From the Executive Summary:

This document is a specification for information that describes the nature, usage and potential hazards of chemicals to be used in the exploration and production of petroleum hydrocarbons.  Implementation of this specification is intended to enable seamless transfer, exchange, and storage of chemical usage information between oil companies, oil service companies and government agencies responsible for oversight of petroleum operations. 

The document was originally prepared by POSC for the Oil and Gas Directorate of the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) which has a duty to regulate the use and discharge of chemicals used by the oil and gas exploration and production industry in UK administered waters. [Subsequently, the DTI formally submitted this work to POSC for use in formulating industry standards.] Companies exploring for and producing oil and gas within UK waters are required to submit Petroleum Operations Notices (PON15B through F) to the Oil and Gas Directorate to obtain approval for the use and/or discharge of chemicals during different types of operation. 

The ... format specified here is in the eXtended Mark-up Language (XML) which enables the data to be encoded, transmitted and viewed using standard Internet and World Wide Web technologies. Equally important, XML enables the meaning of the data to be conveyed, viewed, and comprehended together with the data values.

This specification contains both reference data, such as names and values of types of hazardous chemicals, and files containing example PON15 permit applications.  It also contains schemas and specifications useful to software engineers who are expected to develop computer programs, which will generate permit applications.

The reformulation of the PON15B-F documents in an XML format is thus one part of the UK government’s move to electronic government.

Although defined initially for use in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS), this ChemicalUsageML specification may be used, perhaps with modification, by other countries party to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (the OSPAR Convention), and elsewhere in the world.  Chemical substances are fundamentally similar regardless of where and how they are produced, used, and consumed. 

Oilfield nomenclature does vary between (regulatory) regions and environmental legislation also varies between sovereign states. The POSC XML E&P data object suite is designed so that each object may be composed of regional components and global components so that an optimum level of standardization is achieved. 

This specification would need to be expanded to include additional information about the facilities and their environment (which is beyond the scope of the present work) to become a self-contained, widely useful standard.

POSC is the standards body for technical information relating to the Oil and Gas exploration and production industry.  A not-for-profit organization, POSC has members in 24 countries and is strongly supported by all sectors of the industry, including oil companies, software companies, other standards organizations within the oil and gas sector and governments.  A full list of POSC members and other information about POSC can be found at www.posc.org.

This document was generated using an XML editor's documentation export capability.