A feasibility study was carried out for the maintenance, rehabilitation, and upgrade of existing dirty service storage tanks in Northwest Africa, with a total capacity of more than 100,000 SCM. The assessment focused on ageing floating-roof tanks previously used for crude oil, fuel oil, slop oil, and other heavy or contaminated hydrocarbon streams, reviewing their structural condition, service history, operability, safety status, and suitability for continued use.
The study evaluated the technical requirements for converting and upgrading the tanks from dirty hydrocarbon service to cleaner refinery product storage. This included reviewing the feasibility of modifying the existing floating-roof arrangement to a fixed-roof configuration, along with tank cleaning, inspection, repair, coating, bottom plate assessment, shell integrity checks, roof modification, nozzle and piping upgrades, instrumentation, firefighting systems, bunding, and compliance with applicable storage tank standards.
The assessment provided a basis for determining whether the existing tank assets could be economically refurbished and repurposed for clean product storage, such as diesel, gasoil, kerosene, naphtha, and other refined products. The study supported decision-making on asset life extension, operational flexibility, product quality protection, safety improvement, and cost-effective utilisation of existing storage infrastructure.
