This work presents a numerical methodology for the analysis of buried pipes employed by the transport of oil and gas. Both geometric and material nonlinearities are considered in a total Lagrangean formulation. A special type of beam element is employed in the finite element discretization. The equilibrium equations are formulated based on the virtual work principle considering the stress and deformation components of the beam-pipe element. The Reduced Modulus Direct Integration (RMDI) technique is employed through which the plastic material behavior is incorporated. This technique excludes from the analysis the local buckling effects of the pipe walls. The corresponding finite element matrices for this element are obtained. In this methodology the effects of the constant internal pressure as well as the soil-pipe interaction by means of elastic-plastic uplift, bearing and longitudinal springs are included. Distributed loads are considered constant with respect to the global axis. A computer code is developed according to the methodology presented. Some examples are studied with the objective to evaluate numerically the analysis results and to formulate some conclusions to the behavior of buried pipes.