Advancing Midstream Safety: Insights From GPA Midstream 2025

The recent 2025 GPA Midstream Convention in San Antonio brought together over 1,800 professionals from across the gas processing and pipeline sector. From pipeline operators to process engineers, one message echoed through every session: health, safety, and environmental (HSE) excellence is the foundation of reliability, trust, and long-term performance.

This year’s event emphasized a new era in midstream safety management—one in which data, technology, and culture all work together to prevent incidents before they happen.

Data-Driven Safety and Reliability 

Operators are increasingly using API 754 process safety indicators to proactively track performance and guide operational decisions. By tracking near-misses and equipment reliability data, operators can identify risks early, plan the associated maintenance, and reduce unexpected downtime.

Predictive maintenance and condition-based monitoring are changing how companies manage asset integrity. These tools enable teams to detect early warning signs and take corrective action in advance, saving both costs and lives.

Collaboration across engineering, operations, and HSE teams is critical to success. This approach aligns safety and reliability objectives across an organization and helps eliminate operational silos.

Regulatory Collaboration and PHMSA Engagement 

Regulatory engagement and collaboration were a primary focus of the convention and aimed at enacting changes which will endure beyond the Trump administration. Representatives from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) emphasized reducing variability linked to geography or experience, as well as the growing importance of proactive safety management in preventing incidents and improving safety performance.

New rulemaking efforts are underway to better reflect current industry best practices and improve transparency and fairness. Changes to the Civil Penalty Worksheet enforcement and due-process framework signal an intentional improvement in information sharing and collaboration.

Environmental Excellence: From Compliance to Continuous Improvement 

Discussions at the convention highlighted the shift from periodic compliance to continuous improvement. What were once trial or short-term programs are now becoming standard practice as companies adopt these core programs:

• Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR)
• Continuous emissions monitoring
• Greenhouse gas (GHG) measurement and tracking

The GPA Midstream GHG Measurement & Abatement Committee, for instance, continues to explore best practices for emissions measurement in anticipation of establishing common frameworks for methane intensity measurement and reporting.

This forward-thinking strategy reinforces consistency across the industry and underscores that environmental responsibility is an integral part of operational success.

Modernizing Aging Infrastructure 

Aging infrastructure continues to be one of the industry’s most pressing challenges. With pipelines and facility assets that have been in service for decades, operators are applying risk-based inspection (RBI) programs to balance asset integrity, regulatory compliance, and cost efficiency.

People Power: Sustaining a Strong Safety Culture 

Despite increasing reliance on data and automation, people are still the key to HSE performance. The midstream sector faces an aging workforce, and valuable experience is being lost as people retire. To combat this, companies are taking proactive steps to reduce the loss of institutional expertise and develop a new generation of leaders. Examples include:

• Developing mentorship programs that enable experienced workers to teach others
• Leveraging digital and simulation-based safety training
• Encouraging open communication and visible (and engaged) leadership to foster trust

Creating a strong safety culture means giving everyone the power to engage and speak up, to share what they learn, and keep improving.

The Bottom Line: Safety as a Strategic Advantage 

The 2025 GPA Midstream Convention made it clear: HSE excellence isn’t just about compliance; it’s about continuous improvement that creates a competitive advantage.

Companies that invest in their people, technology, and continue to encourage collaboration between HSE, engineering, and operations will set the standard in an era of higher expectations for safety, sustainability, and transparency.

Reach out to our experts to learn how we can help you stay ahead of evolving industry standards.