API

API is the abbreviation of American Petroleum Institute, the largest trade association for the oil and natural gas industry, including the petrochemical industry, in the United States. The institute represents nearly 600 corporations. It formulates positions on oil consumption, taxes, trade, environmental protection, and occupational safety. On top of that, the API establishes technical guidelines and standards, including for individual types of pumps (such as API 610 for centrifugal pumps and 685 for hermetic pumps) and their components (such as API 682 for mechanical seals). When using pumps in the oil and natural gas industry, the API standards may be binding; in this case, their compliance must be ensured by the transporting units. In the PUMPselector, which provides support in selecting the right pump, only pumps that meet these requirements are listed when the corresponding option is selected during the query.