An investment in long-term sustainability: Geelong Refinery’s new $50m crude oil tank

It was a big job. The Geelong Refinery’s new $50 million crude oil tank took a whopping 4,000 tonnes of steel and 250,000 work hours to complete – not to mention 33 hours to fill. But the long-term payoff is set to be even greater.

新的和改进

Standing an imposing 21 metres tall and with a diameter of 84 metres, the Geelong Refinery’s new tank can hold 100 million litres of crude oil, the equivalent of 40 Olympic-size swimming pools.

This increases the refinery’s crude oil storage capacity by 40 per cent, which Mark Gerhardy, Economics and Scheduling Manager at the Geelong Refinery, says will bring major benefits, including the ability to source and process a wider range of crude oils.

“你在加工原油的灵活性越多，捕获更便宜的机会越好，较小的数量越来越困难，所以我们常常努力提高我们的竞争力和效率，”马克说。

The extra storage capacity will also cut down on the refinery’s shipping costs, because ships delivering crude oil won’t have to wait for storage space to become available, and it means the refinery will have extra reserves in the event a ship runs late.

The tank has an internal floating roof, which rises and falls with the crude oil level, minimising evaporation losses and improving safety.

Boosting efficiency and stability of production are vital to the Geelong Refinery’s long-term sustainability, which Mark points out employs around 700 people and is one of the region’s major economic contributors.

Part of a major investment

The new tank is part of $300 million already invested in the Geelong refinery over the past three years, and it’s one of several new projects that will help its competitiveness in the market.

“我们在其中一条管道上建造了一个泵站，提高了我们在墨尔本终端泵送炼油厂的能力，这是一项非常重点的项目，就炼油厂能够满足市场需求增长，”马克说。

“我们还在投资其他坦克维护和坦克储存项目，包括新的250万升汽油罐。我们正在建立一个热沥青出口管道，我们只是在炼油厂委托了一款喷气式燃料装载设施，以帮助我们更好地为维多利亚提供航空市场。

“我们正在寻找我们粗略蒸馏单位之一的潜在脱节和扩张项目。”

Looking forward, Mark is optimistic that these new investments will help cement the refinery’s place within the community.

“Ultimately these investments are improving our economic sustainability – which gives us the best chance of remaining a supplier to the Victorian market.”