PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release July 13, 1998	Contact Gary Hodge, Vice President +1 713 784 1880; hodge@posc.org

POSC Assumes Stewardship of RP66 Data Exchange Specification

Petrotechnical Open Software Corporation (POSC) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) have agreed to the transfer of the data exchange specification known as Recommended Practice 66 (RP66) from API to POSC.

POSC, a not-for-profit corporation, is dedicated to facilitating integrated business processes and computing technology for the exploration and production (E&P) segment of the international petroleum industry.

The API, the major U.S. petroleum industry trade association, is a forum for the industry to pursue priority public policy objectives and advance the interests of the industry in a legally appropriate manner. Publications of the API are typically in hardcopy form; POSC publishes its documents digitally via CD and on the World Wide Web. Each organization has expertise and an infrastructure which supports its respective area of interest and mode of document delivery.

The first version of RP66 was intended primarily for well log data exchange and was published by the API as a single document. The second version is a layered specification consisting of a set of independently versioned general and domain-specific document components. See the Data Exchange page with links to RP66 Version 1 and Version 2.

It was determined by the API that, due to the reorganization of the document and the size of its audience, hardcopy publication of the document set was not practical. It was recognized by both POSC and the API that POSC's experience with layered software specifications and its infrastructure for digital publication were more appropriate for providing the benefits of the RP66 specification to the industry. Accordingly, the two organizations have agreed to the transfer of the RP66 standard to POSC.

The benefits of this transaction include the following: Users of RP66 will be able to access the specification via the World Wide Web or the POSC CD. Users on the Internet will have immediate access and are assured of accessing the most current version of a given component. POSC can offer specification management and document publication services beyond those previously available to organizations defining components of the RP66 specification or using the RP66 architecture (e. g., Geoshare, DLIS, SEG RODE, WITS). Incorporation with the POSC specifications may serve to internationalize the scope of applicability of RP66.

This transfer is consistent with POSC's mission to facilitate integrated business processes and computing technology for E&P. David Archer, POSC, President and CEO, had this to say "POSC data exchange specifications are based on API RP66. We see this transfer as a logical and beneficial extension of POSC's services to the industry, and we are very pleased to be able to publish this widely adopted standard as part of the POSC specifications."

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