International (ISO/IEC) and European standards (CEN/CENELEC), form the basis of all activities in the petroleum industry. Experts from a wide range of Norwegian companies participate heavily in the development of international and european standards, in order to define safe and economical design and processes. However, Norwegian safety framework and climate conditions may require own standards, or additions and supplements to International Standards and European Standards. The NORSOK standards have been developed to fulfil these needs.
International standardisation
Most of the international standardisation activities are organized in ISO/TC 67 "Materials, equipment and offshore structures for petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries". A total of 60 countries participate/observe the activities. Norway takes part in all 8 sub-committees in ISO/TC 67, and contributes with experts in most of the working groups. The Norwegian petroleum industry participates in many other international standardisation committees. A guideline for experts engaged in international standardisation is available, NORSOK A-002:2018 (English edition) supplement NORSOK A-001N:2017 directive (Norwegian text only).
NORSOK work
The NORSOK standards are developed by the Norwegian petroleum industry to ensure adequate safety, value adding and cost effectiveness for existing and future petroleum industry developments in Norway. The objective is to support international standardisation work with Norwegian knowledge in order to improve international standards and reduce the need for NORSOK standards.
The preparation and publication of the NORSOK standards is supported by Norwegian Oil and Gas Association (Norsk Olje og Gass), Federation of Norwegian Industries and the Shipowners' association. NORSOK standards are managed and issued by Standards Norway.
Experiences and proposals
Your experiences and proposals are valuable in the development of standards. Therefore you are asked to send inn your comments. On existing standards you will find a comment from under each NORSOK discipline summary. Your experiences and proposals will be taken into consideration by the next revision of the standard.
Implementation of NORSOK standards by operators
The operators on the Norwegian shelf are allowed to make their own addition or deviation to the NORSOK standards available on the web. If a company has such additions or deviations, their name will appear on the page presenting the subject standard. By clicking the company name you will be connected to the company's own document.
Overview on ISO standards for petroleum industry, by 2015 (pdf, A3 format)
Poster on NORSOK standards, by September 2019 (pdf)