Objective As the lifeblood of the energy transmission, oil and gas pipelines must be safeguarded by robust legal systems. With a highly developed oil and gas pipeline industry, Canada has accumulated extensive experience from its progressive industrial development and has established a systematic, hierarchical, and multi-dimensional legal framework that ensures proper continuity for the safety regulation of oil and gas pipelines. Consequently, Canada’s legislative concepts and specific practices can serve as valuable references for China in its efforts to enhance the comprehensive development of its legal systems for the safety regulation of oil and gas pipelines.

Methods By analyzing Canada’s laws, regulations, and guidelines, as well as examining the safety regulation framework throughout the full lifecycle, the regulatory subjects systems, and the core safety regulation systems in this field, this study employed a comparative approach to review and analyze shortcomings and deficiencies of China’s legal systems for the safety regulation of oil and gas pipelines from a holistic perspective.

Results Canada’s legal systems in the discussed field are well-structured and comprehensive, operating within a framework that covers the full lifecycle—from application and construction to operation and abandonment. Independent energy regulators implement the regulatory subjects systems, and the core safety regulation systems include standard systems, emergency management systems, and liability and compensation systems. The findings of this study offer valuable references and insights for the development of China’s legal systems concerning the safety regulation of oil and gas pipelines: (1) comprehensively regulate from top-level legislation to normative documents based on systematicity and integrity, and improve the internal structure of the legal system for pipeline supervision as well as strengthen external connections; (2) refine and supplement the full lifecycle safety supervision of the Oil and Natural Gas Pipeline Protection Law; (3) establish a sound system of safety supervision entities, and solve the problems of inconsistent legal sources and unclear allocation of power and responsibilities in the supervision process from both horizontal and vertical dimensions; (4) optimize the core safety supervision systems such as the standard system, emergency management system, responsibility and compensation system, etc.

Conclusion It is recommended that China build comprehensive legal systems for the safety regulation of oil and gas pipelines from the standpoint of energy security, aiming to address the deficiencies in safety regulation throughout the full lifecycle governed by the Oil and Natural Gas Pipeline Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China, which serves as the foundation for safety regulation in this sector. Specific efforts should focus on further developing and optimizing the systems of safety regulators, as well as core safety regulation systems, including standard systems, emergency management systems, and liability and compensation systems.