Pipeline Statistics

In light of the executive order signed by Trump, enabling the Dakota Access Pipeline to continue construction (though I personally find it unlikely to proceed without a lengthy legal battle first), I figured it’s worth looking at some statistics around the pipelines we already have in the US and what these can tell us about the future. I won’t be making any value judgments here, nor will I be comparing and contrasting pipelines with other means of transport. Just pure statistics.

All statistics are from PHMSA unless otherwise noted. Pipelines here refers to any liquid/gas energy pipeline – natural gas, crude oil, byproducts, and others. Statistics, whenever possible, are based on numbers from 2015 due to their availability.

• There are about 2.4 million miles of pipeline in the US
• Over half of these pipelines are 50 or more years old, though it’s unclear how many linear miles of pipeline that covers
• In 2015, there were 715 reported incidents:
  • These incidents caused 12 direct fatalities, 49 injuries, and cost $342,202,062 (this includes cleanup, losses of product, and others)
  • Of these incidents, 329 were considered to be significant ¹
  • And 28 were considered serious ²
  • 103,607 barrels (3,264,000 gallons) of liquid were spilled
• From this, we can find the following:
  • For every 3,356 miles of pipeline, we expect one incident
  • For every 48,979 miles of pipeline, we expect one injury
  • For every 200,000 miles of pipeline, we expect one direct fatality
  • For every mile of pipeline, 1.36 gallons of toxic liquid were spilled
• The length of the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline is 1,172 miles. Assuming that the 2015 proportions stay identical over time and ignoring that older pipelines are significantly more likely to suffer incidents, we can expect:
  • One additional incident every 2.8 years
  • One additional injury every 41.8 years
  • One additional direct fatality every 170 years
  • And 1,593.92 gallons spilled every year
• Extrapolating to a 50 year lifetime, this gives us:
  • 18 incidents
  • 1 injury
  • 0 direct fatalities
  • 79,696 gallons or 2530 barrels of oil spilled

^[1] A significant incident is defined by PHMSA to have one or more of the following: causing a fatality or an injury requiring in-patient hospitalization, $50k+ total costs, highly volatile liquid releases of 5 barrels or more, 50 barrels or more of other liquid releases, or liquid releases resulting in an unintentional fire or explosion. However: “gas distribution incidents caused by a nearby fire or explosion that impacted the pipeline system are excluded”

^[2] A serious incident is defined by PHMSA to have caused a fatality or an injury requiring in-patient hospitalization