Development status of oil & gas pipeline integrity management specification in China and the USA and their differences

The construction of oil & gas pipelines develops very quickly in China and it is necessary to expedite the construction of pipeline integrity management specification system. The pipeline integrity management law and standard system is relatively complete in the USA, so the development status and common grounds of pipeline integrity management in China and the USA were reviewed by means of the comparative analysis method. Then, the characteristics and differences of both countries' key oil and gas pipeline technical terms were analyzed in detail, such as baseline assessment, high consequence area identification, integrity assessment and maintenance. And finally, existing problems and future development direction of China's current oil and gas pipeline integrity management were pointed out from the aspects of standard system, supervision and technology application. It is indicated that in the USA, the minimum requirements of integrity assessment has been extended to the middle consequence areas and hydrostatic test and ultrasonic guided wave defect detection have been included in the oil and gas pipeline integrity assessment technology system. And in China, new requirements on in-service oil and gas pipeline pressure test are proposed. China shall learn from the USA about its technology systems and advanced concepts of oil and gas pipeline integrity management to establish the suitable pipeline integrity management specification system and government supervision system in China with the help of oil and gas pipeline risk control.