OISD - 129

Amended edition

FOR RESTRICTED
CIRCULATION

No.

INSPECTION OF STORAGE TANKS

OISD - STANDARD-129
First Edition, November 1988
Amended edition, August, 1999

OIL INDUSTRY SAFETY DIRECTORATE

Government of India
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas

1
 OISD STANDARD - 129
First Edition, November 1988
Amended edition, August, 1999

FOR RESTRICTED
CIRCULATION

No.

INSPECTION OF STORAGE TANKS

Prepared by

COMMITTEE ON
INSPECTION OF STATIC EQUIPMENT

OIL INDUSTRY SAFETY DIRECTORATE

2ND FLOOR, “KAILASH”
26, KASTURBA GANDHI MARG,
NEW DELHI – 110 001

2
 NOTES

OISD publications are prepared for use in the Oil and

gas industry under Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
These are the property of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
and shall not be reproduced or copied and loaned or exhibited to
others without written consent from OISD.

Though every effort has been made to assure the

accuracy and reliability of data contained in these documents,
OISD hereby expressly disclaims any liability or responsibility for
loss or damage resulting from their use.

These documents are intended only to supplement and

not replace the prevailing statutory requirements.

Note 1 in superscript indicates the

modification/changes/addition based on the
amendments approved in the 17th Safety Council
meeting held in July, 1999.

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 FOREWORD

The Oil Industry in India is 100 years old. Because of

various collaboration agreements, a variety of international
codes, standards and practices have been in vogue.
Standardisation in design philosophies and operating and
maintenance practices at a national level was hardly in
existence. This, coupled with feed back from some serious
accidents that occurred in the recent past in India and abroad,
emphasized the need for the industry to review the existing state
of art in designing, operating and maintaining oil and gas
installations.

With this in view, the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural

Gas, in 1986, constituted a Safety Council assisted by Oil
Industry Safety Directorate (OISD) staffed from within the
industry in formulating and implementing a series of self
regulatory measures aimed at removing obsolescence,
standardising and upgrading the existing standards to ensure
safe operations. Accordingly, OISD constituted a number of
functional committees comprising of experts nominated from the
industry to draw up standards and guidelines on various
subjects.

The present document on “Inspection of Storage Tanks

was prepared by the Functional Committee on “Inspection of
Static Equipment”. This document is based on the accumulated
knowledge and experience of industry members and the various
national and international codes and practices. This document
is meant to be used as a supplement and not as a replacement
for existing codes and standards. It is hoped that the provisions
of this document, when adopted may go a long way to improve
the safety and reduce accidents in the oil and gas Industry.
Users of this document are cautioned that no standard can be a
substitute for a responsible qualified Inspection Engineers.
Suggestions are invited from the users after it is put into practice
to improve the document further.

This standard in no way supersedes the

statutory regulations of CCE, Factory Inspectorate or other
Government bodies, which must be followed as applicable.

Suggestions for amendments to this document should

be addressed to

The Coordinator,
Committee on “Inspection of Static Equipment,
Oil Industry Safety Directorate,
2nd Floor, “Kailash”
26, Kasturba Gandhi Marg,
New Delhi – 110 001

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 COMMITTEE
ON
INSPECTION OF STATIC EQUIPMENT

List of Members
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name Designation & Position in
Organisation Committee
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Sh. R.K. Sabharwal CMNM-IOC (R & P) Leader

2. Sh.A.S. Soni DGM (P)-ONGC Member

3. Sh.R.H. Vohra DGM-(E) IOC (Mktg.) Member

4. Sh.D.P. Dhall Chief Inspection & AE

Manager-BPC (Refinery) Member

5. Sh.P. Dasgupta Sr.Manager( Inspection) IOC Member

(R & P)

6. Sh.I.M. Advani MGR (PROJ) HPC (REF) Member

7. Sh.R.M.N. Marar Jt.Director OISD Member

Co-ordinator.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition to the above several other experts from the industry contributed in the
preparation, review and finalisation of this document.

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 INSPECTION OF STORAGE TANKS

CONTENTS

SECTION PAGE NO.

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Scope

3.0 Definitions
3.1 Atmospheric Storage Tanks
3.2 Low Pressure Storage Tanks
3.3 Types of Storage Tanks
3.3.1 Fixed Roof Tanks
3.3.2 Floating Roof Tanks
3.3.3 Fixed-cum-Floating Roof Tanks
3.3.4 Open Roof Tanks (Without Roof)
3.3.5 Horizontal Cylindrical Tanks

4.0 Role of Inspection

5.0 Tools Required for Inspection

6.0 Inspection of Tanks During Fabrication

7.0 Check list for Inspection of Storage Tanks Before Commissioning

8.0 Likely Areas of Metal Wastage

8.1 Bottom Plates
8.2 Shell Plates
8.3 Fixed Roof Plates/Structures
8.4 Floating Roof
8.4.1 Floating Roof Plates (Deck Plates)
8.4.2 Pontoon Boxes
8.4.3 Rim Plates
8.4.4 Roof Legs/Assembly
8.4.5 Roof Drain Sump
8.5 Water Draw Off Nozzles/Pipes
8.6 Steam Coils

9.0 Inspection Programme for Tankages in Service

10.0 Frequency of Inspection

10.1 Crude and Product Storage Tanks
10.2 Storage Tanks in Miscellaneous Services
10.3 Tank Mountings
11.0 Inspection Procedures
11.1 Visual Inspection
11.1.1 Protective Coatings
11.1.2 Roof Plates
11.1.3 Ladders, Stairway, Platform & Structurals

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SECTION PAGE NO.

11.1.4 Tank Pads

11.1.5 Anchor Bolts
11.1.6 Fire Fighting Systems
11.1.7 Vents and Pressure Relieving Devices
11.1.8 Insulation
11.1.9 Grounding Connections
11.1.10 Leaks
11.2 External Inspection
11.2.1 Tank Fittings, Accessories and Pipe Connections
11.2.2 Tank Shell
11.2.3 Tank Roofs
11.2.4 Projecting Out Portion of the Bottom Plates
11.3 Internal Inspection
11.3.1 Roof and Structural Members
11.3.2 Tank Shell
11.3.3 Tank Bottoms
11.3.4 Water Draw-off
11.3.5 Linings
11.3.6 Roof Drains
11.3.7 Heating Coils
11.3.8 Miscellaneous

12.0 Calculation of Rejection Limits for Shell Plates

12.1 Arbitrary Limits for Top Shell Courses
12.2 Buckling of Upper Shell Courses When Tank is Empty
12.2.1 General
12.2.2 Loading Conditions
12.2.3 Method of Calculation
13.1.1 Roof Replacement

13.0 Method of Repairs and Inspection

13.1 Roof Repairs
13.1.2 Weld Repair
13.1.3 Repairs of Roof when Tank is in Service
13.2 Shell Plates Repair
13.2.1 Shell Replacement
13.2.2 Well Repairs
13.3 Nozzles Repairs
13.4 Tank Bottom Repairs
13.4.1 Bottom Replacement
13.4.2 Weld Repairs
13.5 Steam Coil Repairs
13.6 Tank Pad Repairs
13.6.1 Erosion
13.6.2 Settlement
13.6.3 Tilting
13.7 Insulation Repair

14.0 Underground Storage Tanks

14.1 Inspection of an Underground Tank

15.0 Documentation
15.1 Documentation for New Tanks
15.2 Documentation for Tanks in Service

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SECTION PAGE NO.

16.0 References

ANNEXURES

I Check List for Inspection of Storage Tanks

II Safety in Inspection of Storage Tanks
III Water Fill-up Test of a Storage Tank

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 INSPECTION OF STORAGE TANKS
1.O INTRODUCTION
Installations use tankages of various
types and sizes to store initial, intermediate
and finished petroleum product and hence
the failure of any part of a tank may result in
a disaster.
Timely inspection an preventive
maintenance will go a long way in making a
tank safer to store products for longer
periods of time.
2.0. SCOPE
This standard covers the minimum
inspection requirements for atmospheric and
low pressure storage tanks constructed as
per standards IS-803, API-620, API 650, IS
10987 or equivalent. Areas to be inspected,
facilities for inspection, the inspection
procedures and frequency, methods of
repairs and likely causes of deterioration of
storage tanks in service have been specified
in this Standard. Inspection and testing
requirements for the new tanks during
fabrication and erection, and prior to
commissioning are also briefly covered.
3.0 DEFINITIONS
3.1 ATMOSPHERIC STORAGE
TANKS
Atmospheric storage tanks are
those tanks that have been designed to
operate in their gas and vapour spaces at
internal pressure approximately equal to
atmospheric pressure.
3.2 LOW PRESSURE STORAGE
TANKS
Low pressure storage tanks are
those tanks which have been designed to
operate at pressure in their gas or vapour
spaces exceeding those permissible in API
Std. 650, but not exceeding 1.06KG/SQ. CM
gauge.
3.3 TYPES OF STORAGES
TANKS
3.3.1 Fixed Roof Tanks
Among fixed roof tanks, cone roof
tanks are very common for atmospheric
storages tanks. Other fixed roof tanks are
umbrella roof and dome roof tanks. Low
pressure roof tanks are generally
constructed of dome roof.
3.3.2 Floating Roof Tanks
Floating roof tanks are designed to
reduce filling and breathing losses to a
minimum and for safety considerations by
eliminating the vapour space above the
stored liquid. There are mainly following
types of floating roof tanks:
I) Pan floating roof
ii) Pontoon floating roof
iii) Pontoon with Buoy type floating roof
iv) Double Deck floating roof
The types of floating roof tanks and
various seals are shown in Fig. 1A 1B and
Fig 2, respectively. Recent constructions
are fitted with resilient foam type seal.
3.3.3 Fixed-cum-Floating Roof
Tanks
Fixed-fum-floating roof tanks are
fixed roof tanks with internal floating roof.
These type of tanks are used for products
which are to be protected from
contamination. These are also used at
locations where show fall is heavy.
3.3.4 Open Roof tanks (Without
Roof)
Open roof tanks are cylindrical
vertical tanks with top open to the
atmosphere. Roof is not provided and the
material stored is exposed to the
atmosphere. Open roof tanks are not used
for storing hydrocarbons.