Work directly with Onega Ulanova, an API Spec Q2 consultant, former American Petroleum Institute (API) lead auditor and IRCA-certified ISO 9001 lead auditor with 16 years in quality management systems. She builds and upgrades API Q2 service quality management systems for oilfield service supply organizations, writes service quality plans, closes gaps before the certification audit, runs internal and mock API audits, trains field crews and supervisors, and supports companies that need API Q1 and Q2 together. Start with a free 20-minute consultation.
API Spec Q2 is the American Petroleum Institute specification for quality management systems used by service supply organizations in the petroleum and natural gas industry: companies that deliver field and support services such as wireline, coiled tubing, cementing, stimulation, fishing and rental tools, inspection, non-destructive examination, machining services, welding, and equipment maintenance and repair. Where ISO 9001 speaks generally about processes, Q2 is written around how a service is planned, executed and documented at the wellsite. It requires service quality plans, risk assessment for each service, contingency planning, control of service-related equipment, competence and training records for field personnel, management of change, and objective evidence that the service was performed as planned.
API Q2 certification is formal recognition by the American Petroleum Institute that a service supply organization’s quality management system conforms to API Spec Q2. API audits the system and issues the certificate; no consultant can issue it. Operators increasingly require Q2 of the service companies working on their wells, and it is often written into master service agreements and prequalification packages. The audit focuses on service execution: an auditor picks completed jobs and follows them from the service order and service quality plan through crew competence, equipment status, field records, deviations and customer notification, to the final service report.
API Q1 applies if you manufacture product. API Q2 applies if you deliver services. Manufacturers of valves, wellheads, flanges, drilling equipment and machined components certify to Q1. Service supply organizations that perform work at the wellsite or in the field certify to Q2. Companies that do both, for example a machine shop that also provides field repair and inspection services, often hold both certificates and run one integrated system so documentation, audits and management review are not duplicated.
Twenty minutes, no charge, no obligation. You describe where you are: which operator or master service agreement is driving the Q2 requirement, which service lines are in scope, and what exists on paper today. You get an honest read on scope, effort and timeline, including the parts you can do yourselves, plus a short priority list of what to fix first. If we are not the right fit, we will say so.
Based in Ruston, in north Louisiana, serving service supply organizations across the United States, the Gulf Coast, Permian Basin and internationally. Gap assessments, system development, service quality plan writing, training, internal audits and certification preparation are delivered remotely over video, with on-site time for base and field walkdowns, job-record trails and mock audits. If you are searching for an API Q2 consultant near you, oilfield service audit experience matters more than drive time.
API Q2 certification is formal recognition by the American Petroleum Institute that a service supply organization’s quality management system conforms to API Spec Q2. API audits the system and issues the certificate; it is commonly required by operators of the service companies working on their wells.
Service supply organizations delivering field and support services to the petroleum and natural gas industry: wireline, coiled tubing, cementing, stimulation, fishing and rental tools, inspection and non-destructive examination, welding, machining services, and equipment maintenance and repair. The usual trigger is an operator requirement or a master service agreement.
API Q1 applies to organizations that manufacture product for the petroleum and natural gas industry. API Q2 applies to service supply organizations that deliver field and support services. Q1 is oriented around product realization and traceability; Q2 is oriented around service execution, service quality plans and the competence of field personnel.
Yes. Manufacturers that also provide field service, repair or inspection frequently hold both certificates. The two specifications overlap heavily, so a single quality manual, one audit programme and one management review can satisfy both plus ISO 9001.
No. API Spec Q2 shares the ISO 9001 foundation but adds service-specific requirements ISO 9001 does not contain: service quality plans, risk assessment for each service, contingency planning, control of service-related equipment, competence and authorization of field personnel, and documented service execution records. An ISO 9001 certificate does not make you Q2 conforming, but a working ISO 9001 system is a strong head start.
For a service company starting with little documentation, six to nine months is realistic: build the system and the service quality plans, run real jobs long enough that an auditor can sample records, complete an internal audit cycle and a management review, then the API audit. Companies with a functioning ISO 9001 system often need a gap assessment plus two to four months of remediation.
Service quality plans that do not match how the job is really run, competence records that do not cover the crew who performed the sampled job, service equipment sent to the field without current maintenance or verification status, contingency planning that exists only as a paragraph, deviations handled verbally with no record or customer notification, and management of change applied to documents but not to equipment, suppliers or personnel.
No. Only the American Petroleum Institute audits and issues API Q2 certificates. A consultant can run your internal audits and a mock certification audit, which is where a former API lead auditor earns the fee: you see the findings, graded the way API grades them, while you still have time to close them.