Pipeline

Ten Years of Improvement and Learning
The nation’s 165,000 miles of petroleum transmission pipelines are the primary means of moving crude oil, gasoline, diesel fuel and other petroleum products to consumer markets. Pipelines are safe, efficient and, because most are buried, largely unseen. They move crude oil from oil fields on land and offshore to refineries where it is turned into fuels and other products, then from the refineries to terminals where fuels are trucked to retail outlets. Pipelines operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Safety is paramount. Operators strive to protect pipelines from corrosion, excavation damage, and other threats. A critical aspect of safety is collecting and analyzing data on pipeline spills. Every spill of at least five gallons is reported to the U.S. Department of Transportation. In addition, the industry collects and analyzes more detailed spill data through the voluntary Pipeline Performance Tracking System (PPTS), which has collected spill data since 1999. Operators representing 85 percent of regulated pipeline miles participate in PPTS.

The stated philosophy of PPTS is: measure, learn, manage and improve, and through a wide range of efforts in part guided by learnings from PPTS, pipeline operators have dramatically improved pipeline safety, substantially reducing both the number and volume of spills. A comparison of three-year spill averages for the periods 1999-2001 and 2005-2007 shows a 60 percent decrease in the number of spills per 1,000 miles of pipeline and a 52 percent decrease in the volume spilled per 1,000 miles of pipeline.

Every spill is one too many, and operators, working with regulators, continue efforts to reduce them with an ultimate goal of zero spills, zero deaths, zero injuries and error-free operations.

Government agencies that regulate the pipeline industry include the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (part of the U.S. Department of Transportation), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and others.

To learn more about pipelines, please visit Pipeline 101 and view America’s Supply Line video. Please also see the section on refined product pipelines in Adventures in Energy. Links to additional information are below.

 Pipeline Performance Tracking System (PPTS) Presentation 
Size: 188 KB | Date: January 2007 | License: Free

What’s New: 

• API-AOPL Response on New Construction/Line Pipe Quality
  
  
  
• Pipeline Information eXchange or PIX
  The API Operations Technical Committee announces the second annual Pipeline Information eXchange or PIX. This forum is intended to provide a unique opportunity to pipeline operator personnel for exchanging information and lessons learned about pipeline system incidents and near misses. The 2009 PIX will be held at the Doubletree Hotel Houston Intercontinental Airport on October 1, 2009. 
  
  The PIX will be strictly limited to the employees of hazardous liquids pipeline operators and the staff of API and AOPL. No regulators, press, vendors, contractors, or members of the public will be allowed to participate, with the exception of an occasional presentation from such organizations as NTSB or PHMSA, and then, only during their presentation. This should create a “safe” and encouraging environment in which operators can exchange information, learn from it, and avoid similar incidents in the future.
  
  If you are a pipeline employee and interested in presenting, please contact: Peter Lidiak. 
  
  
  
• Summary of State Damage Prevention Laws
  Damage prevention initiatives at the state and federal levels have become the focus of major stakeholder groups, industry, and government agencies over the past several years. These efforts have been supported by groups ranging from the Common Ground Alliance to independent working groups seeking to change the environment and manner in which excavation activities occur. Despite these efforts, only a handful of states have passed major damage prevention reform in the last five years.

• PPTS Operator Advisory: Role of First and Second Party Damage In Excavation Incidents
  
  
• Cooperation Reduces Pipeline Incidents
  
• Shipping Ethanol Through Pipelines