Objective The oil and gas conveyed in transmission pipelines are highly flammable and explosive. During natural disasters, these pipelines are susceptible to technological accidents such as fire, explosion, and environmental pollution, i.e. Natural Hazards Triggering Technological Accidents (Natech). Rapid and accurate identification of weak segments of oil and gas pipelines in Natech events is particularly critical for disaster prevention and mitigation and emergency decision-making of pipelines.

Methods Vulnerability is often employed as a metric to assess the safety risk level of complex systems. It can also be used to characterize the disparity in the safety levels of oil and gas pipeline during Natech events. Based on the characteristic parameters of oil and gas pipeline segmentation and initial natural disasters, as well as the functional model method commonly used in vulnerability assessment research, a vulnerability assessment model for oil and gas pipeline in Natech events was created. The design concept of a vulnerability assessment system for oil and gas pipeline segments in Natech events was proposed from the aspects of system architecture design, database design, and function module design, and the functions of the assessment system were realized based on the B/S architecture, ArcGIS technology, Editable Table technology, Localstorage technology, and Lay-UI component technology.

Results The new assessment system was used in an oil pipeline project in South China. The practical results show that the vulnerability assessment system of oil and gas pipeline in Natech events can not only quickly solve the vulnerability assessment results to simplify the application process of the vulnerability assessment method, but also help users identify the root causes of vulnerability differences according to the data acquisition module, providing a clear solution for reducing the vulnerability level of pipeline segments, visually displaying the vulnerability assessment results, and effectively improving the production efficiency of the vulnerability zoning map.

Conclusion The research results provide a reference for the prevention and control of Natech events of oil and gas pipelines, the identification of key vulnerable targets, and the development of information systems.