COURSE OVERVIEW

This practical and highly-interactive course includes
real-life case studies and exercises where participants
will be engaged in a series of interactive small groups
and class workshops.
Aboveground atmospheric storage tanks store a diverse
variety of liquids used in the hydrocarbon processing
industry at oil/gas fields, refineries, petrochemical plants,
marine terminals, bulk storage, oil depots and marketing
terminals. They are also part of the support facilities in
other industries, such as fuel storage tanks at power
plants. These tanks have gained importance and visibility
in recent years due to failures that have resulted in
hydrocarbon spills and environmental impact. Following
these incidents, there has been a marked increase in
governmental regulation and industry attention to tanks.
Therefore, establishing a programme for evaluating the
structural integrity of aboveground atmospheric storage
tanks has become an important priority.
A tank maintenance, inspection, and integrity evaluation
programme can only be effective if it also considers tank
design requirements. Recognizing the primary features of
these tanks and understanding how they are designed
provide the information needed to better understand their
maintenance and inspection requirements. The first part of
this course focuses on atmospheric storage tank design
requirements in accordance with API 650.
Once the basics of storage tank design have been established, the course will turn to
inspection and maintenance requirements in accordance with API 653. The course
includes slides of actual installations, sample problems, and classroom exercises to
illustrate specific points and give course participants the opportunity to practice application
of the topics discussed. It is recommended that participants bring copies of API 650 and
API 653 to the course. Participants are asked to bring their laptops or hand-held
calculators to the course.
This course is intended to give participants a comprehensive understanding of the design,
construction, inspection and maintenance of above ground storage tanks which are used
in the refining and chemicals industries. It will include an introduction to the API Standard
650 and API Standard 653 and will cover industry practices for long term tank
maintenance, inspection and best practices for sustaining operational integrity. The focus
of the course will be on introducing work practices for tank
operation/inspection/maintenance which are practical and have proven successful in
preventing unplanned outages and major incidents.