Abstract: Overpressure protection is very important to ensure safe operation of pipelines. Relief valves and instrumentation protection systems are commonly used for overpressure protection of oil pipelines. There are always controversies on the feasibility of replacing relief valve by instrument protection system both at home and abroad. Based on this, research is made on domestic and overseas standards from aspects of overpressure limits, overpressure protection methods, configurations of relief systems, and the relation between relief system and instrument protection system. At the same time, differences of overpressure protection requirements are analyzed by investigating the pipelines home and abroad. Research results show that all standards call for deployment of overpressure protection systems, but they are distinct in specific descriptions. There are no explicit remarks for independent or combined application of pressure relief protection and instrument protection in these standards. Selection of instrument protection systems and relief systems should take factors related to overall safety of pipeline system into account, so as to reduce risks to an acceptable level from different levels and aspects. Generally, combined application of instrument protection systems and relief system can effectively minimize overall failure rates of the system.