TC67 SC2 committee meeting in May, which this year was hosted by Danish Standards in Copenhagen. This was a great opportunity to represent the Australian pipeline industry through Standards Australia. To introduce me to the ‘ISO world’, I was also lucky enough to be accompanied by Leigh Fletcher, who also made a technical presentation to the other delegates at the meeting.

This annual meeting discussed the progress of the respective ISO TC67 SC 2 suite of standards that are undergoing review, and provided the opportunity for various country delegates to discuss progress and implementation of these relevant ISO standards. Other countries represented at the meeting included Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Britain, Brazil and of course, a heavy US/Canada contingency. Of interest was China’s attendance, for while they are not yet participating members of the ISO committee, it is expected that their involvement and adoption of the ISO Standards will also increase.

The various standards undergoing review and discussed at the Copenhagen meeting ranged from pipeline steel, coatings and cathodic protection to pipeline valves and actuators. For each standard under review, a Working Group (WG) is formed that is made up of a group of country nominated ‘experts’ in that particular field. To date, Australia has not had much representation on most of these WG committees but the intention is to increase our participation and as such, Leigh Fletcher and Peter Mayes have been nominated as expert members on the welding and pipeline coating committees, respectively.

While the intention of the working groups is to achieve a consensus amongst the country standards, as expected there were some issues where consensus had not yet been reached. Of particular note was the disagreement between the European countries and Canada/US regarding polyethylene coatings – a discussion into which Australia hopes to enter also.

For those interested, a summary of ISO sub-standards currently undergoing review (or subject to recent updates) is included in the accompanying table.

Each country reported on their use of the ISO Standards and as expected, most countries have not fully adopted ISO 13623 (Pipeline Transportation Systems) as their primary code. However, these countries are gradually incorporating some ISO sub-set of standards as applicable. This too is Australia’s current position.

Leigh Fletcher also made his technical presentation at the meeting, regarding the use of Boron in electrodes which was well received and sparked interest and discussion afterwards.

While AS2885 is (and will likely be for a long time) the primary standard fresh in our minds for pipelines, we may see more ISO standards crawling up the priority line as standards of choice within the oil and gas pipeline industry. As a result, we will look forward to increased participation, and more contribution to the ISO 13623 (and its suite of standards). As we gradually become exposed to more ISO standards as they progress, there will no doubt be potential impacts on our pipeline industry in the future.

Our first step towards increased participation is that Standards Australia has been accepted as being the hosts for the 2009 ISO meeting. There was a high level of interest from the committee members on the prospect of the visit to Sydney in April next year and hence a particular opportunity for Australia to have the ear of the committee on relevant issues.

I would like to thank both Standards Australia and APA Group for enabling me to represent the Australian delegation at this meeting, and hope to contribute further to enabling a path for feedback to the ISO TC67/SC2 committee and their respective working groups. I am also very thankful to Leigh Fletcher for the support during the trip and for his contacts in the international pipeline world.