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.

View/Download
Size: 490 KB | Date: June 2008 | License: Free

API/INGAA/AOPL Public Awareness Survey Program
Pipeline operators! Measure the effectiveness of your public awareness programs as required by the U.S. Department of Transportation regulations.

API Environmental and Safety Award Program:

Policy Issues:

Pipelines and Canadian Crude (For more information on pipelines and Canadian Crude, see Oil Sands)

API Testimony Regarding Enbridge Pipelines, LLC.
Size: 1 M | Date: April 7, 2008 | License: Free

API -AOPL Letter on Enbridge Application
Size: 604 KB | Date: August 24, 2006 | License: Free

Pipeline Safety for Control Room Management/Human Factors

Comments on Proposed Rule - Pipeline Trades
Size: 164 KB | Date: November 12, 2008 | License: Free

Comments on DOT Proposed Rule - API and AOPL
Size: 650 KB | Date: November 12, 2008 | License: Free

Comments on Propsosed Rule - Pipeline Trades
Size: 262 KB | Date: October 8, 2008 | License: Free

DOT Proposed Rule
Size: 220 KB | Date: September 12, 2008 | License: Free

API - AOPL Letter to OPS/PHMSA
Size: 132 KB | Date: August 24, 2006 | License: Free

API - AOPL Comments to PHMSA regarding NTSB Recommendations
Size: 60 KB | Date: March 13, 2006 | License: Free

Integrity Management

API - AOPL IMP Comments
Size: 144 KB | Date: February 13, 2006 | License: Free

API - AOPL Comments on Repair Intervals
Size: 432 KB | Date: April 13, 2006 | License: Free

PHMSA/DOT Notice of available materials on internal corrosion on hazardous liquid pipelines

DOT Request for comments on available material
Size: 47 KB | Date: September 10, 2007 | License: Free

Comments on available materials
Size: 143 KB | Date: October 9, 2007 | License: Free

Proposing Regulation for Low-Stress Pipelines

API Comments on Protecting Unusually Sensitive Areas from Rural Onshore Hazardous Liquid Pipelines
Size: 140 KB | Date: June 18, 2007 | License: Free

API Comments on DOT Proposal
Size: 88 KB | Date: November 6, 2006 | License: Free

API - AOPL Supplemental Letter
Size: 132 KB | Date: August 1, 2006 | License: Free

API - AOPL Low-Stress Pipeline Proposal Presentation
Size: 24 KB | Date: June 26, 2006 | License: Free

API - AOPL Letter Proposing Regulation
Size: 16 KB | Date: June 1, 2006 | License: Free

Pipeline Operations: