Reflections on the development of digitalization for natural gas standards

The global trend of standard digitalization is underscored by the National Standardization Development Outline’s directive to "develop machine-readable standards and open-source standards". This paper analyzes the progress in standard digitalization at home and abroad introducing the features and classification of standard digitalization and the development direction of machine-controlled content. A primary focus is placed on the research progress of natural gas standard genealogy and XML standards. This paper also analyzes the challenges in the digitalization process of natural gas industry standards, including the limitations of standard paper files and electronic versions in meeting the demand of digital transformation, different interpretations leading to variations in calculation results and data formats, and the high cost of learning and mastering standards. In view of this, the paper proposed insights and recommendations for the digitalization development of natural gas standards. The natural gas industry covers multiple fields such as oil and gas exploration and development, analysis methods, equipment and materials, safety and environmental protection, metrology and calculation. Given such diverse scope, the establishment of advanced digital standards is crucial to support the industry’s digital and intelligent development.