January 2004
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19 Citations
Oil and Gas Journal
Analyses of pipeline-incident data for Europe and the US over 30 years confirm that systems in both regions have become increasingly safer. Pipeline-incident data were gathered over a long period by the European Gas Pipeline Incident Data Group (EGIG), CONCAWE (Western-European cross-country oil pipelines), and the US Department of Transportation's Office of Pipeline Safety, Research and Special Programs Administration. (DOT/OPS/RSPA covers both oil and gas pipeline systems in the US.) The main goal in gathering this information was to demonstrate and, if possible, improve the safety performance of pipeline transmission systems. Information on loss-of-containment incidents of European and US oil and gas pipeline transmission systems, as published by these organizations, was analyzed and is summarized in this article. Loss-of-containment incidents of onshore steel pipeline transmission systems are presented here. Although it is difficult to compare directly among the different databases (the definition of an incident, for example, not being uniquely defined), such a comparison leads to some general conclusions.