Abstract: A method, combing the STA/LTA method in seismic identification with the negative pressure detection, was studied and applied to oil pipeline leak detection. According to the signal similarity of seismic first arrival and negative pressure produced in oil pipeline leak, the STA/LTA method was used to capture and extract the arrival time of negative pressure wave precisely. By obtaining the time delay between the stations on the two sides of the pipe, the position of leak could be calculated. Studied results indicate that, STA/LTA method can not only effectively recognize the leak signal, but also can reduce the computational complexity in the signal processing, such as the wavelet analysis. The experimental results show the superiority of the STA/LTA method, that it can recognize the negative pressure wave effectively.