Risk Assessment of Oil and Gas Pipelines Failure in Vietnam

Pipelines in the oil and gas industry have been used as one of the most practical and inexpensive methods for large-scale oil and gas transportation. In harsh operating conditions, these pipelines are susceptible to failure, which causes leakage of oil and gas and a significant impact on the environment and economy. Therefore, operational failure risk in oil and gas pipelines is paramount. This paper proposes a model to study the risk assessment of natural gas release in onshore gas pipelines in Vietnam. The methodology analyzes the causes of the failure of the gas pipeline by integrating Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and fuzzy theory. Monte Carlo simulation is used to evaluate the level of uncertainty. The study identifies 21 risk factors that lead to the failure of the pipelines. The results of a case study on two pipelines in Vietnam reveal that the risk of pipeline failure due to rupture is higher than the failure risk due to puncture. Results also show that corrosion has lower chances of pipeline failure. However, it carries catastrophic consequences.