Offshore pipeline failures

Ross D. Woodson

An overview of current concerns in the regulation of offshore pipelines is presented along with tabulated summaries of pipeline failure causes, failure prevention techniques, and pipeline monitoring and early intervention techniques. A database of over 1000 offshore pipeline failures in the Gulf of Mexico Offshore waters has been compiled from combined records of the Department of Transportation Office of pipeline Safety, U.S. Coast Guard National Response Center, and the Department of Interior Minerals Management Service. The data has been analyzed to identify trends and initial recommendations for future data collection have been suggested.