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Standards Committee appoints Cecilie A. Haarseth as Chair

The IOGP Standards Committee recently welcomed Cecilie A. Haarseth of ExxonMobil as its new Chair. We caught up with her to find out more about her experience, this role, and how she plans to steer the Committee.

What led you to a career in oil and gas?

I am originally from Norway. I always knew I wanted to do something technical, and I wanted to something that not everyone was doing.  So, when I started applying for college, I landed on Material and Corrosion Engineering with a focus on the offshore industry. My studies led me from Trondheim to Stavanger. At the time I graduated the industry was growing in Norway and I already had two job offers, both in the oil and gas industry. I have been fortunate to have had a long career in ExxonMobil, with experiences across the globe.

How did you first get involved in IOGP?

One of my mentors introduced me to IOGP. He was already involved in IOGP and knew that I was looking for opportunities to engage externally, to build a broader network, and learn.

The Standards Committee’s primary aim is to improve the safety and integrity of capital facilities and lower their lifecycle cost profile. How is it doing this?

Our industry is highly reliant on standards to maintain and enhance technical integrity, safety, enable cost reductions, and reduce the environmental impact of operations. There are several different standards organizations that develop standards used in the international oil and gas industry, and that is part of the challenge we work with. Through IOGP, we can drive improvements by enabling the creation and global use of a single set of industry standards.

How can the industry benefit from the Standard Committee’s work?

The industry can benefit both in the outcome of the work that the Committee does – in terms of increased clarity, simplification and expertise we provide into other IOGP efforts – and by having the members come together and work in a collaborative and focused manner, we as an industry can do it more efficiently and effectively.

What other key topics is the Standards Committee currently working on?

We are currently developing a strategy for the next five years and a detailed work plan for the next three years. And, as always, we’re focused on enabling the creation and global use of a single set of industry standards.

This includes improving efficiency of standards development, providing the IOGP Standards Solution platform for companies to work together to develop international standards under ISO/TC 67, and providing leadership and steering to the API/ISO pilots to jointly develop draft technical standards for publication, with identical full text content by API and ISO.

Additionally, we need to play an active role in ensuring IOGP specifications developed through JIP33 are maintained and that we can enable effective and efficient standardization in the digital transformation and in the work towards achieving net zero.

With all these activities we must prioritize well and focus our efforts in order to progress these in a meaningful way!

What would you say to Members who wish to get involved with the Standards Committee?

The Standards Committee provides a great opportunity to engage with peers in the industry and influence the direction of standards development in the future. I have learned so much, gotten to know some great people, and see the impact we are making.  At a time when our industry is subject to so much change, we need to ensure that we keep momentum in harmonization and standardization efforts and that we ensure standards development efforts in new areas like digitalization and the energy transition do not become disjointed and ineffective.

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