by the terminal. Deepwater terminals are usually in more exposed locations 

 and therefore need larger storage capabilities to mitigate the effect of 

 shutdowns during bad weather. 



An oil-storage terminal near the oil field usually necessitates 

 another oil storage terminal near refineries because a down-surge due to 

 unloading of field storage tanks onto tankers will obviously cause an 

 upsurge of oil when the tankers unload at refineries. Thus if oil is to 

 be transferred by tanker, two oil storage terminals are necessary. 



Site Requirements 



The site of oil storage terminals is largely determined by where 

 offshore oil fields, tanker transfer terminals, and refineries are 

 located. 



Oil storage terminals which are built to store offshore oil for 

 export are usually sited as close as possible to the shore. This aids 

 in minimizing pipe-laying costs from the offshore field to the storage 

 terminal and from the storage terminal to a transfer terminal. They 

 will also be near a deep (up to 40 feet), sheltered harbor to insure 

 safe tanker operations. Areas with considerable vessel activity will 

 probably be avoided due to the danger of collisions. 



Oil storage terminals that serve refineries will be sited between the 

 tanker offloading terminal and the refineries served, in as central a 

 location as possible. Terminals serving refineries do not need to be in 

 immediate proximity to the coast, but can be 10 to 15 miles inland. 

 Locations near the tanker transfer terminal are preferred, however, 

 since different grades of crude are received and shorter receiving pipelines 

 facilitate easier segregation of crudes into different tanks. 



Shown below in Table 16 are the approximate flat land requirements 



Table 16. Approximate Land Requirements for Surge Tank Farms 

 (Source: Reference 26) 



Surge Tank Capacity (barrels ) Land (acres) 



1,000,000 17 



2,000,000 37 



3,000,000 50 



3,500,000 58 



6,000,000 95 



172 



