Every day in Alberta, a complex network of pipelines operates right under our feet, moving oil and gas to markets at home and beyond. Oil and gas pipelines stretch more than 440 000 kilometres across the province. Our job is to regulate these pipelines and ensure that they’re safe.
Which pipelines are we responsible for?
We regulate oil and gas pipelines within the borders of Alberta. Most of the pipelines we are responsible for are smaller lines that connect individual wells to processing facilities, which then connect to larger-diameter lines. The Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) regulates utility pipelines in Alberta, and the Canada Energy Regulator regulates oil and gas pipelines that cross provincial or international borders. We manage incidents and inspections for gas utility pipelines on behalf of the AUC under a memorandum of understanding between the AUC and AER. For more information, see Pipelines in Alberta: what landowners need to know.
Types of Pipelines
Pipelines transport various liquids and gases. In 2023,
- 56% of the pipeline inventory carried natural gas,
- 16% oil-well effluent,
- 6% produced water,
- 5% sour natural gas (natural gas with hydrogen sulphide concentrations greater than 1%),
- 5% fuel gas,
- 4% crude oil, and
- 8% other substances, such as fresh water and sales-grade petroleum products
How We Regulate Pipelines
Our work starts before a pipeline is built and continues after it is no longer in use. From the time a pipeline application is submitted through to the pipeline’s construction, operation, and closure, our requirements help ensure that it is designed, operated, and decommissioned safely and that the land is returned to an equivalent land capability.
Rules and Requirements
Each company must comply with the rules, regulations, and requirements listed below throughout the life of each pipeline they own:
- Pipeline Act
- Pipeline Rules
- Directive 077: Pipelines – Requirements and Reference Tools
- Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Z662: Oil and Gas Pipeline Systems.
Companies must identify, manage, monitor, and address any potential hazards associated with each pipeline, including developing comprehensive integrity management programs and safety and loss management systems to manage potential risks.
Over the years, Alberta’s pipeline requirements have been examined against those of other regulators globally to ensure that we follow best practices. See how we have improved our requirements to reduce pipeline incidents.
Compliance and Enforcement
We conduct regular inspections and audits to ensure companies are following requirements and monitoring for potential risks. If a company is not complying with our requirements, or if there is a risk to the public or the environment, we can immediately suspend the pipeline until the problems are resolved.
We will take appropriate compliance and enforcement actions and publish our findings on the Compliance Dashboard.
When an Incident or Emergency Occurs
Report all incidents for AER-regulated pipelines to us, including when there is contact with a pipeline but no leak. Pipeline incidents can be caused by
- corrosion due to poor maintenance or construction practices,
- equipment failure,
- material and welding defects,
- natural events such as ground movement or flooding, or
- human interference (e.g., a pipeline hit by heavy equipment during a ground disturbance or damage from vandalism).
Roles and Responsibilities
Companies are responsible for all aspects of their incident response (from having a detailed emergency response plan to guide incident response through to remediating and reclaiming a site after an incident). We will assist the company in its response, and our staff are on hand to respond to environmental emergencies related to energy and mineral resource development 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Learn more about how we respond to incidents and investigate the cause.
Related Information
Every year, we publish a Pipeline Performance Report highlighting companies that are performing well and those that need to improve. We work with companies to improve their performance and prevent future incidents, whether conducting inspections and audits more often, educating them on pipeline integrity, or taking enforcement action.
The report is part of our industry performance program, which measures, evaluates, and reports on the energy and mineral resource development activities we regulate.
