USA Banner

Official US Government Icon

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure Site Icon

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Oil Pipeline Profile

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Oil Pipeline Profile

Excel | CSV

FINANCIAL

  1960 1970 1980 1990 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Operating revenues, total ($ millions) 895 1,396 7,548 8,506 8,676 9,077 8,637 8,632 8,579 9,067 8,958 9,066 U U U U U U U
FERC-regulated 770 1,188 6,340 7,164 7,353 7,751 7,310 7,278 7,212 7,645 7,551 7,649 7,812 7,704 8,020 7,917 8,517 8,996 9,244
Nonregulated 125 208 1,208 1,342 1,323 1,326 1,327 1,354 1,367 1,422 1,407 1,417 U U U U U U U

INVENTORY

  1960 1970 1980 1990 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Number of FERC-regulated companies 87 101 130 150 158 161 160 U U 184 U U U 195 195 197 U U 195
Number of employees, pipeline companiesa 23,100 17,600 21,300 18,500 17,100 15,100 14,500 14,200 13,800 13,060 13,230 13,680 12,360 12,500 12,840 13,040 12,770 13,080 14,220
Miles of pipeline (statute miles)b, all lines 190,944 218,671 218,393 208,752 190,350 181,912 177,535 179,873 178,648 177,463 176,996 154,877 149,619 139,901 142,200 131,348 140,861 147,235 146,822
Crude lines 141,085 146,275 129,831 118,805 103,277 97,029 92,610 91,523 87,663 86,369 85,480 52,386 52,854 50,149 50,749 46,234 47,617 46,658 50,214
Product lines 49,859 72,396 88,562 89,947 87,073 84,883 84,925 88,350 90,985 91,094 91,516 85,214 80,551 75,565 76,258 71,310 81,103 85,666 84,914

PERFORMANCE

  1960 1970 1980 1990 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Intercity ton-miles, total (millions) 229,000 431,000 588,200 584,100 591,400 601,100 619,200 616,500 619,800 617,700 577,300 576,100 586,200 590,200 599,600 607,500 581,300 557,700 U
Crude oil N N 362,600 334,800 322,600 335,900 338,300 337,400 334,100 321,100 283,400 277,000 286,600 284,500 283,700 293,500 300,500 266,600 U
Petroleum products N N 225,600 249,300 268,800 265,200 280,900 279,100 285,700 296,600 293,900 299,100 299,600 305,700 315,900 314,000 280,800 291,100 U
Tons transported (millions) 468.0 790.2 921.0 1,057.4 1,063.6 1,074.3 1,114.1 1,108.0 1,116.3 1,125.2 1,146.8 1,123.4 U U U U U U U
Average length of haul (statute miles)                                      
Crude oil 325 300 871 812 778 797 779 781 767 766 U U U U U U U U U
Petroleum products 269 357 414 387 414 402 413 413 420 418 U U U U U U U U U

SAFETY

  1960 1970 1980 1990 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Fatalities N 4 4 3 1 3 5 0 2 4 1 0 1 0 5 2 0 4 2
Injured personsc N 21 15 7 7 11 13 5 6 20 4 10 0 5 16 2 2 10 2
Incidents N 351 246 180 245 188 194 171 153 167 146 130 (R) 150 (R) 134 (R) 146 (R) 143 (R) 120 120 145

KEY: FERC = Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; N = data do not exist; R = revised; U = data are unavailable.

a Includes companies whose pipelines carry crude petroleum, petroleum products, and nonpetroleum pipeline liquids.

b Mileages of oil pipeline for years 1960-2000 include regulated and unregulated trunk and gathering crude lines, as well as refined oil trunk lines. Beginning in 2001, data include information for FERC-regulated oil pipeline companies only. For years 2001 and after, total miles of pipeline include both trunk and gathering lines, whereas the individual components, namely, crude and product lines, include the mileages of trunk lines only. Thus, details do not add to the total for this period.

c Injured persons does not include the 1,851 injuries that required medical treatment, caused by severe flooding near Houston, Texas, reported for October, 1994.

NOTE

The Interstate Commerce Committee regulated oil pipelines in the 1960s and 1970s.

The reporting criteria changed in 2002 adding small spills down to 5 gallons. The change was instituted on Feb. 7, 2002. For continuity with past trending, the data from post-2/7/2002 accidents used in the statistical summary includes only accidents meeting the reporting criteria: Accidents with gross loss greater than or equal to 50 barrels; those involving any fatality or injury; fire/explosion not intentionally set; Highly Volatile Liquid releases with gross loss of 5 or more barrels; or those involving total costs greater than or equal to $50,000.

SOURCES

Financial:

Operating revenues, total and nonregulated:

Eno Transportation Foundation, Inc., Transportation In America 2002 (Washington, DC: 2002), pp. 38 and 39, and similar tables in earlier editions.

Operating revenues, FERC-regulated:

1960-2001: Eno Transportation Foundation, Inc., Transportation In America 2002 (Washington, DC: 2002), pp. 38 and 39, and similar tables in earlier editions.

2002-2008: PennWell Corporation, Oil and Gas Journal: Transportation Special Report (Houston, TX), pp. 63 and similar table in earlier editions.

Inventory:

Number of FERC-regulated companies:

1960-96: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, personal communication.

1999: Ibid., available at www.ferc.fed.us/oil/oil_list.htm as of June 21, 2001.

2003: Ibid., available at www.ferc.fed.us/oil/oil_list.htm as of Aug. 26, 2004.

2004: Ibid., available at www.ferc.fed.us/oil/oil_list.htm as of Mar. 16, 2005.

2005: Ibid., available at www.ferc.fed.us/oil/oil_list.htm as of Oct. 27, 2006.

2008: Ibid., available at www.ferc.fed.us/oil/oil_list.htm as of Mar. 09, 2010.

Number of employees, pipeline companies:

1960-80: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment, Hours and Earnings, United States, 1909-94 (Washington, DC: September 1994), SIC 46.

1990-1994: Ibid., Hours and Earnings, United States, 1988-1996 (Washington, DC: July 1996), SIC 46.

1995-98: Ibid., available at www.bls.gov, SIC 46, as of Apr. 19, 1999.

1999-2001: Ibid., available at http://www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm, SIC 46, as of Feb. 22, 2010.

2002-08: Ibid, available at http://www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm, NAICS 486100 and NAICS 486900, as of Feb. 22, 2010.

Miles of pipeline (statute miles), all lines:

1960-2000: Eno Transportation Foundation, Inc., Transportation In America 2002 (Washington, DC: 2002), pp. 58 and 59, and similar tables in earlier editions.

2001-2008: PennWell Corporation, Oil and Gas Journal: Transportation Special Report (Houston, TX), pp. 76 and similar table in earlier editions.

Performance:

Intercity ton-miles, total and tons transported:

1960-70: Ibid., Transportation in America, 1998 (Washington, DC: 1998), p. 44 and Transportation in America, Supplement, 1999 (Washington, DC: 1999).

1980-98: Ibid., Transportation in America, 2002 (Washington, DC: 2002), p. 53, and similar tables in earlier editions.

1999-2007: Association of Oil Pipe Lines, Shifts in Petroleum Transportation (Washington, DC), tables 1, 2 and 3, available at http://www.aopl.org/publications/ as of Feb. 19, 2010.

Average length of haul:

1960-70: Ibid., Transportation In America 1999 (Washington, DC: 1999), p. 71.

1980-99: Ibid.,Transportation In America 2000 (Washington, DC: 2000), p. 51.

Safety:

U.S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Office of Pipeline Safety, Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Operators Accident Summary Statistics, available at http://ops.dot.gov/stats/lq_sum.htm as of July 15, 2010, and earlier tables for 1970 and 1980 data.