Oil and product pipelines: Efficiency and losses
Why pumping oil 1,000 km costs only 0.3% of its energy
What this tab covers How much energy is lost while it moves and while it waits in storage or transit, and how much energy the transport itself consumes, in per cent.Oil pipelines lose almost no product in normal operation. The main energy cost is the electricity used to pump the oil, about a quarter to a third of one percent of the oil's energy per 1,000 km. In some countries theft is a much bigger loss than physics.
Losses by measure
| Measure | Range | Type | What is measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pumping electricity, large crude line | 0.25 to 0.3%3 | Used to drive transport | Pumping electricity per 1,000 km (about 4.2 to 5 kWh per barrel, analyst model) as a share of crude energy content (about 1,700 kWh per barrel) (calculated) |
| Pumping energy per barrel, 500 km model line | 2.1 kWh per barrel3 | Used to drive transport | Electricity to move one barrel about 500 km in a 1 m, 1 million b/d line (analyst model estimate) |
| CO2 from pumping, 500 km model line | 0.8 kg CO2 per barrel3 | Used to drive transport | Emissions from pumping power, base case |
| Nigeria: crude reported stolen or lost, 2022 | 36.69 million barrels14 | Lost in transit | NEITI audit figure for crude losses, much of it from theft on pipelines in the Niger Delta |
| Nigeria: same losses, 2023 | 7.68 million barrels14 | Lost in transit | A fall of 79% from 2022, which NEITI credits to government measures against crude losses |
Holding periods and inventory
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Time in transit, 1,000 km of 1 m line at 1 million b/d | about 5 days (calculated from the flow speed)3 |
| Line fill held in a 1 m pipe | about 4,900 barrels per km (calculated from pipe volume)3 |
| Bypass storage near Fujairah (UAE) | 42 million barrels in the underground Mandous storage complex10 |
In a sealed, well-run pipeline the oil that goes in comes out, give or take metering error. Real losses come from leaks and spills, evaporation at tank farms and deliberate tapping. Theft is serious in the Niger Delta, where thieves drill into lines and illegal refineries process the stolen crude. Nigeria's audited losses fell sharply in 2023, but the published figures do not break down causes, so treat them with caution.
Pumping energy depends on speed and diameter. Running above design rate costs much more power per barrel, because friction grows with the square of speed; running half empty doubles the capital cost per barrel. Either way pumping energy stays well under 1% of the oil's energy per 1,000 km, even counting power-station losses (calculated).
Sources
- Pipelines: the energy economics (analyst model, updated 23 July 2026) Thunder Said Energy, 2026
- How global oil supplies have readjusted to help fill the huge gap left by the Strait of Hormuz shock IEA, 2026
- NEITI oil and gas industry report 2022-2023: presentation of final report (25 September 2024) NEITI / EITI, 2024