Metricating the Crude Oil, Natural Gas Industry
Authors: Moore Peter 
Published: March 2010

A fundamental change to the time-honoured system of measurement in use in the petroleum industry will take place during the next three years. Vigorous planning is now in progress for metric conversion of the industry in harmony with the nation-wide conversion plan of the Metric Commission.

Practical units for each application have been selected From the range available in the International System Of Units (SI) - the most modern metric system and the one adopted by the Government of Canada. The choice of the mole for the measurement of gas reserves and production is discussed in some detail.

The plan for the conversion of the industry is being developed by critical-path methods and the preliminary plan calls for the adoption of SI for the language and instruments of measurement sometime in 1978. There can be no compromise in the choice of a system of measurements. Unless SI is adopted throughout the industry, the final state will be one of a further proliferation of units.

Organization For Conversion

IN 1970, the Government of Canada produced a White Paper advocating a nation-wide changeover to the International System of Units. This received all-party agreement in principle and funds were voted to establish a Metric Commission and a Standards Council as the necessary instruments of orderly change.

One of the first acts of the newly established Metric Commission, in February 1972, was to send all the rade associations in Canada a questionnaire on their ttitude to metric conversion. The Canadian Petroleum Association replied that, although the International System of Units would certainly introduce a simplicity into calculations, and this would appeal to technical men, the benefits could not be expected to exceed the cost of conversion. However, CPA stated, if the country was in fact going metric, the industry would have to go too and, to that end, they would cooperate with the Commission so that the costs to industry might be minimized through careful planning.

The Commission proceeded to set up its permanent staff of civil servants, to appoint its commissioners - drawn from industry - and to organize its Steering Committees to represent groups of allied sectors of the economy_ After a shake-down period, each Sector established its own committee, which, assumed the main burden of planning the change for its industry, while the role of the Steering Committees was reduced.

The present organization of the Metric Commission is indicated in Figure 1. Steering Committee No. 4 comprises a number of more or less related industries, and three of its Sectors are directly concerned with Petroleum and Natural Gas. Sector 4.2 is responsible for: the exploration for, and production of, crude oil and natural gas; natural gas processing; oil sands plants; and the pipeline transportation of raw gas and of petroleum, both crude and refined.

Sector Committee 4.2 comprises representatives of industry (mainly from the Canadian Petroleum Association), government (both federal and provincial) and service companies (engineering consultants, mapping companies, laboratories, etc.).