The future of AST life cycle management
Dr Steve Ziola considers non-invasive, in-service leak detection, bottom plate assessment and sludge gauging for decades aboveground storage tank (AST) owners and operators have struggled, and spent millions, working to balance operational constraints, contractual requirements and AST integrity management. Even with no known leaks, state and federal regulations mandate costly and time-consuming periodic openings and inspections. Robotic technology has found its way into the industry and allowed for AST bottom plate inspection without personnel entry and in some cases, while the AST is in service. Even without personnel entry, AST’s must still be opened, bringing into play certain regulatory requirements […]
Understanding rope access
HMT’s Manny Williams runs through the basics of industrial rope access In less than 30 years, industrial rope access has exploded. What was once an experimental technique used to address challenging maintenance issues on offshore facilities has become a mainstream technology for accessing hard-to-reach structural elements in the petrochemical industry and beyond. As a replacement for scaffolding and other structured support methods, industrial rope access technology is less costly and time-consuming to deploy, and provides workers with more flexible access without compromising their safety. But the applicability of rope access extends far beyond this. WHAT IS ROPE ACCESS TECHNOLOGY? In […]
Rimfire protection issues
Cornelis Jan Kallemein and Maarten van Abeelen from the Safety Region Rotterdam-Rijnmond have uncovered a problem with some foam dam constructions on tank floating roofs The Rotterdam-Rijnmond area is unique due to its large harbour and industrial area. In this harbour there are a lot of vertical atmospheric storage tanks to store flammable and combustible dangerous goods. Protecting these tanks is critical to the area’s economy, environment and safety. We are the advisors of the department of industrial safety, part of the Safety Region Rotterdam-Rijnmond (the regional emergency services). We work with tank operators and tank equipment suppliers to advise […]
The three lines of environmental defence
Shirley Miles from Adler and Allan, discusses how partnering with a trusted environmental protection provider can ensure standards are implemented correctly Primary (tank), secondary (bund) and tertiary (separator) containment systems are the first, second and third line of defence against environmental pollution. Regular asset maintenance is essential to keep all pollution prevention equipment working at optimum efficiency, safeguarding operations handling and storing oil or other hazardous materials. WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY? Two of the key pieces of legislation on containment are: The Water Resources Act 1991 states that ‘It is an offence to cause or knowingly permit any poisonous, […]
Why install lightning protection on a process control plant?
Understanding the differences between different types of lightning protection with Lightning Master MORE AND more plants are being equipped with structural lightning protection (lightning rod) systems. Many of these are ‘fuzzy ball’ lightning rods, but what are they? In high lightning areas, plant operators understand that lightning is a real problem, damaging equipment and producing plant outages and down time. Hence, the presence of structural lightning protection systems. However, in order to secure benefits, if any, from the system, it helps to understand the purpose, nature, and operation of such systems. INHERENT SELF-PROTECTION OF TANKS AND OTHER INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES A […]
Optimising hazard identification, control and suppression activities
Sharé Mason-Bailly and Stefano Armani from SA Fire Protection look at the options Highly flammable liquids and gases call for dedicated fire protection. As a result, a good fire safety strategy is an essential part of any terminal operator’s plan. Effective plans will include a fire detection, alarm and suppression system. Reliable detection of flames, smoke, heat and gas leaks in its incipient stage is critical in ensuring that people, property and operations are safeguarded in a fire situation. Therefore, it would be appropriate to consider the fire and gas (F&G) system as the heart of a plant’s protection system. […]
Intracontinental hydrogen supply chain development and integration
Jeannette Baljeu, a member of the executive of the Province of Zuid-Holland in the Netherlands, tells Tank Storage Magazine about the challenges and possibilities HYDROGEN IS OFTEN SAID TO BE ‘THE GAME CHANGER’ FOR INDUSTRY AND TRANSPORT. WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON THIS? As the province of Zuid-Holland we are working on sustainable solutions for industry and transport in various ways. Hydrogen is one of them. Green hydrogen is essential for the transition to a greener industry and sustainable transport. The province of Zuid-Holland focusses on a broad range of energy sources to meet the climate goals for the region. […]
Testing fluorine-free firefighting foams
Dr Niall Ramsden and Dr Eleanor Lister look at the efforts of Lastfire Group members The ISSUE of transitioning to fluorine-free foams is undoubtedly the greatest challenge currently facing industrial firefighters. Lastfire, the industry group developing best practices in storage tank fire hazard management, has taken a pragmatic approach. It is recognised that it is inevitable. It is time to stop the emotional statements and the comparison with previous types of foam and instead focus on making the process as efficient, cost effective and practicable as possible. It is also seen as an opportunity to develop a much better database […]
Under pressure
Owen Stephens, safety relief valve specialist for Nacional Safety Valves UK, discusses the importance of correctly sizing, selecting and maintaining a safety relief valve The primary reason to use a safety relief valve is to prevent a pressurised vessel or system from over pressurising. It is there to protect life, property and the environment and is the last line of defence should other safety systems fail. As the last line of defence, the accuracy and quality of a safety relief valve is paramount in ensuring an overpressure situation is avoided. Overpressure scenarios can be defined as a situation resulting from […]
Re-Gen Robotics: The by-word for safety in tank cleaning
Intelligent tank cleaning solutions for companies that prioritise safety The foundations for a new era in tank cleaning safety were laid in 2019 and in less than three years Re-Gen Robotics has already forged its reputation as the go-to company for 100% non-person entry tank cleaning solutions. With an ambitious, young, pioneering team driving the company’s success, they have singlehandedly disrupted the sector by establishing the new norms of safety, service, integrity, and trust. Managing director Fintan Duffy is at the helm of the team setting these new safety standards, unknown before in the industry. He and his team have […]
Planning for the Energy Transition
FETSA’s Ravi Bhatiani looks at the contribution of the tank storage industry The Federation of European Tank Storage Associations (FETSA) represents European national tank storage associations and independent private storage companies operating bulk liquid storage terminals. FETSA represents 141 companies operating 743 terminals across Europe. Increasingly storage assets are being used in new ways such as flow batteries, or storage for waste that can be then re-used in the circular economy. Looking to the future, whilst liquid products will evolve to meet climate obligations, the importance and function of liquid storage within European supply chains will remain constant. Key figures […]
Connections and changes
Sandra De Mey from North Sea Port on the importance of relationships with customers and colleagues Tank Storage Magazine’s Women in Tanks series has covered a variety of roles and industries relating to the tank storage industry, and in this edition, we turn to the vital port industry. Sandra De Mey is the commercial manager at North Sea Port (the Dutch-Belgian cross-border port), with responsibility for liquids, chemicals, food (non-containerised) and agri-products. Her role has two main concerns – trade and investment. ‘Trade relates to account management, so that means that you have to be very close to your clients […]
Pioneering terminalling in the Middle East
Fujairah Oil Terminal, shortlisted for the Terminal Innovation Award at the Tank Storage Global Awards, explains the innovative services it offers Over the last decade, Fujairah has seen tremendous evolution from a small costal town in northeast UAE to being the third largest oil storage, petroleum products trading centre and second largest bunkering port in the world. Fujairah offers one stop shop for traders – bunkering, trading and maintaining vessels. The Port of Fujairah system is so commercially designed that all terminals are connected to the common matrix manifold (piping/berth) system, and they have two: MM1 and MM2. This allows […]
API standard 2350 5th edition – What’s new?
Midstream consultant Earl Crochet examines the changes in the latest edition of API 2350 Earl Crochet The American petroleum institute (API) publishes industry standards, recommended practices and other documents to help industry worldwide. Typically, these documents are updated every five to seven years by members of the industry including owners/operators, manufacturers, and contractors. One of these documents that was recently updated is API Standard 2350 – Overfill Prevention for Storage Tanks in Petroleum Facilities. Table 1 compares the last three editions of API 2350 and highlights a number of changes that have taken place over the last 15 years. LOTS […]
Future fuels and future storage
Channoil’s Mark Waddington looks at the energy transition, demand developments and their impact on the storage sector in Europe The world is on a pathway to the most significant energy transition since the emergence of fossil fuels as a major global energy source. The evidence for climate change is no longer under serious dispute, the major question now, is how quickly the mitigating actions need to take place. There will be a repositioning in the tank storage sector and there will be localised casualties. Increasingly, investment is going to be driven by the requirements to be sustainable and green. The […]
Is net-zero a reality in the Middle East?
Nicholas Kramer, Angela Croker and Rekha Ajoodha from law firm Norton Rose Fulbright look at the possibilities for the energy transition in the Middle East On 12 December 2015, global leaders of 196 countries congregated at COP 21 in Paris to negotiate and resolve the world’s first legally binding treaty on climate change (the Paris Agreement), which sets a goal to limit global warming to well below 2°C, preferably to 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels. Underpinning this goal is the energy transition, aptly defined by S&P as ‘a transformation of the global energy sector from fossil-based systems of energy production […]
Looking to the futures
Siavash Alishahpour tells Tank Storage Magazine about VTTI Fujairah’s plans for growth ON 29 MARCH 2021, the new Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Futures Abu Dhabi (IFAD) commodities exchange began to trade Murban Crude futures, a new oil benchmark and the UAE’s flagship crude oil. It joined leading futures contracts including Brent and WTI in the ICE network. One Murban futures contract equates to 1,000 bbl of Murban crude oil delivered from the ADNOC Terminal located in Fujairah, UAE. With the launch of Murban futures, other terminals in Fujairah began to spy new opportunities for growth, not least Dutch terminal company VTTI, […]
Compulsory stocks for future energy carriers
Ravi Bhatiani, executive director at FETSA, looks at how requirements for compulsory stocks needs to evolve with the energy transition The storage capacity of FETSA members also includes strategic reserves held for emergencies and supply disruptions under the Compulsory Stocks Obligation (CSO). Strategic reserves has been a prominent issue in political discussions over the last few months with strategic storage of gas, as well as future energy carriers being discussed by EU heads of state and strategic oil reserves being released by major non-OPEC economies to reduce fuel prices. Today the situation on strategic storage is relatively clear cut. There […]
Navigating through the energy transition
IHS Markit’s Olivier Maronneaud looks at the effects of the energy transition on oil products, petrochemicals and subsequently tank storage companies the last 24 months and the COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedent period in many respects. For the first time in decades – except during war times – governments around the world have imposed restrictions or closed borders, limiting domestic and international travel for holidays or business. Fortunately technological improvements have allowed many of us to work from home, avoiding daily commutes on public transportation. Numerous products, markets and companies have been negatively impacted by these major disruptions and […]
Decarbonising shipping
Paul Hickin from S&P Global Platts looks at how shipping can meet decarbonisation targets Shipping’s efforts to meet decarbonisation targets will be both extremely easy and very tough. Near-term regulations look achievable while potentially shifting 2050 limits look more like ambitions than credible goals. Shipping will have to balance these competing challenges. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) agreed in its initial greenhouse strategy 2018 to reduce the carbon intensity in the global fleet by 40% in comparison to 2008 levels by 2030 and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2050. There had been talk that the IMO would […]
The changing face of liquid fuels supply
Francis Osborne from Argus Media examines government regulations, supply chain changes and emerging fuel options As unusual and catastrophic weather events increase in frequency the issue of climate change is rapidly rising up the global political agenda. The recent COP26 meeting in Glasgow may have demonstrated that the global community is still a long way from forging a collective approach but there is no denying that Europe is now well embarked on a pathway that will lead to a significant reduction in carbon emissions. Companies involved in the handling and storage of transport and other fuels must ready themselves for […]
Reimagining a terminals business
Exolum’s Andres Suárez looks back on a year of change for the company formerly known as CLH Group On 1 March 2021 , CLH Group, the leading terminal company in Europe, with operations in eight countries, announced a major rebrand, transforming itself into Exolum. The focus of the newly renamed business, as it said at the time, is on ‘adapting its business to decarbonisation and the energy transition, the digitalisation of its activities and the fight against climate change.’ As the end of 2021 approaches, Tank Storage Magazine spoke to Andres Suárez, global strategy & innovation lead and Exolum Ventures […]
Navigating to a sustainable future
Jason Hornsby tells Tank Storage Magazine about Navigator Terminals’ push towards sustainable product logistics Sustainability is not a new concept for UK tank storage and energy infrastructure company Navigator Terminals. With the recent focus on the energy transition, the COP26 conference and ever-more stringent climate targets, companies and industries the world over are looking at how to prepare for a future with less oil in it. In the tank storage world, much of the talk has been around biofuels, sustainable chemicals, and the potential fuels of the future, such as hydrogen and ammonia. Navigator has been serving these markets for […]
Preparing for the evolution of energy
Angie Murray and Carrie Weaver from Enterprise Products Partners tell Tank Storage Magazine about the company’s new focus on evolving technologies for a lower carbon economy Over the past year or two there has been an increasing interest in the energy transition and the future lower carbon economy from companies connected to the oil industry. Tank storage and midstream companies are no exception. Enterprise Products Partners, based in Houston, Texas, US, owns over 80,000 km of natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGL), crude oil, refined products and petrochemical pipelines, 260 million bbl of NGL, petrochemical, refined products and crude oil […]
The storage outlook
Nine leading tank storage experts have all made their predictions for the storage & transportation market for 2022: Rutger van Thiel, CEO, Alkion Terminals 2021 was another successful year for the Alkion Group in a challenging and changing environment. The pandemic continued to demand our vigilance, but we continued to show solid performance in terms of safety, sustainability and financially. Formed just five years ago the Alkion Group has shown itself again to be a resilient business. PANDEMIC EFFECTS Alkion’s nine terminals are located across five major European economies and integrated into numerous local, regional and national supply chains and markets […]
CRUNCH TIME
US shale drillers keep their powder dry for now, but it remains unclear how they’ll respond in 2022 as the declines in drilled but uncompleted wells (DUCs) and inventories come to bear, says Johannes Van Der Tuin Increasing global oil demand has started to revive US hydrocarbon production, but any recovery is nascent at best and – as with other areas of the global economy – the pandemic accelerated trends within the US shale patch that had already been at work prior to 2020. As the latest round of US earnings calls highlighted, management teams and investors remain focussed squarely […]
ILTA ADOPTS – AND ACTS ON – ESG PRINCIPLES
Kathryn Clay, president of the International Liquid Terminals Association (ILTA) looks at new ESG principles and the impacts of fire-fighting foam regulatory changes in the US As the terminal industry’s leading advocate in the US, the International Liquid Terminal Association (ILTA) is focussed on building a strong brand in Washington as we expand our advocacy efforts. Since the Biden Administration’s arrival earlier this year, ILTA has gone to work to educate new political appointees and career officials charged with regulating our industry. We have helped them to understand the challenges facing our industry and the opportunities for terminals to be […]
THE OUTLOOK FOR OIL STORAGE IN A LOWER-CARBON ECONOMY
Columbia University’s Antoine Halff examines the effect of changing policies under the Biden administration Joe Biden’s election to the US presidency in 2020 has ushered in a period of renewed momentum for climate policy both in Washington and beyond. In a U-turn from Donald Trump’s climate scepticism and rejection of the Paris Accord, President Biden from his first day in office has embraced a bold climate agenda, vowing to pursue an all-of-government approach to combatting climate change. Countries and companies around the world have greeted Washington’s return to the Paris fold with a flurry of net zero targets and bold […]
FROM LASERS TO TANKS
Kathryn Clay explains how a love of energy policy led her to the top of ILTA Dr Kathryn Clay is the president of the International Liquid Terminals Association (ILTA), which aims to provide a voice for the liquid terminal industry. Its terminal members come from worldwide, and includes those storing crude oil, petroleum products, asphalt, chemicals, ethanol, biodiesel, vegetable oils, molasses and fertilisers. Companies supplying the industry can also join the association. Clay joined ILTA in 2018, having applied for the position of president in 2017, seeing it as a good opportunity to take a leadership role in an organisation. […]
BRANCHING OUT INTO RENEWABLES
US industry infrastructure and supply chain services company Savage continues to grow and diversify after 75 years in business savage, based in Salt Lake City, US, is a global provider of industry infrastructure and supply chain services, and this year celebrates 75 years in business. With nearly 4,500 team members in over 200 operating locations, the privately held company has steadily grown over the years to become a leading provider of transportation, logistics, materials handling, engineering and construction services across North America. BEGINNINGS AND SERVICES A family-owned, professionally managed business, Savage had humble beginnings, starting in rural American Fork, […]
US OIL PRICES TIED TO TWO GIANTS: OPEC+, COVID-19
Paul Wiseman looks at what’s driving the latest trends As with any commodity, oil prices are ruled by two sides of the coin – supply and demand. Energy experts agree that production decisions by OPEC+ are the most important supply side influences, while COVID-19 and concerns about possible variant-induced shutdowns heavily influence demand. In its August Short Term Energy Outlook, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated OPEC+ production would average 33.0 million bpd for the second half of 2021. The most recent OPEC+ agreement called for production to rise each month by 400,000 bpd until previous cuts are fully […]
CURBING THE COMPETITION: MEXICO’S FUEL IMPORT CHANGES
Eduardo Lopez looks at the implications for importers Upon gaining power in 2018, the administration of Mexican president López Obrador launched a vociferous and strident rhetorical war against the private sector, most notably in the energy industry. The president’s ire has been directed mainly at Mexico’s energy opening, made possible in December 2013 by a long-awaited yet long-delayed constitutional reform. A salient feature of this reform was to impose a modicum of competition on the former state-owned monopolies (Pemex in the oil industry and CFE in electricity) through so-called ‘regulatory asymmetry’, which forced both companies to relinquish some of their […]
