ISO certifications: what do they mean for shale oil operators?

Applied Petroleum Technology’s (APT) operation is certified according to ISO standards 9001, 14001 and 45001. “How does this benefit me?” a shale operator recently asked a member of our US team. Here we provide the answer.

Let’s start with the basics:

• ISO 9001 is the international standard for a quality management system. The standard is used by organisations to demonstrate their ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements and to demonstrate continuous improvement.
• ISO 14001 specifies the requirements for an environmental management system that an organisation can use to enhance its environmental performance. The ISO 14001 standard is intended for use by an organisation seeking to manage its environmental responsibilities in a systematic manner that contributes to the environmental pillar of sustainability.
• ISO 45001 is an ISO standard for management systems of occupational health and safety. The goal of ISO 45001 is the reduction of occupational injuries and diseases, including promoting and protecting physical and mental health.

The ISO approvals are connected to the delivery of APT’s services within development, management and operations for delivery of analyses and interpretation in organic geochemistry, micropaleontology and palynology associated with biostratigraphy.

“In laymen’s terms, the ISO certifications ensure that oil and gas operators continuously receive the best possible and most cost-efficient services from APT, and that we are committed to continuously improve our service offerings to our customers’ benefit,” says Scott Granger, APT’s regional manager for the Americas.

“The many advantages for shale operators can be summarised as follows,” adds Scott Granger:

• Reliability: With an ISO certification, APT demonstrates its reliability to business partners and authorities. Reliability means quality, safety and durability of products and/or services.
• Improve performance: ISO standards improve performance by giving organisations the knowledge they need to optimise their operations to be able to perform at their best, to provide the most efficient service to its customers, and demonstrate the ability to implement new working practices more efficiently and faster.
• Improved quality: ISO standards help organisations improve the quality of their services and manage projects in the most effective way.
• Reduced risk: ISO standards prepares organisations in advance to deal with risks and turn them into opportunities, and ensure that APT understands how to manage and mitigate risks.
• Sustainability: ISO standards prove that APT are actually committed to dealing with environmental and sustainability challenges.

“It is easy to throw out a claim that you have great systems and services. It is something completely different to open the hood of your operation and let an independent third-party control and verify that you actually have great systems and services in place. Our ISO certifications proves that we walk the talk to operator clients benefit,” adds Scott Granger.