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) 1999-2008 
Size: 539 KB | Date: February 1, 2010 | License: Free

What’s New: 

• API and AOPL Comments on PHMSA Damage Prevention ANPRM

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API Environmental and Safety Award Program:
The Distinguished Award for Outstanding Safety and Environmental Performance Award is API’s highest safety and environmental performance award for pipeline operators and is given annually to the best performing company.