Collection and analysis of hydrocarbon gas buried onshore pipeline accidents in Indonesia as the databases for failure frequency assessment in a quantitative risk analysis

Abstract

AbstractAs of May 31, 2022, approximately 18,687 km of gas pipeline has been built in Indonesia. However, the pipeline failure data are yet to be gathered or evaluated. In quantitative risk assessment (QRA), the pipeline failure frequency is calculated by a generic failure frequency approach. Most of these generic failure frequency data are based on other region pipeline incident databases. This paper aims to provide the basis of data for the failure frequency of Indonesia's buried onshore pipeline. Accident data from 1127.9 km of underground onshore gas pipelines within 30 years (1976–2006) in Indonesia were gathered and assessed to provide the cause and effect of pipeline age and diameter on the generic failure rate. This research reveals the average failure rate of 5.32E‐04/km‐year of onshore pipelines in Indonesia. The study concluded that baseline failure frequencies from this analysis could be used for buried onshore pipeline quantitative risk assessment purposes. Further pipeline failure research for a relatively current period (e.g., from 2006 to 2022), type of installation (e.g., buried, or non‐buried), and other applications of the pipeline (e.g., offshore pipeline) should be conducted as a way forward for this study to have a complete database for Indonesian accidents.