Preparing the Next Generation of Oil and Natural Gas Leaders

Alex Leif
Posted September 12, 2024

Standards Sharing:  API joined educators at Penn College in Williamsport, Pa., on Aug. 28 to formally donate free access to API’s library of 800+ standards to the college’s School of Engineering Technologies. 

Why It Matters: Students and instructors at Penn College will now be able to access the entire API standards library. This means that as students progress in their energy education, they will be able to learn engineering techniques, safety standards and regulations before they enter the workforce.  

Key Attendees: Staff from the office of U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, representatives from Coterra Energy and Seneca Resources, State Sen. Gene Yaw, State Rep. Jamie Flick, API Pennsylvania staff, and Scott Garten, API vice president of GIS Product Management. 

Quotable: API and Penn College issued a joint press release and invited the Williamsport Sun-Gazette and Lockhaven Express to attend and cover the event.  

Garten:  

“So, it’s fitting today, as we celebrate 100 years of standards, that we are here today to memorialize and celebrate this donation of our standards library to Penn College. Based on the success of the adoption of our standards, the GIS division has really grown into a global business. We have programs that we’ve developed from the API standards. The standards have been incorporated by reference in over 3,000 instances in the United States, at the federal, local and state levels. They’ve been incorporated by reference or referenced over 700 times internationally.”  

Bradley M. Webb, dean of Engineering Technologies, Penn College: 

“In our area, most of us think about the natural gas pipelines under the ground. So, these are the codes, or the standards, that would dictate how those connections occur, what’s going to pass for an appropriate joint. Now we have access for our students to actually read those regulations, be able to apply them here in the classroom setting. In the past, we’ve been doing it mostly from memory, from our faculty, from when they worked in industry.”   

API presented its industry standards and toured Penn College’s state-of-the-art facilities.  

100 Years of Standards: API’s donation of access to its standards comes on the 100-year anniversary of the publishing of API’s very first standard. API, founded as a standards-setting organization, has published more than 800 standards, guidelines and other documents that enhance safety, efficiency and environmentally responsible industry best practices.  

Looking Ahead: These standards have helped fuel progress and development in oil and natural gas. API looks forward to the next 100 years of standards, which will help deliver energy, protect workers and advance lower carbon technologies throughout the world.  

Setting Up Career Paths: API has a long history of donating access to its standards to educational institutions – and in doing so, preparing future oil and natural gas workforces. Relatedly, API’s Minority Serving Institutions Initiative (MSI) has coordinated the donation of standards access to 17 Historically Black College and Universities and other MSIs. Access to these standards will be by familiarizing them with API standards prior to entering the workforce.