In February 2015 Gas Industry Co issued for comment a draft of Gas Quality: Requirements and Procedures, an overview of the various requirements pertaining to gas quality and how those requirements are fulfilled by parties in the gas supply chain. This document is the latest draft of what was previously entitled the Gas Quality Information Protocol, and incorporates a number of changes arising from stakeholder feedback on that document. Its aims remain the same; to give gas industry stakeholders an understanding of:
- the legislation relevant to gas quality;
- how gas quality is managed in its journey from production station to consumer; and
- the availability of information about gas quality.
It is Gas Industry Co's intention to keep the document up to date and, to that end, intends to re-issue it periodically in accordance with the governance arrangements set out in Appendix B of the document. Gas Industry Co will be responsible for keeping the document up-to-date, including managing the processes that allow stakeholders to propose changes, and to have those proposals considered by other stakeholders.
As part of the development of the then draft protocol stakeholder workshops were held in Auckland and Wellington in September 2013. The resulting feedback was very useful in structuring the latest version.
Essentially, the document describes the legal requirements for gas quality, the technical standards that apply, the main obligations on market participants and the ways of complying with those obligations. The concept is that the document will be a useful resource that is useful for all industry participants as a means to:
- Educate staff on gas quality arrangements
- Inform safety/process/risk auditors about current gas quality practices in the industry
- Assist in the design of compliance arrangements
- Identify what gas quality information is available and where it can be found
The period for comments closed on 13 March 2015.