ISO 23874:2006 describes the performance requirements for analysis of treated natural gas of transmission or pipeline quality in sufficient detail so that the hydrocarbon dewpoint temperature can be calculated using an appropriate equation of state. ISO 23874:2006 can be applied to gases that have maximum dewpoint temperatures (cricondentherms) between 0 °C and - 50 °C. The pressures at which these maximum dewpoint temperatures are calculated are in the range 2 MPa (20 bar) to 5 MPa (50 bar).

The procedure given in ISO 23874:2006 covers the measurement of hydrocarbons in the range C₅ to C₁₂. n-Pentane, which is quantitatively measured using ISO 6974 (all parts), is used as a bridge component and all C₆ and higher hydrocarbons are measured relative to n-pentane. Major components are measured using ISO 6974 (all parts) and the ranges of components that can be measured are as defined in ISO 6974-1.