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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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Last modified: May 25, 2011