The benefits of shorting pipeline and jacket cathodic protection (CP) systems for the external protection of subsea pipelines based on data from operations in the Gulf of Mexico, Persian Gulf, North Sea, and Indonesia are discussed. Shorting, as opposed to traditional electrical isolation, is cost effective because CP surveys and future retrofits are greatly simplified, Jacket CP systems can provide protection of coated pipelines for distances much greater than normally anticipated. Some simple modelling of jacket/pipeline CP systems is used to illustrate the effect of various design parameters.