At present, a large number of the digital technologies have been adopted in domestic long distance oil and gas pipeline construction and operation. With the continuous development of information technology and the constant improvement of automation, smart pipeline will become the future trend of pipeline construction and operation. According to investigation of the status quo of smart pipeline both at home and abroad, the difficulties and issues in smart pipeline development are analyzed, putting forward the typical overall framework of smart pipeline including data layer, service layer and application layer. Smart management platform for pipeline construction and operation shall be built up to realize the digitalized handover, intelligent operation and the full life cycle management, and to provide reference for the construction and study of domestic smart pipeline.