NOT CREATED EQUAL

It might seem logical that all standards would be created the same way, but that is not the case.

U.S. API valve standards, for example, are created by groups of end-users, manufacturers, engineer/contractors and occasionally government agency representatives. Content is debated at subcommittee and committee meetings, and a diverse group of interested parties vote on the documents. As a result of this process, a dozen refinery representatives, 20 manufacturers and/or a handful of engineer/contractors may be deciding on the content of the document.

The ISO standards creation process also involves committees and subcommittees, but a huge difference is that each country only has one vote. This system creates complex politics that transcend those of the usual manufacturer vs. end-user battles. It also makes it much more difficult for each individual company’s voice to be heard.

About 15 years ago, the API began a process and a policy in which the organization would allow key valve standards to be co-branded by ISO, with the hope that international voters would agree to accept the API documents with little change. During this period, members of U.S. standards organizations were asked to participate in ISO standards activities, but for undefined reasons, there was little response. U.S. companies may have been constrained financially by employers from attending the costly around-the-world meetings or they may have just not considered the work important enough since they were working on the same types of standards here in the U.S.

Unfortunately, in many cases, the resulting co-branded documents were so radically changed they were not acceptable to members of the API refining committee that created the base documents. The result was cumbersome appendices added to the end of the co-branded documents to meet the requirements of the domestic API members and users of the documents. An additional problem occurred because the updating cycle of ISO did not match up with API’s five-year update cycle, making it difficult to provide timely technical updates to the API standards.

Within API, the Subcommittee on Piping and Valves (SCOPV), which produces and maintains many key valve standards used in the refining and petrochemical industry, is responsible for maintaining 12 standards, three of which are co-branded as of early 2009 (API 600, 602, 607). Of these, only one, API 607, Fire Test for Soft-Seated Quarter-Turn Valves, is identical to the ISO version. Current API policy allows for acceptance of an ISO document when, according to a recent API SCOPV statement, “it meets the needs of the API revision and no technical change to the ISO document is required. The full API SCOPV then votes on the proposed co-branded document.

When an API task force determines that a prospective co-branded document would require extensive technical changes, the standard will not be co-branded. “However, changes will be offered to the appropriate ISO workgroup for future consideration, in the hope that successful incorporation of these changes into a future ISO standard revision will allow for reconsideration for co-branding at the next API standard update cycle.”

The current system of different standards-making organizations creating duplicate valve standards is not likely to end in the near future. In fact, two previously co-branded API documents, 600 & 602, are in revision now, and they will not be co-branded. What that means for the valve industry is that companies must be flexible and ready to adapt to whichever standard is specified. In the case of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) with plants and customers worldwide, this situation is, at best, a hassle. It can mean having two different designs of the same product just to meet the requirements of a particular specification, resulting in a higher cost for the valve user or reduced profit for the ­manufacturer.

On the upstream side of API, ISO has co-branded API 6D, Pipeline Valves, as ISO 14313. This is one case where a U.S. valve standard was adopted for use in the United States with virtually no changes or extensive addendums.

In the area of corrosion prevention, ISO has co-branded NACE International’s highly popular NACE MR01-75 document. NACE and ISO jointly sell the new, expanded ISO 15156, Petroleum and natural gas industries—Materials for use in H2S-containing environments in oil and gas production. Unfortunately, the three-part, co-branded document is cumbersome and not user-friendly, with eight corrigenda and technical bulletins now required to navigate and use the standard. MR0175 is often referenced when valves in sour H2S upstream service are specified.