March 2014, Vol. 241 No. 3

In The News

Pipeline Operators Launch Pipeline Safety Excellence Initiative

The Association of Oil Pipe Lines (AOPL) and American Petroleum Institute (API) launched the Pipeline Safety Excellence™ initiative, an industry-wide program to improve liquid pipeline safety performance.

Pipeline Safety Excellence™ is an industry-wide safety initiative by the more than 50 pipeline operating members of AOPL, including Crimson Pipeline, and API. It reflects the shared values and commitment of pipeline operators to building and operating safe pipelines.

Pipeline operators are increasing the safety of their pipelines and improving the pipeline safety performance of their companies through:

– Shared Pipeline Safety Principles – with goals such as zero incidents and using every day ways of doing business such as continuous improvement to drive improved safety performance

– Continuous Industry-Wide Pipeline Safety Efforts – where pipeline operators work together, pool their resources, and share lessons learned through industry-wide improvement teams

– Annual Pipeline Safety Reporting – will annually measure and report industry-wide pipeline safety spending and performance to the public

– Annual Pipeline Safety Strategic Planning – will annually develop a pipeline safety strategic plan guiding industry-wide efforts over the coming year to improve pipeline safety

The launch of the Pipeline Safety Excellence™ initiative was coupled with the release of the Annual Liquid Pipeline Safety Performance Report and Strategic Plan, reflecting key elements of the initiative. The industry-wide performance report documents a 62% drop in pipeline incidents over the last 10 years. This performance improvement comes as liquid pipeline operators reported spending $1.6 billion evaluating, inspecting and maintaining their pipelines. The result is 99.999% of crude oil and petroleum product delivered by pipeline reaches its destination safely.