THE SCALE AND THE CHALLENGE
In the fourth of our ‘Women in Tanks’ series, Xiling ‘Tess’ Zhou talks about her affinity to the industry and the joy of an international community It’s fair to say that Xiling ‘Tess’ Zhou loves the tank storage industry, and she is a bit of a newcomer. Having spent much of her career with technology companies in the US and Belgium, she found herself looking for a new challenge in early 2015 and began to seek out meetings with companies in various industries. It was LBC Tank Terminals that caught her attention. ‘I felt an immediate affinity to the […]
THE WIRELESS REVOLUTION
TWTG’s CTO John Tillema provides insights into the benefits of LoRaWAN When an IT architect plans any industrial network capable of supporting a next-generation oil or gas facility over potentially the next couple of decades, it will always be reliability and security at the top of the priority list. Very swiftly follow functionality, scalability, and future flexibility. Getting the balance right is always difficult and depends significantly on the demands and ambitions. Today, as technology advances at a remarkable pace, IT architects are deliberating on which technology protocol to base their designs. Traditionally, networks were only ever based upon hardwired […]
EXPANDING IN OMAN
OTTCO’s CEO Ard Van Hoof updates Tank Storage Magazine on developments in Ras Markaz and Duqm as well as the implications of COVID-19 and the energy transition Things are busy for Oman Tank Terminal Company (OTTCO) at the moment, between building and expansion work at its Ras Markaz crude oil hub, and a new agreement signed with Oman Oil Marketing Company (OOMCO). It seems, then, a great time to speak to OTTCO CEO Ard Van Hoof, about his company and its plans. ‘OTTCO is a member of Duqm Economic Special Zone (SEZAD), having joined in 2012. OTTCO was established with […]
ADVANCEMENT THROUGH INVOLVEMENT
ILTA’s first Young Terminal Industry Professionals (Y-TIP) Symposium explored how best to support under-35s in the industry On 6 April 2021, the International Liquid Terminals Association (ILTA) held its inaugural Young Terminal Industry Professionals (Y-TIP) Symposium, supported by Aramco and Tank Storage Magazine. It was aimed at young terminal industry professionals, their managers and mentors, and others who wanted to learn more about the best ways to recruit, retain and support the careers of young terminal industry professionals. The event was hosted by ILTA president Kathryn Clay. ‘We are actively looking forward to hearing from all of you what else […]
VAPOUR CONTROL FOR CRUDE OIL STORAGE
Aereon’s Marco Puglisi looks at the challenges and solutions The aim of vapour control is to reduce emissions of harmful or toxic substances into the atmosphere. Vapour control is particularly important for volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions resulting from end-of-pipe operations, such as the loading, storage and distribution of volatile organic liquids like gasoline and naphtha. The presence of VOCs in the atmosphere creates pollution and has a harmful impact for two main reasons. Combined with the UV rays from the sun, they enhance the formation of ozone (O3), which has an adverse effect for human health and vegetation. Also, […]
MANAGING VAPOUR RECOVERY SYSTEMS WELL
Jeff Robson from Flotech, an Adler and Allan company, looks at the options Controlling volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions resulting from the storage of petrol and its distribution through vapour recovery systems, such as those employing carbon adsorption, was cemented into legislation in 1996. As most units are now 16–25 years old, owners are likely to be looking to upgrade or decommission them. However, with the need to diversify energy infrastructure in the race to net-zero, it can be difficult to justify the cost of managing ageing hydrocarbon infrastructure. LEGISLATION It was estimated that in 1988 the evaporation of hydrocarbon […]
REDUCING CARBON FOOTPRINTS AND COSTS OF OPERATION
Zeeco’s Marty Smith discusses downstream terminal emission control equipment The petroleum industry continues to search for ways to reduce operating costs on the downstream terminal level, while still maintaining company cultures and meeting business commitments. Environmental rules are typically updated each year to drive down emissions, reduce occurrences of spills, and improve the overall safety of operations. While working toward continuous improvement in those areas has been a positive for the industry, it has continued to increase the cost of operations. Even now, capital expense decisions are being strongly based on environmental social and corporate governance (ESG) thought processes, deciding […]
NO-MAN-ENTRY: THE SAFEST, MOST EFFICIENT METHOD OF TANK CLEANING
AWE’s robotic technology minimises human risk and maximises productivity Asia Waterjet Equipment’s (AWE’s) mission is to champion a safer and more efficient environment for customers and their workforce. It understands the problems customers can face in industrial cleaning applications and seeks to address these with technology and expertise. Obtaining permits to work, mobilisation and training of personnel all eat into productive time and increase costs. To support this, AWE has partnered with the best technology providers in the sector, to offer both sale and rental options for projects with CAPEX constraints and have a team of expert operators ready to […]
AUTOMATED TANK LEAK DETECTION USING OPTICAL GAS IMAGING
Opgal’s Ram Hashmonay looks at the benefits of long-range technology Optical gas imaging (OGI) technology has proved to be a very effective tool for locating small leaks and fugitive emissions in petroleum refineries and other oil and gas facilities. Traditionally, OGI technology is primarily portable, mid-wave infrared (MWIR), cryogenically cooled detector cameras, for imaging volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Since its inception in the early 2000s, OGI technology has gradually developed along with the slow regulatory process and acceptance. OGI technology is currently the preferred technology for detecting leaks and emissions of hydrocarbon compounds worldwide. The technology is based on thermal […]
A FUTUREPROOF APPROACH TO LEAK DETECTION
Atmos International’s innovative, non-intrusive solutions for pipeline leak detection can be deployed anywhere they are needed with 3.5 million km of pipeline throughout the world and with this to increase by a further 12% by 2022, pipelines are still the safest form of transport for the supply of energy, as they are less exposed to environmental and socioeconomic risks. However, with the social movement to a clean and sustainable renewable energy economy, pipelines’ future will depend on the technology that can be applied to their construction, operation and maintenance. The application and management of operational software and leak detection systems […]
OT INSIGHT – THE OT MONITORING SOLUTION
Ilya Tillekens from Hudson Cybertec looks at how to protect operational technology infrastructure from cyber threats Current threats require tank terminal organisations to be aware of security at all times. Do you know how secure your operational technology (OT) infrastructure is at this moment? Specifically of your OT network? Is your infrastructure adequately protected against cyber threats like unknown or rogue devices, (new) vulnerabilities and malware like ransomware? To protect your OT network environment, threats must be identified and acted upon as soon as they are detected. Suspicious network traffic must be analysed and measures taken before an incident occurs. […]
THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENCE FOR INDUSTRIAL NETWORKS
Learn about the importance of operational technology security and how Procentec’s four new solutions can help The importance of IT security has been acknowledged by experts for years, whereas securing industrial control systems seems to have been overlooked. Whilst attacks on operational technology (OT) environments are becoming more frequent, companies are looking for ways to eliminate network vulnerabilities and bridge the gap between OT and IT. Procentec, the global leader in diagnostic and monitoring solutions, has sparked a widespread interest in the industry with the release of four major solutions to strengthen industrial network security. SPOTTING BOTH EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL […]
HOW A SUEZ CANAL BLOCKADE AFFECTS OIL FLOWS
Vortexa analysts examine the consequences of the Ever Given’s grounding The blockade of the Suez Canal by the grounded mega-containership Ever Given for close to a week in late March 2021 made it onto news channels worldwide. The reason is that sizeable chunks of global seaborne trade pass through the bottleneck daily, including various relevant clean and dirty oil flows. This article will review the extent to which oil flows were disrupted/delayed and how close the world was to serious supply outages. SUEZ CANAL AS A MAJOR WORLD CHOKEPOINT The grounding of the Ever Given has done more than shed […]
ONE YEAR ON
Alex Booth from Kpler looks at how global crude storage levels are adjusting to a post COVID-19 environment the rapid build-up of crude oil-on-water and the subsequent transition to onshore inventories through the second quarter of 2020 has been well covered, including in a previous article for this publication (see p42 in August/September 2020) Since peaking in early July at 3.77 billion bbl, onshore inventories drew by 770,000 bpd through the second half of the year, hitting 3.64 billion bbl by the end of December 2020. Since that point, global inventories as tracked by Kpler have moved largely sideways. Data […]
AN OASIS FOR CHEMICAL STORAGE AND DISTRIBUTION IN UAE
Goodrich’s chemical storage facility in Jebel Ali, UAE, goes beyond storage Goodrich MARITIME was established in 1997 and is headquartered in India. It is active in all areas of shipping and logistics, including chartering, ship agency, non-vessel-operating common carrier (NVOCC) services, chemical logistics, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) logistics, global freight forwarding, airfreight, other agency operations and broking activities. The promotors understood the need to be different from their competitors and the need to develop novel service products and solutions. Today Goodrich Group has 12 international offices and 23 offices in India. CHEMICAL LOGISTICS The chemical logistics division of Goodrich […]
EXOLUM, THE NEW CLH BRAND TO ADAPT TO THE ENERGY TRANSITION
Exolum CEO Jorge Lanza explains the company’s transition from CLH Exolum is the brand name we have selected for the performance of our activities and with which we will face our ambitious objectives for the future, focussed on adapting our business to decarbonisation and the energy transition, digitalisation and the fight against climate change. This brand change stems from the need to adapt to a changing environment and the transformation of the company itself. In the last six years, we have carried out an ambitious international expansion project which has enabled us to become the industry leader in […]
LOOKING BEYOND OIL
Highlight’s from this year’s online Terminal of Tomorrow conference, hosted by StocExpo and Tank Storage Magazine COVID-19 has without doubt accelerated the energy transition and there was a significant amount of interest in StocExpo and Tank Storage Magazine’s first online event – with over 720 registrations from 75 different countries. Day one featured speakers from three of the leading terminal operators: Exolum, Oiltanking and Vopak. Jorge Lanza, CEO of Exolum, kicked off the event by explaining why the company has changed its name from CLH. The new name, he said, symbolises the company’s commitment to evolve beyond the traditional hydrocarbon […]
OPPORTUNITY AND VARIETY
Jen Penner tells Tank Storage Magazine about her love of a challenge and finding her feet as an engineer Jen Penner is a project manager at Canadian Tank & Vessel, a Saskatoon, Canada-headquartered company which builds, repairs, and maintains storage tanks and spheres. Like so many of us, her career path was not exactly planned. ‘I graduated from university with dual degrees in chemical engineering and biology and to be honest had no idea what I wanted to do or what career path I was going to take. If you asked me in university why I went into engineering […]
A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO ENERGY STORAGE
Anneli Teelahk from the European Association for Storage of Energy (EASE) looks at how energy storage can support the energy transition Nowadays, climate and energy issues are so strictly related that they can almost be regarded as two sides of the same coin. Energy production and consumption have a key influence on the ongoing global warminacg process. At the same time, climate change affects the whole energy system, requiring low carbon technologies that deeply modify the way energy is produced and transmitted. At the Paris climate conference in December 2015, 195 countries adopted the first ever universal, legally binding global […]
2020: THE YEAR OIL STORAGE ENTERED THE MAINSTREAM
COVID-19 and its knock-on effects gave much for discussion at the 14th S&P Global Platts European Oil Storage Conference The 14th S&P Global Platts European Oil Storage Conference, with the theme ‘Navigating uncertainty for energy storage markets’, was held online in 2021, a further example of the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world. And things are certainly still very uncertain. While the global vaccine rollout begins, progress is rapid in some places and slow in others, many places are still in lockdown, travel bans remain in place and cases and deaths continue to rise. As Tank Storage […]
HAS COVID-19 ACCELERATED THE ENERGY TRANSITION ACROSS ASIA?
Read what Yuan-Sheng Yu and Tom Smeenk had to say at the most recent Tank Talk webinar Two of the hottest topics in the last year have been the COVID-19 epidemic and the energy transition. With the pandemic causing a drop in demand for oil, the collapse of the oil price, a super contango and market difficulties everywhere, Tank Storage Magazine invited two experts to discuss whether these difficulties had caused companies in Asia to turn to other, greener sources of energy. In other words, has COVID-19 accelerated the energy transition across Asia? KEY TRENDS IN A POST-COVID ENERGY […]
INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM FOR MITIGATION OF VAPOUR CLOUD EXPLOSIONS
Total’s Dirk Roosendans, Pol Hoorelbeke and Christian Kapp explain the company’s new technology the oil industry operates installations and processes with important quantities of flammable substances within a wide range of pressures and temperatures. A particular hazard for this type of installations is an accidental release of a large quantity of flammable material resulting in the formation of a flammable cloud within the installation. Historical evidence has shown that the ignition of such a cloud can lead to an explosion producing shock waves with enough energy to cause substantial damage to process plants and equipment and even lead to a […]
THE IMPORTANCE OF FLAME AND GAS DETECTORS
Tim Jones from RPS Group looks at the available guidance on the quantity and siting of flame and gas detectors FLAME and gas detection plays an important role within a structured process safety management system, in order to assure the protection of people, the environment, assets and corporate reputation. Detection is a function of both the hardware’s ability to function on demand and detectors being located in the ‘right’ place. LIMITED GUIDANCE Historically, there has been a significant effort invested in ensuring detectors function on demand and less focus given to their positioning (termed flame and gas detector mapping). This […]
PRIMED FOR SUCCESS
Mascoat introduces two new primers for use under thermal insulating coatings Protecting substrates on storage tanks from corrosion is of utmost importance to facilities of all kinds, as the consequences of not doing so can be detrimental. That protection has been a driving factor in Mascoat’s approach to the market since its inception in 1995. The company manufactures and sells products that offer true thermal insulation, but in a coating form. By adhering directly to the primer or surface, there is no internal environment in which moisture can ingress and begin the corrosion under insulation (CUI) process. The coatings are […]
A COST- AND SAFETY-CONSCIOUS APPROACH TO COATING TANK EXTERIORS
Paul Cook, of Painters USA, examines best practices for facility and terminal managers Surveys and testing are vital for delivering safety, savings and long-lasting surface coatings, regardless of where a tank is located. Here’s an example: A facility manager invited a certified NACE Institute inspector and instructor into his facility to quote a project for sandblasting and coating a tank. As the inspector examined the tank, which contained sulfuric acid, he noticed a few, almost imperceptible, spots flaking off. The tank’s top revealed slight areas where the steel had swelled (Figure 1). The inspector immediately asked if anyone had inspected […]
MIXERS, AEROPLANES AND INNOVATION
Ekaterina Tuzovskaya and Eugene Starokaznikov from SIA Saber Evnat discuss why you need a mixer, even if you do not think you really need one! Surprisingly, many representatives of the liquid bulk storage professional community believe the following two myths: Industrial in-tank mixers are required only when the blending of liquid products is the ultimate goal; and Industrial in-tank mixers are electric propeller mixers. A DEEP-DIVE INTO THE FIRST MYTH Indeed, the purpose of any mixer is to either combine one or several components (whether solid, suspension or liquid) or to preserve the uniform quality parameters. However, there is a […]
THE UNDERLYING IMPORTANCE OF SMART TANK LEVEL MONITORING
Sanjeev Verma explains how Biz4intellia’s smart tank level monitoring system can be used to gain actionable insights Traditional or manual ways of monitoring storage tanks can to lead to certain errors during the monitoring process, creating a challenging situation for the plant managers to measure the fluid quantities accurately. Above and below-ground installations require proper management and monitoring, allowing better decision-making regarding business and profits. The Internet of Things (IoT) is now helping multiple industries flourish, and is increasingly being harnessed to improve tank storage facilities. Choosing a Smart Tank Level Monitoring System Several manual methods and tools can […]
INDUSTRIAL TANK MONITORING MADE EASY
ClearBlade and Radio Bridge’s bundled IIoT tank monitoring delivers cost-effective and flexible monitoring Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platform and edge computing software company ClearBlade has been implementing complex systems for well over a decade and has seen its fair share of IIoT ‘science experiments’ over the years. While there is much excitement around the promise of IIoT, the actual business benefits and results have been hard to come by. This is because it takes several vendors to come together to deliver an IIoT solution and to date, these solutions have been long, expensive, bespoke solutions that are very difficult […]
WHY DO WE KEEP BLOWING THINGS UP?
Peter Williams from Concord Tank Corporation looks at the reasons for repeated accidents, and what everyone in the industry can do to make a difference our industry has a problem. We have been making the news for the wrong reasons. Stories like these seem to be making the nightly news headlines every few months: September 2020 – Mauritius – shipwreck and oil spill – oil polluting tropical blue waters. August 2020 – Corpus Christi pipeline explosion – four fatalities August 2020 – Pasadena refinery tank fire – tank destroyed May 2020 – Siberian oil spill – US$2.1 billion set aside […]
TANK CLEANING – THE CRUDE OIL SLUDGE PROBLEM
The DS Jet Mixing System offered by Allerion Oilfield Services can prevent the build-up of crude oil sludge crude oils have the propensity to separate into the heavier and lighter hydrocarbons from which they are composed. This is often aggravated by cool temperatures, the venting of volatile components from the crude, and by the static condition of fluid during storage. The heavy ends that separate from the crude oil and are deposited on the bottoms of storage vessels are known as ‘tank bottoms’, or ‘sludge’. It is a combination of hydrocarbons, sediment, paraffin and water. Sludge can accelerate corrosion, reduce […]
Q&A WITH TERRA INSPECTIONEERING
StocExpo presenter Marien van den Hoek, co-founder and commercial director of Terra Inspectioneering, explains why you need drones and robotics HOW DID TERRA GET STARTED WITH DRONES? After working for big companies in the process industry for more than 40 years, I started my own company in 2012, because I had a vision that in the new era of inspections in dangerous confined spaces, we should replace the people with robotics. It’s very, very difficult to make changes in the process industry and initially take-up was low. Acceptance was hindered by legislation, which is far behind what you can actually […]
EMBRACING THE DIGITAL FUTURE OF TANK TERMINALS
Staying ahead of the curve in a fluctuating market with the newest cloud services from the Implico Group THE downstream industry is always in motion. New players enter the market all the time, while existing players shift their assets, pinpoint their operations, and realign their focus points. Furthermore, the market conditions and even the legal defaults might also change from time to time. This brings about big challenges for all partakers in the trade: market volatility, oil price fluctuation, value chain fragmentation, energy transition and more. To stay ahead of the curve in this hard-to-predict setting, oil and gas companies […]
