Environmental risk of oil pipeline accidents

Hongfang Lu; Dongmin Xi; Guojin Qin

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162386

Environmental risk of oil pipeline accidents

Sci Total Environ. 2023 May 20:874:162386. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162386. Epub 2023 Feb 28.

Authors

Hongfang Lu¹, Dongmin Xi², Guojin Qin³

Affiliations

¹ China-Pakistan Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Smart Disaster Prevention of Major Infrastructures, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China. Electronic address: luhongfang@seu.edu.cn.
² China-Pakistan Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Smart Disaster Prevention of Major Infrastructures, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
³ School of Civil Engineering and Geomatics, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China.

PMID: 36863588
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162386

Abstract

Oil spills from pipeline accidents, caused by either material degradation or improper operation, can result in long-lasting environmental damage to soil and water. Assessing the potential environmental risks of these accidents is crucial for effective pipeline integrity management. This study calculates the accident rate using Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) data and estimates the environmental risk of pipeline accidents by factoring in the cost of environmental remediation. Results show that crude oil pipelines in Michigan pose the highest environmental risk, while Texas has the highest environmental risk for product oil pipelines. On average, crude oil pipelines have a higher environmental risk (56,533.6 US dollars·times·mile^-1·year^-1) compared to product oil pipelines (13,395.6 US dollars·times·mile^-1·year^-1). Factors affecting pipeline integrity management are also analyzed, including diameter, diameter-thickness ratio, and design pressure. The study finds that larger pipelines with higher pressures receive more attention during maintenance and thus pose a lower environmental risk. Furthermore, underground pipelines pose a much higher environmental risk than pipelines in other environments, and pipelines are more vulnerable in the early and mid-stages of operation. The leading causes of environmental risk in pipeline accidents are material failure, corrosion, and equipment failure. By comparing environmental risks, managers can better understand the strengths and weaknesses of their integrity management efforts.

Keywords: Accident rate; Environmental remediation cost; Environmental risk; Oil pipeline; Pipeline accident.