A system reliability estimation method for spatial jacket platforms is developed in this paper. The jacket platform is modeled into three-dimensional assembly of spatial beam and plate elements in Finite Element Method (FEM). The limit failure states correspond to collapse of a series of structural members which are identified by engineering design criteria. In this paper the following aspects are taken into account: the punching shear and buckling failures in member failure modes for the tubular joints and tubular columns respectively; incremental loading approach for establishment of the safety margin equations of system failure; the algorithm of enumerating significant failure modes for the structural systems and other concepts, such as the false failure mode and the virtual limit state. The final work is devoted to the reliability analysis for a practical jacket platform presently put into operation on the Bohai Sea. The computed results shows that method suggested in this paper is feasible and effective for the evaluation of the system reliability of offshore platforms.