Designed as a pressure group by oil companies to whip the open systems community into shape, the Petrotechnical Open Software Corporation is now looking to get its specifications more widely adopted within its own ranks. The group plans to get a number of industry experts from member companies, industry suppliers and standards organisations to come up with a set of recommendations to improve specifications for broader use in the exploration and production business. It reckons it will have something to work with by mid-May. Meanwhile the Petrotechnicals have released what the corporation describes as an ‘extended and enhanced’ version of its data and computer standards for exploration and production in the oil and gas industry. The new version from part two of its four-phase view of open systems. It says that the collaboration between it and Alberta, Canada-based Public Petroleum Data Model Association, in which the two plan to merge data models, is ongoing, although activity had been deferred because the Canadian body needed to attend to the immediate needs of its membership. The Petrotechnical committee claims 108 members, with a growth last year of 25%. The split of membership is oil companies, 20%, suppliers of products, services and data, 70%, with government and academic organisations making up the other 10%.
