Due to the accident involving the rupture of  a heat transport pipe near Baekseok Station in Goyang-si in 2018, it is pointed out that the safety management system must be improved and supplemented for oil pipelines, which are similarly buried near energy facilities.

Currently, most oil pipelines have been in use for a long time, with about 97% of the pipelines in the nation being used for more than 20 years. If a leak occurs in an oil pipeline, it may lead to environmental pollution and fire, so preemptive safety management is required.

Therefore, it is urgent to introduce a precision safety diagnosis system using high-tech equipment and advanced inspection techniques, such as buried pipeline coating surveys, to prevent oil pipeline safety accidents.

Accordingly, this amendment aims to establish a legal basis for the precision safety diagnosis system for  oil pipelines that have been in service for a long time and strengthen the safety management of oil pipelines by punishing a person who refuses, interferes with, or evades the precision safety diagnosis or a person who fails to take action at an oil pipeline facility requiring measures as a result of the precision safety diagnosis with imprisonment for up to one year or a fine of up to 10 million won (Article 2, Article 8-2, and Article 15).

Implementation of precision safety diagnosis (Article 8-2)