Standards Development

Scope

This document defines requirements for the fabrication, welding, examination and testing of new, metallic piping systems up to 69 000 kPa (ga) maximum, within temperature range limits for the materials meeting the requirements of ASME B31.3, on fixed and floating offshore production facilities and onshore production, processing and liquefaction plants.

This document is applicable to all pressure retaining components and any non-pressure retaining component, such as a pipe support, welded directly to a pressure retaining component.

This document is not applicable to:

⎯ marine-related piping systems, e.g. ballasting piping systems, systems covered by classification societies;

⎯ non-metallic piping systems.

Purpose

The IOGP Materials & Corrosion Standards Sub Committee (MCSSC) recently identified gaps in international standards used in the oil and gas industry regarding the fabrication, welding and inspection of piping systems. While significant content is currently available concerning the design of and materials selection for piping, more guidance is needed on joining procedures and the accompanying use of non-destructive testing (NDT) and QA/QC inspections. Documentation covering these topics could enable greater standardization of industry practices by incorporating additional specifications applied by operating companies. By eliminating or reducing the unique requirements applied by different customers, service providers should be able to provide more standardized fabrication services with higher quality at lower cost.

Following a ballot in ISO/TC 67/SC 6, it is supported to split ISO 13703:2000 in two parts: ISO 13703-1 will correspond with the original content of ISO 13703, updated but limited to "design of piping systems", and (new) ISO 13703-2 will correspond with "fabrication, welding and NDE of piping systems". Similar as ISO 13703, the new part is intended to be developed under the Vienna Agreement.