Objective Impressed current cathodic protection technology is used in the field of ship and marine structures increasingly, but the attendant stray currents is likely to lead subsea pipeline itself or its sacrificial anode cathodic protection system near the platform to suffer from electrochemical corrosion, which can shorten the submarine pipeline’s operation life, and even destroy the structure of the pipeline and cause serious accidents. Therefore, it is necessary to predict the adverse influence which impressed current cathodic protection system may cause on subsea pipelines and its sacrificial anode cathodic protection system. Methods This paper presented a numerical simulation method based on the boundary element method to predict the influence of stray current on submarine pipelines. The mathematical model including the control equation and the corresponding boundary conditions was established to calculate the position and range of protection potential of the submarine pipeline which was influenced by the stray current, and the distribution of surface protection potential in the affected area could also be obtained. Results By comparing the results of model experiment in laboratory and numerical simulation, the accuracy of the method for predicting the influence of stray currents on subsea pipeline was validated. The largest percentage error of numerical simulation results compared to experimental measurements was about 1.7%, and the average of percentage error was less than 0.2%, consequently the numerical simulation results accurately predicted the protection potential distribution of the subsea pipeline model, in other words, the numerical simulation results predicted the influence of impressed current cathodic protection system of the jacket platform on subsea pipeline model by stray current. Conclusion The boundary element cathodic protection numerical simulation software used in this study could accurately predict the influence of stray current on the potential distribution of submarine pipeline, and it could be a powerful tool for study on prediction of influence of stray current on the potential distribution of submarine pipeline.