Hydrocarbon management
At various stages during the extraction, transportation, refining, storage and distribution of petroleum and its products, there are requirements to measure its quantity for allocation, custody transfer and fiscal purposes, as well as for stock control and loss prevention. To enable the oil industry and regulators to carry out such measurements in a standardised manner the EI Hydrocarbon Management Committee (HMC), its Sub-committees and Work Groups develop and issue guidance documents which reflect current industry best practice.
Quality determination is a key factor in hydrocarbon management and the HMC works closely with its sister committee, Test Methods and Standardisation (TMS), regarding test methods, in addition to developing and maintaining guidance on sampling and tank cleaning.
Committee organisation
Sub committees cover upstream, transportation, and downstream sectors as follows, with a fourth committee which focuses on independent inspection:
HMC-1 Upstream Measurement
HMC-2 Refineries and Distribution Measurement
HMC-3 Inspection
HMC-4 Oil Transportation Measurement
Two other groups operate under the HMC:
The Asian Forum is based in Singapore and provides a link between local organizations and the HMC with members able to participate in development of documents and to meet, dicuss and address local issues relating to hydrocarbon management and loss control.
The General Terms and Conditions (GTC) Hydrocarbon Trading Committee is developing standard model terms and conditions of contract for sale and purchase of crude oil and products.
‘Phoenix Agreement’
The signing of the Phoenix Agreement between the EI and the API in February 2006 marked a major step forward in the development and harmonisation of petroleum measurement standards. Under the agreement the EI and the API work together to produce joint API/EI standards for international use in many key areas of petroleum measurement. A Joint Committee on Hydrocarbon Management (JCHM) consisting of members from the EI HMC and the API COPM (Committee on Petroleum Measurement) manages the work programme. The standards are published jointly by the two organisations and are then generally made available for adoption by ISO.
Expert Register
The EI HMC has set up an ‘Expert Register’; which is a database of experts in Hydrocarbon Management. The database has various categories which can be selected and is used to contact users about standards work relating to their specific expertise or interest. Users can then volunteer to participate in standards development activities via the Work Groups which are established for each job, whether EI or joint EI/API work.
If you would like more information on the Energy Institute's Hydrocarbon Management programme, would like to be included on the ‘Expert Register’ or are interested in becoming a committee member, please contact Kerry Sinclair e: ksinclair@energyinst.org
Publications
A number of the publications produced by the Hydrocarbon Management Committee are available for free download via the links below:
HM 0: Hydrocarbon Management Terms and Definitions
HM63: Independent Inspection Company Auditing Pre-Audit and Self Assessment Information
HM63 annex questionnaires are available to download in word format
HM80: Model general terms and conditions for free on board (FOB) sale and purchases of crude oil
Click here for further information on other Technical Publications
