The majority of the oil and gas industry – 94% – report theircomputer systems will be ready by Sept. 30 to deal with anyglitches that may be brought on by the change to 2000, according tothe latest survey conducted by the Natural Gas Council and theAmerican Petroleum Institute (API). The entire industry expects tobe Y2K ready by the end of December.

The survey, which polled 1,250 companies that supply 93% ofdomestic oil and natural gas demand, said all anticipate they willhave “checked, tested and upgraded” the computers associated withtheir business systems and embedded systems by the end of the year.Additionally, all indicated they will have sought assurance thattheir suppliers are Y2K compliant, and will have developed andtested contingency plans if supplier readiness cannot be confirmedbefore the year’s end.

The latest industry survey, which was submitted recently toFERC, was conducted in May and is a follow-up to earlier ones donein January and last summer. It found that 91% of oil and gascompanies currently are in the final remediation and testing phasesof their business computer systems, up from 86% in the Januarysurvey. It further showed oil and gas companies currently are inthe testing phase with the computers associated with theiroperations and embedded systems, and they are verifying theirreadiness with audits by either outside or internal computerexperts.

“The industry’s survey results clearly show progress inpreparing for the Y2K change. This makes us more confident thanever of our ability to deliver gas and oil reliably on and afterJan. 1, 2000,” said Ron Quiggins, director of the Year 2000 Programfor Shell Services International and chairman of the API Year 2000Task Force.

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