THE INSTITUTE OF PETROLEUM

PETROLEUM MEASUREMENT MANUAL

PART II
Tank Calibration

SECTION 7

CALIBRATION OF UNDERGROUND TANKS

AT SERVICE STATIONS
 THE INSTITUTE OF PETROLEUM

PETROLEUM MEASUREMENT MANUAL

PART II
Tank Calibration

SECTION 7

CALIBRATION OF UNDERGROUND TANKS

AT SERVICE STATIONS

May 1996

Published by
The Institute of Petroleum, London
A charitable company limited by guarantee
Copyright 0 1996 by The Institute of Petroleum, London:
A charitable company limited by guarantee . Registered No. 135273, England

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, or transmitted, or translated into
a machine language without the written permission of the publisher .

ISBN 0 85293 169 7

Printed by The Institute of Petroleum

 CONTENTS

Page

Foreword vii

Acknowledgements viii

1 Introduction and Scope 1

2 Glossary of Terms 2

3 Safety Precautions 4
3 .1 Introduction 4
3 .2 Safety hazards 4
3 .3 Hazards of static electricity 4
3 .4 Work procedures 5
3 .5 Isolation of equipment 5
3 .6 Health hazards 6
3 .7 Training 6
3 .8 Environmental protection 6
3 .9 Completion of work 6
3 .10 Relevant safety guidelines 6

4 Overview of Methods 7
4 .1 Introduction 7
4 .2 Recommended techniques 7
4 .3 Incremental fill with product 9
4 .4 Incremental fill with water 9
4 .5 Decremental discharge of water 10
4 .6 Decremental discharge of product 10
4 .7 Engineering drawings 11
4 .8 External measurement by strapping 11
4 .9 Internal measurement methods 11

5 Tank Construction and Installation 12

5 .1 Construction 12
5 .2 Installation 13

Contents Cont .. ..
Page

6 Overview of Recommended Equipment and Documentation 14

6 .1 General 14
6 .2 Meters and volumetric standards 14
6 .3 Reference thermometers 14
6 .4 Equipment for measurement of liquid depth 14
6 .5 Documentation 15

7 Reference Standards and Measuring Instruments 16

7 .1 Reference metering system calibrated with product 16
7 .2 Reference metering system calibrated with water 17
7 .3 Volumetric measuring vessels 18
7 .4 Temperature measurement 18
7 .5 Liquid dip measurement 20

8 Traceability of Measurement 21
8 .1 Traceability of reference meter 21
8 .2 Traceability of volumetric vessel 21
8 .3 Traceability of length measurement (dip-tape) 22
8 .4 Traceability of temperature measurement 22

9 Liquid Calibration Procedures 23

9 .1 General 23
9.2 Increment fill using product and reference meter 23
9 .3 Incremental fill using water and reference meter 27
9 .4 Incremental fill using water and volumetric measuring vessels 28
9 .5 Decremental discharge using water and reference meter 29

10 Calibration by Internal Measurement Method 31

11 Documentation and Records 32

Annexes

A Reference Bibliography 33
B Recommended Procedure for Verification of Electronic Thermometers 35
C Data Sheet for Incremental Fill Calculation 37
D Worked Example of the Recommended Incremental Fill Procedure 39
E Tank Calibration Table 42

Figures

1 Gas Separator and Meter Assembly 45

2 Calibration by Incremental Fill Via Reference Meter 45
3 Incremental Fill Method Using Twin Volumetric Measuring Vessels 46
4 Calibration by Decremental Discharge of Water Via Reference Meter 46

vi
 FOREWORD

Measurement accuracy is essential for the sale, purchase and handling of petroleum products . It reduces the
likelihood of disputes between buyer and seller and facilitates the control of losses. Accurate measurement
involves the use of standard equipment and procedures .
The Petroleum Measurement Committee of the Institute of Petroleum is responsible for the production
and maintenance of standards covering the various aspects of static and dynamic measurement of petroleum .
These are issued as separate Parts and Sections of the Institute's Petroleum Measurement Manual, which was first
published in 1952 .
Membership of the IP working panels is made up of experts from the oil and gas industry, equipment
manufacturers, cargo inspectors and government authorities . Liaison is maintained with parallel working groups
of the Committee on Petroleum Measurement of the American Petroleum Institute, and is extended as necessary
to embrace other organizations concerned with quantitative measurement in other countries and in other industries .
Users are invited to send comments, suggestions, or details of experience with this issue to :

The Technical Manager, Petroleum Measurement

Institute of Petroleum
61 New Cavendish Street
London W I M 8AR
United Kingdom

The Petroleum Measurement Manual is widely used by the petroleum industry and has received recognition in
many countries by consumers and the authorities . In order to promote their wide adoption internationally, it is
the policy to submit selected standards through the British Standards Institute to Technical Committee TC 28 -
Petroleum Products and Lubricants - of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO/TC 28) as
potential International Standards.
A full list of the Parts and Sections of the Petroleum Measurement Manual (PMM) is available on
request from the Institute of Petroleum .

Note

The EP Petroleum Measurement Manual is recommended for general adoption but should be read and interpreted
in conjunction with weights and measures, safety and other regulations in force in the locality in which it is to
be applied. Such regulatory requirements shall have precedence over corresponding clauses in the Manual except
where the requirements of the Manual are more rigorous, when its use is recommended . The Institute disclaims
responsibility for any personal injury or loss or damage to property, howsoever caused, arising from the use or
abuse of any Part or Section of the Manual .

vii


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This guidance was prepared by a Working Group drawn from the Commercial Metering Committee (PM-D-4),
part of the Institute's Petroleum Measurement Committee structure, and the Service Station Panel (DOC-4-A),
which operates within the Downstream Operations Committee system .

Members of the Working Group were as follows :-

P J Lambeth Mobil European Engineering Services

F Peck Mobil Oil Company Ltd
J D Snook Esso Petroleum Company Limited
A J Thorogood BP Oil International Limited

J M Wood Institute of Petroleum (Editorial)

Company affiliations are those that applied at the time the document was being drafted .

viii
 1
INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE
Investigations by oil companies of reported wetstock
losses at retail service stations have highlighted the
calibration of underground storage tanks as a
significant source of measurement error that affects
both automatic and manual gauging systems and may
result in apparent loss .
Optimising the technique and traceability of tank
calibration will minimise systematic errors that may be
introduced into the liquid height to volume
relationship . This in turn will improve the accuracy of
wetstock quantity measurements determined by
gauging the level of product contained within the
tank .
The traditional methods of calibrating horizontal
cylindrical tanks employ measurement techniques,
either by taking internal dimensional measurement or
externally by strapping . The measurement methods are
in general suitable only for tanks before their
installation, though the internal method may be applied
if the tank has been emptied and cleaned to a high
standard . Experience shows that a calibration table
compiled from manufacturer's drawings is likely to
contain a significant level of error .
A convenient and more accurate method that is
now widely used is to calibrate using liquid measured
into or out of the tank by means of a reference meter .
The application of this method is described in detail in
this Code of Practice, together with a method of
incremental fill using volumetric measuring vessels .
ISO 4269-1, Calibration of tanks - Liquid
calibration methods - Part 1 : Incremental method
using volumetric meters will, when completed, become
the international standard for the incremental fill
method for calibration of vertical and horizontal tanks .
Whilst the Institute of Petroleum endorses the use of
the calibration procedure described in the ISO
Standard, this Code of Practice is concerned with a
specific type of tank in a specific location, namely
underground horizontal cylindrical tanks installed at
retail service stations .
The Code is directed at providing practical and
economic procedures for the calibration of underground
tanks at service stations in order to obtain an accurate
and traceable calibration table suitable for the
determination of stock quantities and available ullages
from level measurements taken in such tanks . All
aspects of the calibration operation are
comprehensively covered, combining in one document
the requirements of a Code of Practice and a Field
Guide for tank calibration . Emphasis is placed
throughout on the use of measuring equipment that is
traceable to national standards . Careful adherence to
the procedures will permit a calibration table to be
obtained whose volume uncertainty can be estimated .
The Code also assesses other tank calibration
methods not described in the ISO 4269 Standard .