In this episode of the Pipeliners Podcast, Stephen Anson from WaterBridge and Jonathan Dye from ONEOK join to discuss the International School of Hydrocarbon Measurement (ISHM).

Stephen and Jonathan talk about their roles within ISHM, its significance in their careers, and the educational opportunities it offers in hydrocarbon measurement and control. They also cover ISHM’s history, organizational structure, the rigorous process for exhibitors, and the commitment to educational content over sales pitches.

Listen to the episode now to learn more about the value of attending ISHM for networking and learning, as well as the benefits of networking with other professionals at all levels in the oil and gas industry.

International School of Hydrocarbon Measurement (ISHM) Show Notes, Links, and Insider Terms

• Jonathan Dye is the Technical Manager of Gas Measurement at ONEOK. Connect with Jonathan on LinkedIn.
  • ONEOK was originally founded in 1906 as an intrastate natural gas pipeline business in Oklahoma. ONEOK today is one of the largest energy midstream service providers in the U.S., connecting prolific supply basins with key market centers. Its business segments provide safe, reliable energy and services to diverse customers. It owns and operates one of the nation’s premier natural gas liquids (NGL) systems and is a leader in the gathering, processing, storage and transportation of natural gas. ONEOK’s operations include a 38,000-mile integrated network of NGL and natural gas pipelines, processing plants, fractionators and storage facilities in the Mid-Continent, Williston, Permian and Rocky Mountain regions.
• Stephen Anson is the Measurement Manager at WaterBridge. Connect with Stephen on LinkedIn.
  • WaterBridge develops, owns and operates permanent, integrated water infrastructure networks to address the long-term produced water management requirements of E&P companies.
• ISHM (The International School of Hydrocarbon Measurement) is held annually in Oklahoma City. ISHM provides a number of  1–2 hour training classes on various topics of interest to those in oil and gas measurement.
• 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 (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.
• GPA or GPA Midstream Association is a voluntary industry organization composed of member companies that operate in the midstream sector of our industry.  GPA Midstream sets standards for natural gas liquids; develops simple and reproducible test methods to define the industry’s raw materials and products; manages a worldwide cooperative research program; provides a voice for our industry on Capitol Hill; and is the go-to resource for technical reports and publications.

International School of Hydrocarbon Measurement (ISHM) Full Episode Transcript

Russel Treat: Welcome to the “Pipeliners Podcast”, episode 329. Sponsored by InterSys Corporation, Providers of POEMS, the Pipeline Operations Excellence Management System, operations and compliance software for the pipeline operator to address safety program management, control room management, and field operations. Find out more about POEMS at intersyscorp.com.

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

Russel: Thanks for listening to the Pipeliners Podcast. I appreciate you taking the time. To show that appreciation, we give away a customized YETI tumbler to one listener, every episode. This week, our winner is Angie Schrader with FlowStrate. Congratulations, Angie. Your YETI’s on its way. To learn how you can win this prize, stick around until the end of the episode.

This week, we speak with Stephen Anson from Waterbridge and Jonathan Dye from One Oak about the International School of Hydrocarbon Measurement. Jonathan, Stephen, welcome to the Pipeliners podcast.

Stephen Anson: Thanks for having us.

Jonathan Dye: Yeah, thanks for having us.

Russel: Before we get going here, do you mind just give us a little about your background, what you do, and maybe a little bit about your role with the International School of Hydrocarbon Measurement.

Jonathan: I’m Jonathan Dye. I work for One Oak. I’m a measurement manager, technical manager. My background started out as an INE technician in the field, instrumentation, pretty much anything with a wire I dealt with. Worked there four and a half years and got an opportunity to come to the office in the measurement group at One Oak. Been there for the past 10, 15 years.

We progressed up to a manager level. My team focuses on applications and hardware. All the measurement, the meters in the field, the software that’s related to those, along with software data acquisition, the data coming in from the field and then the applications. Again, we use FLOWCAL and then test it. All that is my team’s focus.

Russel: How long have you been involved with ISHM?

Jonathan: I’ve been involved, let’s see, including the COVID times, let’s see, six years now as a committee member.

Russel: What’s your current role on the ISHM team?

Jonathan: Current role is publicity and educational material.

Russel: As a measurement guy, how important to your career has ISHM been as a resource?

Jonathan: It’s been very important. Actually, I started as an I&E, as I told you, started there. Was what kicked my measurement interest off. Went there and learned about all the meters and how all that works. It was very eye-opening, first year I was there, just learning all different questions and just get an exposure to it.

As I got more into measurement, it’s been even better, trying to learn new things. Obviously, the time’s changing all the time. New things are arising. That’s a good place to get exposure to that and ask the questions. Any questions you have, it’s a great place for that, networking-wise, along with a lot of classes.

Russel: Stephen, same question for you Tell us a little bit about yourself, what you do, and what your role is with ISHM.

Stephen: Stephen Anson. I work for WaterBridge Resources, which is a produced water midstream company. I’m also their measurement manager.

Everything from the field all the way into the office falls under my purview, equipment specification and design, installation, maintenance, data acquisition, data reporting, system balancing, all those nuts and bolts. Very similar to Jonathan, just on a different slice of the pie.

As far as ISHM, I’m the Exhibits Chairman. What that means is I have the opportunity to solicit for and work with all of the exhibitors who want to attend the show or the school. The exhibitors are an instrumental piece to our school’s success every year because they help offset some of the cost to the students. It also is money that goes into the scholarship fund.

It really just makes the experience better for the students in between classes. The exhibitors will get to showcase whatever it is that they offer to the market, whether it’s hardware, software, equipment, or other solutions that a measurement technician, a measurement engineer, a data analyst, or an office manager might use in their day-to-day work.

Russel: Tell me a little bit, if you would, for those that are listening to this and don’t know, what is ISHM? Where does it come from? What’s its history?

Stephen: I’ll take that one. ISHM is the International School of Hydrocarbon Measurement. It’s a two-and-a-half-day school focused exclusively on hydrocarbon measurement and control. If you’re in the measurement business, this is the school that will probably benefit you the most, of all the other schools.

It’s the largest of its kind. It routinely attracts people from all around the world. Average attendance is generally over 1,500 people for the two and a half days every year. Last year was another record year. Just under 1,800, I believe, was the total count. We attract good crowds.

All of our instructors are subject matter experts in the field. This is the 97th year of the school. With the exception of World War II and COVID, those are the only years that we haven’t held the school since the 1920s.

Russel: Very interesting. I feel obligated. You said it’s the biggest and best of the schools. As you guys may know, I’m very involved with the American School of Gas Measurement Technology.

For the folks that I’ve known there for decades, I have to push back just a little bit to say that it would be between American School and issues ISHM as which is the biggest and the best. I know that’s a little bit of a segue and all that, but I feel obligated to say that.

Stephen: Fair enough. We can have a foot race next time we meet and settle that.

Russel: The focuses are a little different, actually. You guys focus more on liquid measurement, crude oils, refined products, that sort of thing. We focus more on natural gas and natural gas liquids measurement. There’s a lot of overlap between the two schools, but the focuses are a little bit different.

Couple things I want you all to talk about. One of the things I think is interesting…This is true about all the schools around the country. Certainly, ISHM is the oldest. American School, we had our 50th anniversary — oh, gosh — maybe 10 years ago now.

ISHM is certainly the oldest. How did it get started? How is it that it’s been able to sustain itself for that many years solely through volunteers that are putting it together and doing all the instruction?

Stephen: As far as how I got started, I am not 97 years old, so I wasn’t there with the founding fathers. We do have a link on the website that gives the history.

It started off as, really, a short course, organized through the Southwestern Gas Measurement Short Course. It started that way. As it grew, there was a partnership between the industry and the University of Oklahoma that then naturally progressed it into what it is today.

As far as how do we keep it going, I would say it’s probably the same answer you would give about the American School or anything else that you serve on. It’s the people who are a part of it are committed to the industry. We really care about not just the oil and gas industry, but measurement. We’re all measurement professionals.

When it comes to oil and gas measurement, the majority of the people who focus in that area and make that their career are high-integrity, high-caliber people because it’s a field that requires high-integrity and high-caliber people. Because it means so much to those who serve on it is a testimony to the success it’s had for the 97 years it’s been held.

Russel: You summarize the history up, as people were doing the work and they were staffing and they’re like, “Where do we go to get training?” There was nothing out there. I said, “We’ll put something together ourselves because that way we can make sure that the training that’s going on is the training that we need.”

That sounds simplistic, but fundamentally that it…That’s really what it is. It’s being guided by people in industry that are doing it every day. They’re bringing up the new folks and trying to figure out what they need in order to be equipped to do the work.

Stephen: Yeah, I think you said a couple of really important things there. I know speaking for my own career, a lot of what I learned and know came from someone else who learned it the hard way, and they were willing to share it.

I know even back in my times as a technician, I never encountered another technician, pipeliner, or measurement person who wasn’t willing to help.

Russel: That goes back to what Jonathan was saying earlier about how he learned the business, it’s how I learned the business too. I was going to the measurement schools, and I spent as much time as I could in class, and what time I wasn’t in class, I was walking around the exhibits and asking questions I didn’t know the answers to and finding the folks.

It never failed. I’d go and ask somebody a question, “I don’t know, but here’s the guy that does. Let me introduce you.” There’s so much expertise there. It’s really pretty incredible.

Jonathan: Yep, I agree with that. It’s what you put in it for sure. You can just go there and just go to the exhibits and not do anything. Really, if you have typical topics or something you want to learn about, this is the place.

Just like you said, going to the vendors, the exhibit hall and talking to those people, talking to them and then they’ll get you in touch with somebody else and/or just your peers that are in the certain classes and talking to them. Everybody’s been open and willing to discuss your issues and giving you answers or helping you learn for sure.

Russel: Let’s talk a little bit. What is the kind of things — talk to me, if you would guys — about the content of the school. What are you covering? What are the classes about? It’s two and a half days. How does all that work?

Stephen: There’s a detailed program and it’s broken up in basically areas of interest, I’ll call it. You have gas-focused courses, liquids-focused courses, SCADA and telemetry-focused courses, office management courses. There are focused tracks, where if you’re an INE guy, you can focus maybe more on that type of instrumentation and control versus a measurement guy who maybe only works on liquid meters.

You can pick and choose. The really good thing about ISHM is these are not just presentations. Every class is supported by a written and peer reviewed paper. Most of the time, the teacher of the class is also the author of the paper.

I would say that holds true probably 95 plus percent of the time. In situations where the presenter is not the author, they’re still very qualified to teach it and the presentation is built around the content in the paper. The students have an opportunity to download and read these papers after or even before the class. That’s what adds to the instructional value of the school.

I mentioned these were peer reviewed. All of our classes, we have a separate committee within the committee structure called deputy program chairs. These are the people responsible for reviewing the paper, working with the instructor, getting the information submitted on time, doing the review for clarity, making sure it’s grammatically correct and mostly error free.

The goal is to deliver high quality content to the students. The one thing or one of the things that is the responsibility of the deputy program chair is to make sure that these classes are not sales pitches. You’re not going to go sit in a class for 45 to 50 minutes and hear why this product is the best product in the market. There are no sales pitches here. It is all instructional content.

Russel: I will say that’s one thing that ISHM does exceedingly well is make sure that’s the case. The quality of the instruction and the training value of the instruction is quite high. What else about the school and its contents? We talked a little bit about the classes and the fact how they’re all supported by papers, which I think is really important.

I have found that I’ve often gone to a class multiple times. Gone to the class, read the paper, went to the class again, asked questions, tried to apply it, got stuck, went back to the class, read the paper again, asked more questions.

It’s one of those things that I really think as you learn more, you actually get more value because you’re able to ask better questions and dig deeper, and find the people that have the knowledge.

Stephen: Something that’s worth sharing is how we also give back. We are a group of professionals in an industry that gets a lot of criticism especially in today’s day and age. For a long time now, and I don’t know how many years, but for the last several years, many years we’ve had a scholarship fund.

We work with several universities and ask them to find and identify students who would want to receive a scholarship from us. Like last year, for example, we gave out over $53,000 in scholarships. I think our scholarship fund, in total so far has given out over $700,000 in scholarships.

We do have a scholarship committee. I mentioned that our committee is made up of several other smaller committees. The scholarship committee is one of them. With the hundredth year of the school just around the corner, we have a goal to try to hand out a million dollars total over time from the scholarship fund by our hundredth school.

We have three years to make up about $300,000. It’s a big goal, it’s a lofty goal, but it is our way of giving back to an industry that serves that we serve and also serves us.

Russel: You keep talking about the committee. It might be helpful to talk about how the committee’s organized. How many people were actually on the committee?

Jonathan: Man, what is it? Is there 150 of us? I don’t know exact count, but there’s with DPCs and everything.

Stephen: Maybe, let’s break it down from an organizational aspect. We have the executive committee, and they help the general committee govern, make decisions, they approve funding for whether it’s a scholarship fund release, whether it’s a line item for an expense. They approve funding disbursements and they just give guidance based on their years of experience.

To get to the executive committee, you have to serve all the way through the general committee. That’s what Jonathan and I are on as the general committee. It is probably, roughly a 10- to 12-year progression depending on…

It’s been restructured a few times over the last several years. You do have to work through all of the committee positions, publicity and education is one of them, exhibits is one of them, programs is one of them. I won’t list them all, but there’s a chair and a vice chair to all of them.

There’s six main sub committees under the general committee, each with its own vice chair. Then we have a group of special advisors. This is our bench strength. This is our talent pool. When we need help, whether it’s monitoring classes, or we put an ad hoc committee together to assess an idea, being deputy program chairs.

It takes, literally, dozens of other people to do it than those who are just on the executive and general committee. That’s our special advisors. Then we have other advisors who have stayed on throughout the years. They’ve worked their way up through the general committee. They’ve worked their way all the way up through the executive committee.

For whatever reason, they are still interested in serving. They stay on as advisors and work with us and volunteer for time when it’s needed. That’s the high level of the ISHM committees.

Russel: It’s a lot of folks that are contributing. It’s close to 10 percent of the people that are actually at the school are working on the committee as volunteers.

Stephen: That’s probably about right. I don’t know the full count, but that’s probably about right.

Russel: The point is it’s a lot. [laughs] It’s a lot of folks. That’s why you’re able to do so such good work with such quality…

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Stephen: We also partner with other industry organizations. We open up spots for representatives from American Gas Association, American Petroleum Institute, Bureau of Land Management, PETEX, which is the petroleum engineering arm of University of Texas, GPA Midstream, Southwest Research Institute, University of Oklahoma. These are all what we call association members.

Because of their involvement in the industry, we work with them, and they work with us in the different committee roles.

Russel: Awesome. Just a couple things we hadn’t talked about. We hadn’t talked about exhibits. We’ve talked a little bit about it. How many exhibitors are there? I want one of you guys to tell me what’s unique about how you do exhibits versus what people might expect when they see a trade show.

Stephen: I’m the Exhibits Chairman this year, as I mentioned earlier. I’ve actually had the pleasure. This is my second time getting to be Exhibits Chair. It’s interesting. What is, first of all, unique is someone interested has to apply. You can’t just pay the fee and show up. You have to apply.

They have to categorize themselves as either a primary or secondary exhibitor, primary being an original manufacturer of equipment and secondary being an organization who…Maybe you’re a fabricator. Maybe you’re a vendor. Maybe you design software. You could be a consultant. Those are the two classifications.

From there, someone at your company must have attended at least one ISHM. Those are the two qualifications.

Russel: Is that one ISHM ever?

Stephen: One ISHM ever. I just had to look up a guy a week or two ago. It was 12 years since he attended, but he attended. We’re going to be reviewing his application to exhibit. From there, they need to demonstrate why they qualify as a primary or a secondary exhibitor and then agree that this is not a trade show for marketing purposes.

This isn’t an opportunity to hand out koozies or ball caps or ink pens or screwdrivers. They have to come with their exhibits that provide educational content that addresses a question, solves a problem, enhances a methodology. It needs to be educational in nature.

If they can do all of that, then they’re qualified and approved to be an exhibitor. Once approved, always approved. You don’t have to go through it every year.

Russel: You just said a mouthful there about the whole process. For a lot of companies that are manufacturers, they’re not used to…They hear, “ISHM.” They hear, “Trade show.” Then they make a whole bunch of assumptions about what that actually is. It’s really not a trade show. It’s an educational forum. Even the vendors that go have to be committed to show up a different way.

How do people find out about this and get the information they need to register? Who ought to be going?

Jonathan: Anybody interested in oil and gas measurement should go, even if you’re just curious about it. Also, students, people that are wanting to get into the industry. It’s a great opportunity to get an exposure to different people in the industry.

Stephen: If you’re an engineer, if you’re a technician, if you’re a data analyst or even certain levels of accountants and managers, there’s something for everyone who has a focus in oil and gas measurement. One thing — I don’t know if we mentioned this or not — the school is in Oklahoma City. It’s May…

Jonathan: 14th through the 16th.

Stephen: …14th through the 16th this year. You can go to the website, ishm.info, I-S-H-M.info. All the information you would need is there. You can get a new exhibitor application form. If you’re an existing exhibitor, you can sign up through there. If you’re a student, you can sign up there. That would be one way to learn more.

I know Jonathan and myself will somewhat regularly post things on LinkedIn. You could follow one of us and get our spiels when we put them out there. Other than that, follow the Pipeliners Podcast, right?

Russel: [laughs] To that end, as the listeners know, we always build show notes and links. If you go to the website and look this up, you can find the links. We’ll link all the stuff up so you can find out more about ISHM.

In terms of answering the question I asked in terms of who should go, you guys said anybody with an interest in measurement. The people I’d like to see going more are the engineers.

Even if they’re not spec’ing measurement, it’d be really handy if more engineers that are designing facilities understood what’s required to do proper measurement, particularly in terms of straight runs of pipe and how to put online chromatograph sampling in place the correct way. A lot of companies spend a lot of money to fix that.

Stephen: Or think about the guys who have to go back out after the fact and put their hands on it and maintain it.

Russel: Oh, right. Yeah, exactly.

Stephen: A little bit of space to work.

Russel: Exactly. That’s the other thing. Yeah. Good point. Very good point. I have that experience. Anyways, guys, I think the world of issue, I think the world of…I grew up in measurement. I’m a measurement guy in my soul. I think you guys do exceedingly good work.

All the volunteers, everybody on the committees to be commended for all that hard work and the dedication to make sure it comes off. A lot of people will benefit, not just by getting an education, but by building a career out of this. It’s really good stuff that you guys do. What would you like to leave us with, with final thoughts?

Stephen: I’ll just say two things. Number one, this is an opportunity to earn continuing education credits. If you’re a professional engineer or some other type of certified professional, accounting, whatever and you need ongoing education, this is a great opportunity to earn some continuing education hours.

Then the second thing is this is an opportunity to network. All of us can agree that we can attribute large parts of our career due directly to the fact that we have networked. Through things like ISHM, through things like the American School, through collaborative efforts like writing API standards or, GPA standards.

If anything, definitely make that a focus when you’re there. Use that time in the exhibits hall, use that time between classes to talk to people. Jonathan mentioned it earlier. Go to someone, ask them a question to some, and looking for an answer to a problem you’re trying to solve. I guarantee you, if that person doesn’t know it, they’ll put you in touch with the person who does.

Jonathan: Yep. I’ve experienced that firsthand for sure.

Russel: Jonathan, how about yourself? Any final comments?

Jonathan: Just attend ISHM. It’s just straightforward. It’s a great opportunity to, like Stephen said, network and learn things that you haven’t known about in oil and gas measurement. Come to ISHM. It’s a great opportunity and it’s fairly inexpensive for sure.

Russel: Yeah. I couldn’t say it better myself. Gentlemen, thanks. Thanks for your time. It’s great to have you on. I plan on being at ISHM this year. It’s going to be the first time in a long time since I’ve been there. I’ll make a special effort to look you guys up.

Jonathan: Definitely. Appreciate it.

Stephen: Looking forward to it.

Russel: All right. Thank y’all.

Jonathan: Thank you.

Stephen: Thank you.

Russel: I hope you enjoyed this week’s episode of the Pipeliners Podcast and our conversation with Stephen and Jonathan. Just a reminder before you go, you should register to win our customized Pipeliners Podcast YETI Tumblr. Simply visit pipelinepodcastnetwork.com/win and enter yourself in the drawing.

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Russel: If you have ideas, questions, or topics you’d be interested in, please let me know on the Contact Us page at pipelinepodcastnetwork.com, or reach out to me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. I’ll talk to you next week.