This paper is examining the instabilities of reeled pipelines during spooling of initially straight or laying of initially bent pipe and sifting parametrically number of reel lay mechanisms. A combination of composite materials is studied and number of bending stability cases (i.e., ovalization and bifurcation "buckling") is discussed. It is demonstrated that composite pipeline exhibit more stability than Steel pipes. The bending stability of spooled pipeline is examined in detail and, in particular, the case on the diameter drum of the reel lay system. Moreover, results on the strain energy release in the reel lay system are presented, extending the findings of previous works on controlling the spooling or laying mechanism. © (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.