In this episode of the Pipeliners Podcast, host Russel Treat is live from the 2024 API Pipeline Conference & Exhibit with David Murk, Senior Director of Pipelines, Midstream, for the American Petroleum Institute (API), to talk about the conference and what topics are covered.

API Pipeline and Cybernetics Conference Show Notes, Links, and Insider Terms

• David Murk is the manager of Pipelines, Midstream, and Industry Operations for API. Find and connect with David on LinkedIn.
  • API (American Petroleum Institute) represents all segments of America’s natural gas and oil industry. API has developed more than 700 standards to enhance operational and environmental safety, efficiency, and sustainability. 
• API Pipeline and Cybernetics Conference took place on May6-8th 2024, in Salt Lake City, Utah. It will be held in Austin, Texas April 24-27th, 2025. Visit API.org here for more attending information.
• Young Pipeline Professionals USA (YPP USA) exists to educate young U.S. professionals about the pipeline industry, create leadership opportunities for the next generation of pipeline professionals within YPP and other industry organizations, foster relationships, and build a network for the advancement of the industry.
• The PRCI (Pipeline Research Council International) is the preeminent global collaborative research development organization of, by, and for the energy pipeline industry. [Read more about the PRCI collaborative research projects, papers, and presentations.]
• ASGMT (American School of Gas Measurement Technology) is the largest gas measurement school in the United States that is devoted to natural gas measurement, pressure regulation, flow control, and other measurement related arenas. It is divided into seven main subject groups: Fundamental Measurement, Gas Quality, Distribution, General and Advanced Measurement, Transmission, Office Procedures and Accounting, and Hands-On training.
• API RP 1173 established the framework for operators to implement pipeline safety management systems. The PSMS standard includes 10 core elements.
• Pipeline SMS (Pipeline Safety Management Systems) or PSMS is an industry-wide focus to improve pipeline safety, driving toward zero incidents.
  • API RP 1185 aims to use the Pipeline SMS framework to build on stakeholder engagement to support more community involvement and dialogue.
  • API RP 1187, also known  Landslide Integrity Management for Pipeline, is a recommended practice from the American Petroleum Institute that focuses on geohazards and pipeline integrity management.
• Process Safety Management (PSM) refers to a set of interrelated approaches to managing hazards associated with the process industries and is intended to reduce the frequency and severity of incidents resulting from releases of chemicals and other energy sources.
• PHMSA (Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration) is responsible for providing pipeline safety oversight through regulatory rulemaking, NTSB recommendations, and other important functions to protect people and the environment through the safe transportation of energy and other hazardous materials.
• LPAC (Liquid Pipeline Advisory Committee) and GPAC (Gas Pipeline Advisory Committee) are statutorily mandated advisory committees that advise PHMSA on proposed gas pipeline and hazardous liquid pipeline safety standards, respectively, and their associated risk assessments. The committees consist of 15 members with membership evenly divided among Federal and State governments, the regulated industry, and the general public. The committees advise PHMSA on the technical feasibility, reasonableness, cost-effectiveness, and practicability of each proposed pipeline safety standard.
• Upstream is the operation stage in the oil and gas industry that involves exploration and production. 
• Midstream is the processing, storing, transporting and marketing of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids.
• Downstream is the process involved in converting oil and gas into the finished product, including refining crude oil into gasoline, natural gas liquids, diesel, and a variety of other energy sources. The closer an oil and gas company is to the process of providing consumers with petroleum products, the further downstream the company is said to be.
• NextOp is a non-profit organization engineered to meet the unprecedented employment challenges and opportunities facing military members and veterans today. Learn more about NextOp here.

API Pipeline and Cybernetics Conference Full Episode Transcript

Russel Treat: Welcome to the “Pipeliners Podcast, Episode 336,” sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, driving safety, environmental protection, and sustainability across the natural gas and oil industry through world class standards and safety programs.

Since its formation as a standards setting organization in 1919, API has developed more than 800 standards to enhance industry operations worldwide. Find out more about API at API.org

Announcer: The Pipeliners Podcast, where professionals, bubba geeks, and industry insiders share their knowledge and experience about technology, projects, and pipeline operations. And now, your host, Russel Treat.

Russel: Thanks for listening to the Pipeliners Podcast. I appreciate you taking the time. To show the appreciation, we give away a customized YETI tumbler to one listener every episode. This week, our winner is Evan Weinman with Wolverine Pipe Line. Congratulations, Evan. Your YETI is on its way. To learn how you can win this signature prize, stick around till the end of the episode.

This week, we speak to David Murk, Senior Director of Pipelines and Midstreams at the American Petroleum Institute, to talk about the API Pipeline and Cybernetics Conference. I’m sitting here at API Pipeline and Cybernetics Conference with David Murk, the Director of Pipeline for API. I wanted to talk to you, David … First, thanks for joining me. Thanks for coming here.

David Murk: Thanks for inviting me.

Russel: Thanks to API for sponsoring what we do with the Pipeliners Podcast. Really appreciate it.

David: Absolutely. It’s a great vehicle for us to communicate what we’re doing as an industry around safety. Really appreciate the opportunity.

Russel: Ditto. I think that collaboration is really useful to the industry. I’ve been getting a lot of feedback. I’m always surprised by who all is listening, and the fact they find a lot of value in it. I wanted to talk to you first about the conference. You’re doing some new things this year. Maybe talk a little bit about what you’re doing that’s new.

David: Absolutely. First of all, we just exceeded 800 attendees, which is a record for us. I think we’re right around 815 attendees. The past record was right under 800.

Russel: Yes, sir. There you go. That’s good.

David: Numbers are increasing, which is a good thing, which, to me, means the conference is bringing value to those who are attending. To me, this is one of the biggest sharing and learning events for our industry every year. Our industry traditionally has had a strong culture of sharing and learning. That part of it alone is exciting for me.

Some new things that we’re doing this year. Actually, second year, we have what we call partnership row, which is a group of nonprofits that we have. They are essentially there to provide and talk about what they’re doing and how they’re supporting the industry.

That’s everything from the Young Pipeline Professionals, to PRCI, to the National Association of State Fire Marshals. That’s a big change for us this year.

Also, another key is we want to use the conference as a vehicle for furthering professional development. This year, for the first time at the conference, we’re allowing attendees to get professional development hours through a barcode type of process.

Russel: It’s really slick. I’m on the board for the American School of Gas Measurement Technology. We’ve done CEUs for years. I’ve got to find out how you all are doing that. I’m going to have to bring that back to the American School because that’s a really effective way of knowing who’s in the classes.

David: That’s a big change for us this year as well. Those are just some of the new things. Our app is an important part of the conference now. We’ve moved away from the old, traditional paper programs. Everything’s through the app now.

Just excited about the growth. We’ve increased the number of exhibitors as well, and sponsors, this year. Strong growth from that perspective. Just overall, the conference is growing.

Russel: The exhibit hall is at least twice the size of last year. That’s awesome. I’ll say, one of the things I like is that this conference is really technical. You cover some regulatory things, as you need to for our industry, but there’s a lot of really very hardcore, very leading edge technical conversations here. There’s a lot of stuff around pipeline integrity.

You’ve got the whole second half of the conference that’s cybernetics, which is control room and cybersecurity and all that. It’s one of the few places you can go in the industry and get deep around control room issues.

David: You’re absolutely right. It has traditionally been a very technical conference. I will say, over the last few years, issues, and the industry’s proactive growth, and community engagement and sustainability, and those types of issues and areas, we’ve expanded that within the conference too.

You’ll see we have a separate track that’s focused solely on stakeholder and community engagement as well as sustainability, low carbon fuels, emerging fuels, things like that.

Russel: A lot going on in the whole CO2 domain around integrity and operations. There’s a lot of really interesting content around all that here this week.

David: The theme of the conference is tying all that together. It’s sustain, transform, and secure. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, we are at an inflection point as an industry, in a lot of ways.

Russel: It’s a very interesting time. We’ve been getting beat up pretty good for a few years but the tide is beginning to shift. People are beginning to listen to what we have. There’s a role for what we do with pipelines, and there’s a role for what we do with oil and gas, even in the new energy future.

David: You’re absolutely right.

Russel: It’s a both/and. It’s not an either/or.

David: You’re absolutely right. That reality of oil and gas is going to be a part, for the long haul, in our energy portfolio, in the energy mix, and in our future. That reality, but at the same time, again, transformation of our industry. A big part of that is workforce development too.

Russel: That’s a huge, huge thing.

David: What does the workforce look like? How do we attract and retain good quality…?

Russel: The young talent. We’ve got a lot of experience and expertise that’s getting older and grayer.

They shall remain unnamed.

David: And bridging that, right?

Russel: Yeah, right, we got to have that.

David: Bridging the generational gap.

Russel: That’s one of the reasons we do the podcast. I’m trying to capture lots of technical content that can be of benefit to new people coming into the industry. There’s a lot of really knowledgeable guys that have a lot to offer.

David: I completely agree there.

Russel: One other thing I wanted you to walk us through. What’s going on with API standards? You always have multiple, multiple things in the pipeline. I know that one of the big ones is there’s a task group on a rework or an update, if you will, of 1173, Pipeline Safety Management. By the way, I’m going to ask to get put on that task group.

David: Welcome your participation.

Russel: I don’t know how I got left off. I need another set of Teams meetings on my calendar.

David: It’s a pretty large group, a lot of interest in that rewrite. Happy to talk about some of the significant standards we’re working on. Let me start with RP 1185. I know you just had a podcast where you just talked through 1185.

Russel: It’s been recorded. It’s not been released. It’s coming out soon.

David: Good. Anticipation on that one. That’s getting back to some of the changes in our industry and to the conference itself. Stakeholder public engagement is on the forefront in our industry. The importance of that can’t be overstated.

It’s something we just published back in March. That RP and community engagement, and pushing that and the implementation of that. Just because we’ve published, the work doesn’t end there. We’ve got a lot of work to do on that front.

Russel: It’s another performance based standard too, right?

David: It is.

Russel: Again, API, just like you did with 1173, you’re putting resources out on the Web and making them available, and trying to build I guess what I would call onboarding resources for those people that want to lean into that.

1185 and 1173, Stakeholder Engagement and Safety Management, those two standards have a real opportunity for us to change public perspective or perception about our industry.

David: Once that podcast comes out, a lot of discussion around it. It was a really good effort, a really balanced group that came together and worked through that, including the public. Good participation from the public, in a lot of ways.

Some other standards. You mentioned 1173. Hard to believe it’s been nine years since the publication of the first edition.

Russel: Crazy, eh?

David: Still work there. We’ve always said that’s a journey, as far as implementation goes. They’re doing a rewrite. That should come out in 2025. We’re also working on an RP that’s related to geohazards. I don’t know the exact title of it, but it’s landslides and geohazards, 1187. That’s coming out.

We’ve just scoped out and working toward the development of a RP around CO2 pipeline safety. Recognizing PHMSA’s probably going to have a rule out here over the next few weeks, we’re still moving forward with an RP to address pipeline safety as it relates to CO2. That’s another area that we’re focused on right now.

Russel: The whole CO2 conversation’s fascinating to me. There’s a lot of opportunity there. CO2 has been around for a long time.

David: It sure has.

Russel: But the public is aware of it because of the big carbon capture sequestration projects that are trying to get permitted and constructed … There’s a need. CO2, it’s a unique fluid. It has unique behaviors. It has unique things necessary for effective response.

David: As PHMSA moves forward with the rulemaking, in our view, as you said, CO2 pipelines have been in operation for decades, safely. They’ve been operated safely.

Russel: 50 years.

David: A fit for purpose rule. Let’s make some changes, make some updates. There is a gap right now in transporting CO2 in a gas phase. The rulemaking update will address that. We’re, we’ve said, supportive of rulemaking around CO2 pipeline safety to address some of those gaps. Just make sure it’s fit for purpose.

Russel: Exactly. That’s the challenge. It’s interesting, I guess. Does it go through the LPAC, or the GPAC, or both?

David: That’s a good question.

Russel: Or are they going to have a CO2PAC?

David: That’s a great question.

Probably will be a joint meeting, I would think, of both advisory committees.

Russel: I will have to go to that one. That’ll be fascinating.

David: We’ll see. I think PHMSA ultimately will have everything under Part 195, which is for liquid pipelines. 

Russel: Which is where it is now. Interesting. Other than 1173, are there any notable updates that are in the works?

David: From a standards perspective?

Russel: Yes, sir. Exactly.

David: We’ve got work underway on 1176, which is the management of cracks in pipelines. We’re also looking at 1183, which is dent management with pipelines. There’s a few of those that are being updated. I don’t know what the timing on those are.

As you know, with our standards process, related to just pipelines, we have over 35 standards that focus on pipelines. They’re getting updated every five years. There’s always standards that are in some kind of update.

Russel: There’s always something in the pipeline. I wanted to talk to you about something else. API has a program around training inspectors. I’ve had some conversations with that group and done some introductions. You’re a veteran, served in the Marine Corps.

David: Coast Guard.

Russel: Coast Guard. I keep thinking you’re a Marine Corps guy.

David: No. Coast Guard. 24 years in the Coast Guard.

Russel: I was Air Force. I get accused of being Marine Corps too. My apologies to all you guys that were in the Corps. Please, no mean email. I would credit that as…

David: They are my fellow armed forces brethren.

Russel: I don’t want to irritate them, I guess is what I’m trying to say. We talked a little bit about workforce and onboarding and the need for talent. There’s a lot of talent in the military. The military, they come out with certain skills and qualities of character that we need in our business. We can teach them the technical part.

What, if anything, does API have going on around reaching out to veterans and helping them find opportunities in the energy business? I know that’s a broader question than just pipelining.

David: API does have programs that are specifically targeting and trying–this is not just within the midstream segment but across all of API, so our upstream, midstream, and downstream segments–and looking for where there’s matches.

We’re working with organizations to help place veterans in the oil and gas industry. You’re right. There are a lot of skills that military members have in a number of areas that are good matches for our industry. API has been a strong supporter of those types of programs and will continue to do so.

Russel: Awesome. I’m going to make a plug. I’ve been working with a group in Houston called NextOp. They focus on helping junior NCOs transition, so E4 to like E7. That’s a tough group to transition, particularly when you look at skill sets that are machine gunners and warfighters and things like that. Those guys, they have a level of maturity. They have critical thinking skills.

They have the ability to operate independently. They understand safety and all of that. It’s a really excellent program. It’s something that we’re trying to support and figure out how to lean into that better. It’s a passion of mine. Somebody that serves for this country, particularly in that kind of role, we have an obligation to help them find a career on the backside.

David: I appreciate that. Being a veteran, 24 years in the military, I can appreciate that. The other thing, these folks are put in situations where they have to demonstrate leadership as well, at a very young age. I’m always amazed at military members and the leadership perspective they bring. That’s another key part of a military.

Russel: The leadership training you get in the military at all levels, from boot camp all the way up to flag officers, general officers, the leadership training you get is unparalleled. Frankly, I got leadership training in my 20s. I had no idea what the value was of that training until I was in my 40s. I’m sure you can relate to that.

David: Yeah. I appreciate you working in this space. It is important, military members coming out who want to do something different. Our industry pays well.

Russel: We’ve got good pay. We’ve got good benefits.

David: We’ve got good paying jobs.

Russel: We’re going to be here for a while. Look, thanks so much for taking your time.

David: Appreciate the opportunity.

Russel: Good luck for a great conference. If you’re not here, you should be.

David: You should be. Austin, Texas, next year, April 27th through April 30th, hope to see you there.

Russel: Mark your calendar. I hope you enjoyed this week’s episode of the Pipeliners Podcast and our conversation with David. Just a reminder before you go, you should register to win our customized Pipeliners Podcast YETI tumbler. Simply visit PipelinePodcastNetwork.com/Win and enter yourself in the drawing.

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Transcription by CastingWords