Pipeline

Cross Country Pipelines 

Pipeline Group

Pipeline group of OISD is responsible for all the matters pertaining to the safety in operations of hydrocarbon (like crude, petroleum products, LPG, Natural Gas) cross country pipelines under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. The functions of Pipeline group include: 

• Developing safety & technical standards to cover design, operation and inspection aspects for ensuring the safe and environmentally friendly hydrocarbon transportation through pipeline system on sustainable basis.
• Carrying out External Safety Audits (ESA) of pipelines (On shore/ Off shore) & SPMs to analyse the gaps in line with requirement of safety standards (OISD/ Statutory / International) and providing recommendations on noncompliance in the operation, inspection and maintenance practices.
• Monitoring of ESA recommendations on quarterly basis to ensure that the recommendations are implemented in a timely / planned manner.
• Carrying out Pre-Commissioning Safety Audits (PCSA) of newly laid pipelines and facilities and highlighting any gaps in design and construction aspects in line with safety standards / guidelines.
• Investigations of accidents related to Pipelines in the Industry with root cause analysis to prevent re-occurrence at other pipeline locations.
• Posting of case studies and safety alerts on OISD website for dissemination of learnings and recommendations on various pipeline incidents to prevent such type incidents at other locations.
• Conducting workshops/ trainings to enhance the awareness about safety in pipeline Operation, Inspection and Maintenance.
• Maintaining liaison with the industry members. Proving feedback on various quantitative and qualitative data on various audit recommendations.
• Issue of consent to operate for existing as well as new SPMs being installed.
• The safety performance evaluation of participating cross-country pipelines for OISD Annual Safety Awards. 

Preparation of Standards 

OISD has published standards related to safety in design, construction, inspection, operation and maintenance in oil and gas industry. The pipeline group in association with experts from the industry, revise / amend the standards which are necessary to ensure safe pipeline transportation system to match with challenging environment and technological advancements. Whenever required, new standards are also prepared to cover specific concerns raised by industry members.

External Safety Audits (ESA) Cross Country Pipelines 

The Pipelines Group conducts external safety audits of pipelines. The areas covered in pipeline audit include all the pipelines and facilities which are used for transportation of hydrocarbons (in liquid / gaseous form) through cross country pipelines. The periodicity of carrying out first two ESAs is within 1 year and 3 years from the date of commissioning respectively and subsequent ESA is at an interval of 4 years. During ESAs, the findings of the audit committee are forwarded to the CEO of the operating company as recommendations and the operating company is required to implement those recommendations in a time bound manner to ensure the safe operation of pipeline.

External Safety Audits (ESA) of SPMs

The pipelines group conducts external safety audits of SPMs including off/onshore pipelines. The areas covered in audit include all the pipelines and facilities which are used for transportation of hydrocarbon from SPM to respective shore tank farms/ storage facility and vice versa. The periodicity of carrying out ESA is at an interval of 5 years.

Monitoring 

The compliance of recommendations of ESAs are being monitored by the pipelines group. The periodicity of monitoring is quarterly through online OISD portal. The status of implementation of the recommendations is also reviewed in Steering Committee Meetings and in Safety Council Meeting. OISD pursues with pipeline operators to comply all recommendations within 2 years from the date of audit. 

Pre-Commissioning Safety Audits (ESA)

Based on the requests of owners, Pre-Commissioning Safety Audits (PCSAs) are carried out for newly laid pipelines and facilities to ensure ab-initio compliance of such facilities to OISD standards.

Accident Investigation 

The pipeline industry under MoPNG is required to inform all the accidents and incidents to OISD as per given guidelines. OISD coordinates the enquiry with the help of industry members or independently. The enquiry committee looks into the causes of accident and give appropriate recommendations so as to prevent the reoccurrence of the same at other locations in future. These recommendations are circulated among the industry members for maximum awareness. The pipeline group receives quarterly incident reports from the industry and analyses the reports. The findings/learnings, if any, are circulated among industry members.

For dissemination of learnings and recommendations on various pipeline incidents to prevent such type of incidents at other locations, Case Studies and Safety Alerts are prepared and posted on OISD website/ Newsletter. 

Workshop 

The pipeline group conducts workshops pertaining to safety in pipeline operations and maintenance practices for exchanging the views and knowledge among industry members. OISD ensures the participation from industry members as well as vendors related with oil & gas industry.

Safety Award Evaluation 

OISD invites applications on yearly basis from all pipeline operators to select single pipeline section/group for best practices in pipelines operations and maintenance. The winner is selected based on the exhaustive safety evaluation criterion e.g. hazard potential, safety management systems, Maintenance and Inspection practices etc. Nomination for individual awards for exceptional contribution in safety, are also sought. The winner is selected based on evaluation criterion approved by a committee formed by MoPNG.   

Pipeline Data

SPM Details