PDV America, Inc. and Subsidiaries - Page 5

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          before CITGO distributes the products to other terminals, branded           
          retail outlets, or bulk customers.  CITGO has ownership interests           
          in 55 terminals.  During 1996 and 1997, except for two terminals            
          which CITGO operated under long-term ground leases, CITGO’s                 
          terminals were located on land that CITGO held in fee simple.               
          B.  CITGO’s Aboveground Storage Tanks                                       
               At its terminals, CITGO uses aboveground storage tanks                 
          (tanks) for the storage, marketing, and distribution of petroleum           
          and petroleum products.  CITGO owns more than 500 tanks.  One               
          hundred and four of those tanks are at issue in this case and               
          vary in size from shell capacities of 7,000 to 194,000 barrels.5            
          The tanks at issue also range in height from 22 feet to 57 feet             
          and 2 inches and range in outside diameter from 40 feet to 170              
          feet.  Some tanks have been in existence for over 60 years.                 
               Typically, tanks are composed of a shell made of welded or             
          riveted steel plates, a steel floor,6 a fixed or floating roof,7            
          and accessories, such as ladders.  Other than internal roof and             


               5Shell capacity refers to the internal volume of the                   
          aboveground storage tank (tank) shell and is usually measured in            
          barrels.                                                                    
               6The tank floor functions as a membrane to prevent the                 
          petroleum product’s leaking from the tank base.                             
               7As a method for cutting down on vapor emission, some tanks            
          have internal floating roofs that float on top of the gasoline              
          and move up and down as gasoline is pumped into or out of the               
          tank.  An open-top, floating-roof tank has no external roof                 
          structure.                                                                  




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