ME-92, Australia’s Mirror Committee to the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) TC-67, has reached a significant milestone, following the publication of its first standard, AS ISO 29001 — an identical adoption of ISO 29001 — as an Australian Standard.
Published in September 2020, AS ISO 29001 is the first standard to go through the development process with Australian participation and then adoption as an Australian standard, marking this achievement as the first step in ensuring the alignment of Australian projects and Australian experience with all regions.
AS ISO 29001 Petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries — Sector-specific quality management systems — Requirements for product and service supply organisations defines quality management system requirements for product and service supply organisations to the petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries, allowing these industries to benefit from management leadership.
Adopting ISO 29001 as an Australian Standard for the oil and gas industry follows an announcement in June that ISO 29001 is now part of Management Systems Standards (MMS) (ISO 9001).
The result is a framework for businesses in Australia- and sector-wide to align requirements with MMS, promoting standardisation in sectors beyond oil and gas.
ME-92 collaborates to support the broader energy sector
ME-92 is liaising with the Hydrogen standards committee (ME-93) and is in talks with the newly formed Renewable Marine Energy committee (EL-66) to ensure that knowledge from the Petroleum, Petrochemical and Natural Gas industries can assist with helping future energy areas fast-track their growth and road to efficiency.
This industry-wide collaboration will assist in optimising future project costs and enhancing safety through use of the global industry knowledge while also reducing the need to write local standards.
Next steps for ME-92
According to National Energy Resources Australia (NERA), the ME-92 Mirror Committee is now close to being fully established, with over 80 per cent of the International Standards under review or development having Australian involvement or review.
With all the major countries aligned in the development of the international standards, for the adoption as the national standard, momentum in now growing with the number of standards being identified for revision increasing.
The ME-92 committee is looking for experts that cover the areas of Offshore Technical Safety, Steam Turbines and Processing equipment to cover the expanding list of standards being upgraded.
If you are an expert in the industry or would like to get involved in these areas or any of the other discipline areas under ISO/TC67 then please get in touch with the ME-92 project manager Madeleine Manousaridis or through Standards Australia via email.
About ME-92
ME-92 was established by Standards Australia in 2017 following a proposal from NERA, with the support of the Australian oil and gas industry, to mirror ISO TC-67.
ME-92 aims to adopt ISO standards under TC-67 as Australian Standards to support improved productivity, facilitate global trade and deliver significant cost savings and efficiencies for the oil and gas operators and their supply chains, whilst ensuring the highest standards for safety and environmental performance.
Unlike other technical committees that may cover one standard or one area, ME-92 is made up of eight separate sub-committees from pipelines and drilling to processing equipment and offshore structures, which contain 80 separate working groups of experts to ensure appropriate upgrade and development of these standards.
