ISO and GRC standards for oil, gas and energy: where to start: video

The systems operators and contractors qualify you on

Operators, EPC contractors and energy companies qualify their suppliers on evidence: product quality, health, safety and environment, energy, assets and the security of control systems. The standards they ask for include API Spec Q1 for oilfield products, ISO 29001 for sector-specific quality, ISO 9001 as the quality core, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 for environment and occupational safety, ISO 50001 for energy performance, ISO 55001 for asset management and IEC 62443 for the security of industrial automation and control systems.

The film is a starting map for suppliers and energy companies. Where customers ask for more than one, API Spec Q1, ISO 29001 and a QHSE system can be built as one system across plants, yards, depots and field sites.

Why the request arrives with a date, and where to start

Before a component goes downhole or under pressure, an operator wants to see how a supplier assesses risk, validates special processes, proves competence and controls change; a registration or certificate is the short answer. Vendor qualification and bids come with deadlines, and API requires the system to have run for a period before it accepts a Q1 application, so the plan has to start from the customer's date and work back. Regulators are also paying attention to critical infrastructure: in the EU, NIS2 names energy among the sectors it covers, and customers increasingly ask plant owners, integrators and product suppliers about control-system security.

The starting point is the registration or certificate the operator or EPC contractor checks before an order is placed: API Spec Q1 or ISO 29001 for product suppliers, ISO 9001 with ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 for service and site contractors. Energy, asset management and control-system security follow where customers and regulators ask for them. A short call with a consultant, or the free Select the Standard™ tool, settles which comes first for your contracts.

Sterling's expert and experienced consultants work with plant, field and HSE teams, prepare the evidence and stay through the independent audit and after it; the independent body, not Sterling, decides.