• to evolve POSC to the original vision of a sustainable membership organization and
• to create a funding model based on value received.

Board Chairman Bob Pindell, summarized the actions as "POSC making fundamental changes that are in line with the original charter to become a self-sustaining membership organization, independent of sponsorship."

Members Express Their Support

In response to these changes, representatives of the former sponsor companies of POSC issued the following statement: "We wish to affirm our continued support for the vision of E&P technical software built on open specifications and to encourage others in the industry to do the same. Products and services that use open standards are generally preferable to those based on proprietary specifications. We will continue to encourage industry participants to build and use open specifications in their software applications. Additionally POSC, its staff and member community represent an open mechanism for companies to work together to solve business problems. We support initiatives that leverage the work of the POSC community and that bring the industry closer to realization of the vision. We support membership and participation in POSC and E&P standards organizations because adopting open standards benefits the entire industry."

When the changes were discussed by the membership at large David Zeh, CEO of Zeh Graphic Systems, expressed his enthusiasm, "My company joined as the very first POSc member because I believed, and still believe, in the POSC concepts and the need for industry standards. These changes reflect a move in the right direction with the governance of POSC becoming more equitably distributed to all members - oil companies and service companies alike."

The sentiment of many members was captured by Larry Bellomy of Mobil when he explained his company's views on POSC, "Mobil believes in the POSC effort to bring open specifications to E&P computing and will continue to be a member of POSC. We will also continue to support selected POSC programs that support Mobil's technology direction and provide value-added benefits. We are not abandoning the effort, but believe it is time for POSC to stand on its own as a member-driven organization as was originally intended. We look forward to, and fully support, then continued transition of POSC as outlined in the business plan developed by the POSC staff."

Bob Pindell added the Texaco perspective, "Texaco has successfully deployed the POSC specifications in certain of our operations. As such, we fully support this evolutionary step to a sustainable, member-driven organization, and look forward to the continued deployment of POSC specifications in our industry. The use of open specifications can be a tremendous aid in effectively managing E&P assets by assuring access to the best technologies."

POSC CEO David Archer noted, "We are encouraged by the industry's movement toward widespread usage of the POSC specifications and services and by positive reactions to the current changes. Strong support will allow us to establish an identity as a trusted source for skills relating to information modeling, information sharing and integration, and as THE place to go for collaborative work relating to information sharing in E&P. When people want to work together in an open environment to solve a common E&P business problem, we want them to instinctively think of POSC. Our approach leverages risk, capital and people to arrive at quality collaborative solutions."

POSC is an international, not-for-profit, membership organization that was founded in 1990 to develop data and technical computing specifications for the E&P segment of the oil industry. POSC specifications are designed to enable the oil industry to deal with problems of integrating and sharing data over the life-cycle of E&P assets. With a world-wide membership of more than 100 organizations, POSC has headquarters in Houston and an office in London. The membership includes oil and gas companies, oilfield service companies, software and hardware companies, government agencies and educational institutions.

For more information about POSC, please visit our website at http://www.posc.org .
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