Abstract: The key technical difficulty that should be solved quickly in the field of oil and gas storage and transportation engineering is to define the essence of intelligent pipeline operation and search for effective methods based on its own business characteristics to enhance the intelligent level of the pipeline industry and ultimately realize optimal operation of the whole pipeline network. In this paper, the intelligentization practice in other industrial fields was analyzed deeply and their commonalities were clarified. Then, the connotation of intelligent pipeline operation was put forward based on the characteristics of the pipeline transportation industry. Next, the prediction on users' gas consumption laws was taken as an example to figure out how to apply deeply the intelligent technology into the actual pipeline operation. A method based on deep learning and time series analysis was proposed and the prediction accuracy was improved. An effective tool for equipment fault diagnosis was provided based on the neural network algorithm, combined with field operation data. And breakthrough was realized in PID regulation by means of optimization algorithm. And accordingly, it was proposed to construct the intelligent virtual test platform for oil and gas pipelines, integrate the information flow with the pipeline business deeply, and introduce the intelligence algorithms to provide a solution of intelligent pipeline operation.