While many operating companies within the oil and gas sector are in competition with one another at a commercial level, one thing they all agree on is the need to continually collaborate with one another when it comes to the safe and efficient operation of our energy pipelines.
Commercial issues are left at the door so that POG members can share real-world experiences of government regulation, safety and environmental concerns, equipment performance, even people issues associated with working in remote locations.
In cooperation with the APGA Secretariat, POG also hosts an Annual Seminar with speakers covering critical and emerging pipeline operation and maintenance issues. POG also has a dedicated session at the APGA Annual Convention. The POG committee meets formally twice a year the day after the POG Seminar and on the day after the Convention.
Key priorities for POG include its line-by-line review of changes to the Australian Standard 2885 and its management of the Pipeline Incident Database – a record of incidents in which pipelines have been damaged or threatened, which operators have been contributing to since the 1970s. The database is accessible only by members of POG. It is accessible via the link in the resources at the bottom of this page.
The purpose of the database is to collate an Australian relevant set of incident data that can be used to inform risk assessment processes such as Safety Management Studies. Conclusions drawn from the data may be used for a variety of purposes such as identifying key vulnerabilities, identifying the most effective pipe protection measures, demonstrating to regulators and other stakeholders that pipeline transportation is safe, and providing a basis for future revisions of AS 2885.
Despite the length of pipelines around Australia and New Zealand tripling between 1985 and 2010, the incidents causing damage to pipelines dropped by almost two-thirds during this period. There has also never been a death or injury recorded connected with damage to a pipeline in Australia. Clearly, the Australian pipeline industry has a much better operational safety record than those of Europe and North America.
Pipeline incident data is of growing interest around the world – the International Gas Union is seeking to harmonise disparate data from different countries and regions. In due course the APGA incident database will be Australia’s contribution to this work.
