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While some believe the set deadline for compliance is a bit suspect, companies that provide drilling rigs, tubulars and everything in between are, nevertheless, scrambling to meet the rigorous stipulations of perhaps the industry’s most daunting effort in self-regulation.
At issue is the American Petroleum Institute (API) Spec Q2, which was released in December 2011 under the tongue twister, “Specification for Quality Management System requirements for service supply organizations for the petroleum and natural gas Industries.” In a nutshell, the Q2 quality specification applies to any company providing equipment and services for drilling, intervention, production and abandonment, onshore and offshore. The specifications apply to all upstream activities, including well construction, servicing, inspections, equipment repair and maintenance.
Basically, the Q2 spec uses the process-based API Q1 ISO-9001 quality standard as a baseline in transitioning to a risk-based quality management approach. That means even companies certified under the global ISO series must now overhaul their policies to take in the new Q2 elements of risk assessment and risk management, contingency planning, service execution, management of change as well as develop a preventative maintenance, inspection and testing program.
Upon releasing the new specification for comment, the API proposed that voluntary and mandatory Q2 compliance begin this year for North America and the Gulf of Mexico and evolve into a global mandate by 2016.
At its annual meeting last May, the API warned that companies not certified to Spec Q2 by the January 2014 compliance deadline likely would no longer be able to work for the majors. However, some believe the threat carries little immediate weight, describing the January 2014 deadline for compliance as unrealistic. Among the skeptics is Roger Toler, director of Global QA, Business Process Improvement and Regulatory Compliance, for Houston’s Canrig Drilling Technology. In December, Toler said the API not only lacks enough trained auditors to meet the deadline, but by the end of the year, had not even released the guidance documents companies require to meet the requirements.
Rush to compliance. While the deadline may be up in the air, companies, nonetheless, are moving quickly to make sure they are in compliance when the time comes. One of those is Supreme Service and Specialty Co. of Houma, Louisiana, which President Tommy Fanguy fully expects to be one of the first from the equipment rental side of the business to be certified.
“When we send out equipment, we have to make sure the equipment that meets all the specifications. We’ve been ISO-certified for some time, and now we’re working to be Q2-certified as well. We’re making sure our quality manual and our policy fit what the API requires, and then we’ll have auditors come in and double-check everything to make sure we’re in compliance. The major oil companies are pushing this, and we’re fully committed to being one of, if not the first, (equipment) rental company to be audited for Q2,” Fanguy said.
The efforts to adhere to Q2 standards also have spawned a cottage industry of sorts. Houston consulting, auditing and training company, The ISO 9001 Group, is offering training courses on the intricacies of Q2 and the new quality management system has even inspired the creation of at least one new company. The company, ieAssurance, was spawned recently as a joint venture between project management consultancy Faithful + Gould and Texas International Engineering Consultants, with the sole mission of helping companies become compliant with API Q2, the company said.
“What’s critical here is that we adopt controlled standards for the industry to help avoid future catastrophes,” Jim Grindinger, ieAssurance managing director, stated on the Faithful + Gould website. “ Our goal is to put the focus on quality management systems and make companies more efficient, increase operational efficiency and reduce risk.”
Q2 applauded. While acknowledging that revamping their internal quality management systems to meet the new process and risk-based specification is an arduous undertaking, those directly affected say the potential benefits are well worth it. During the 2012 API annual meeting in Singapore, Weatherford’s Quality Director Bryan Wollam and Operations Director Robbie McArthur said the Q2 offers laudable benefits to service and equipment providers, not the least of which include improving service-related product quality and minimizing risk through identification, planning and controls.
Though critical that the API will be able to meet its 2014 compliance deadline, Canrig’s Toler has no such criticism of the eventual benefits of the Q2 specification. He said new components, such as risk assessment and risk management and execution of service, fill gaps that have long been largely ignored.
“There are several key additions to the standard that, if implemented, will not only improve a company’s operational excellence, but also help them in the planning and execution of projects,” he said. “It must be emphasized that compliance to the new Q2 standard will be very beneficial to the effectiveness of any company, in any industry, whether the path to certification is chosen or not.”
Fanguy could not agree more. “It’s a positive move. It takes a lot of extra hands in place to be able to do all this and a lot of self-checking, but it’s definitely a positive move for both quality and safety. After all, anytime you can improve quality, you’ll also improve safety.” 
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