Chemstar Sponsors 2014 API Winter Standards Meeting
Chemstar has been a member of the American Petroleum Institute for more than 40 years. It’s important to us and our customers to be active in an organization that’s involved in setting standards and specifications for oil drilling around the world. We recently had the honor of sponsoring its 2014 Exploration and Production Winter Standards Meeting, which ran Jan. 20-24 in Dallas.
As the title sponsor for the Winter Standards Meeting, we hosted a dinner reception at the Dallas World Aquarium. Both the Standards Meeting and dinner reception were very well attended, and provided an invaluable opportunity for us to meet with other industry leaders, top oil companies and oil service companies to discuss issues that ultimately impact the production of oil and gas.
This year’s Winter Standards Meeting had a number of subcommittees addressing various aspects of oil and gas drilling. Subcommittee #10 discussed the fabrication of pipe and tubular goods. Subcommittee #11, focused on Oil Well Cements, held meetings on issues, ranging from the testing and specifications of well cements (including casing centralizers), to cementing float equipment shrinkage and expansion in oil well cements, among others. Subcommittee #13, dedicated to Drilling Fluid Materials, focused the meeting on standard procedures for field testing of both water-based and oil-based drilling fluids, evaluation of drilling fluid processing systems (including solids control equipment), and the procedures for lab testing of drilling fluids and testing heavy brines.
In many respects the purpose of the Winter Standards Meeting is to continue the efforts of the subcommittees and work groups in preparation for the Summer Standards Meeting. While issues weren’t necessarily resolved in Dallas, many initiatives moved to ballot, where they will be brought to a final vote at the 2014 Exploration and Production Standards Conference on Oilfield Equipment and Materials.
We look forward to the Summer Meeting in Chicago and we will be sure to provide an update on the results of the voting, particularly those that impact water-based drilling fluids. If we didn’t have the chance to connect at the Winter Meeting, or if you would like more information on the event, please feel free to send me a note.
-Bruce Hanshaw
Business Manager, Global Oil & Gas Applications