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In the hydrocarbons industry, storage tanks are critical assets that require continuous attention to ensure operational reliability, environmental protection, and personnel safety.

Over time, degradation mechanisms such as corrosion, settlement, coating deterioration, and roof or bottom damage can significantly impact tank integrity if not properly monitored.

An effective inspection strategy should not only focus on regulatory compliance, but also on:

• Risk reduction
• Asset life extension
• Maintenance optimization
• Prevention of unplanned failures and product loss

Integrating inspection findings with reliability and maintenance strategies can provide valuable insights for better decision-making and long-term asset management.

From your experience:
What do you consider the biggest challenge in storage tank inspection programs today - inspection intervals, data analysis, operational constraints, or integrity decision-making?

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Christian Vegas Mori
Supervisor de Programación de Mantenimiento
OIG Peru
El Alto
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I work in the mineral processing industry, not in the oil and gas industry but the storage vessels we use are designed to the oil and gas code API 650. and as per the code we should comply to 653 ito inspection. The documents offer significant guidance and enable life extension.

Where I see our biggest challenge is maintaining inspection information for long term decision making as these internal inspections, RBIs and the RBI programs are of such a long time span that significant personnel changes and system changes occur in between inspections. leading to a lack of understanding of the requirements and interpretation of the data. The requirement for the routine inspection is rather easily integrated into the maintenance system. Reports once received are not stored in an easily accessible centralised database and even if the previous RBI info is obtained significant processing of multiple datasets from aged reports are required to form your conclusion.

Regards

Marnus Fouché

Senior Asset Manager
South Africa

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Marnus Fouche
Senior Asset Manager
Valterra Platinum
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-09-2026 12:04 PM
From: Christian Vegas Mori
Subject: Storage Tank Inspection and Asset Integrity in Oil & Gas

In the hydrocarbons industry, storage tanks are critical assets that require continuous attention to ensure operational reliability, environmental protection, and personnel safety.

Over time, degradation mechanisms such as corrosion, settlement, coating deterioration, and roof or bottom damage can significantly impact tank integrity if not properly monitored.

An effective inspection strategy should not only focus on regulatory compliance, but also on:

• Risk reduction
• Asset life extension
• Maintenance optimization
• Prevention of unplanned failures and product loss

Integrating inspection findings with reliability and maintenance strategies can provide valuable insights for better decision-making and long-term asset management.

From your experience:
What do you consider the biggest challenge in storage tank inspection programs today - inspection intervals, data analysis, operational constraints, or integrity decision-making?

------------------------------
Christian Vegas Mori
Supervisor de Programación de Mantenimiento
OIG Peru
El Alto
------------------------------