Petroleum / NORSOK

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

Drilling rig out at sea
Photo: Pixabay

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.

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 Offshore Norway (Offshore Norge), Federation of Norwegian Industries and the Shipowners' association. NORSOK standards are managed and issued by Standards Norway.

A directive for development of NORSOK standards is published as NORSOK A-001.

A National strategy for digitalization of LCI exchange is also available.

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 standard in question. By clicking the company name you will be connected to the company's own web page where relevant document(s) are presented. If you have any questions regarding this additional requirements, please contact the relevant company.

Overview on ISO standards for petroleum industry, by April 2022 (pdf, A3 format)

Poster on NORSOK standards, by April 2024 (pdf)

NORSOK standards

NORSOK Expert Groups

Please contact one of the employees at Standards Norway