Storage Tank Terminals
Your tank clean, documented, and back in service safely, fast.
PMI cleans above-ground storage tanks at bulk liquids terminals across the United States, usually under one turnkey price, and mobilizes within 24 hours most of the time.
The record
- 6Locations in Louisiana and Texas
- 300+Employees across the company
- 24/7/365Dispatch and response
- 50+Years in operation
The problems this ends
A tank out of service is storage you cannot sell, and the inspection date does not move just because the cleaning ran long.
Confined space entry is the highest-risk permit on your site, and every extra entry is one more chance for something to go wrong.
Terminal work moves when your customer moves a product, so a contractor who needs three weeks of notice is no help to you.
A contractor who is not already in your vendor system can stall a tank for weeks before anybody picks up a hose.
Wash water and tank bottoms trucked off site turn a cleaning job into a disposal bill nobody budgeted for.
Curated for this industry
Services for Storage Tank Terminals
Terminal managers hire us for tank cleaning, confined space rescue coverage, vacuum truck work, pressure washing and light facility maintenance. Crews run 2 to 12 or more, everyone cross-trained, and larger scopes pull from our Port Fourchon operation, which houses 60 to 80 people daily. Coating and inspection are not our scope, so those contractors get a clean tank and start on schedule.
On the job
Recent work
A bulk liquids terminal operator put PMI under a two-year contract through corporate procurement, starting with a 40-foot tank. Our own confined space rescue attendant covered the entry and took $1,000 a day off what third-party rescue coverage had been costing them. At a terminal on the Houston ship channel we cleaned two 150-foot gasoline tanks, 8.5 million gallons each, holding rescue coverage through cleaning, inspection and repair. At a fuel terminal in Mississippi we cleaned a 205,000-gallon diesel tank.
Why PMI
What changes when PMI runs the job
Two things decide how a cleaning job actually goes: whether anyone has to go inside, and what happens to the water afterwards. Both are answered before the crew mobilizes.
15,000+
The record is not a startup's
Vessels and barges cleaned, plus 5,700+ platforms and 346 rigs and drillships turned around. New to your site, not new to the work.
Zero entry
Automation the incumbents do not run
RoosterEX cleans tanks up to 120 ft in diameter with personnel outside the shell, proven on heavy paraffin. The entry you do not authorize is the exposure you do not carry.
0 trucks
Water that never leaves your site
EC-AOP treats wash water at the tank and returns it to the wash. No competitor on the Gulf Coast offers this inside a cleaning scope.
The procedure
How the job runs
The sequence below is the one our supervisors and crews work to on this scope. Readings, permits and sign-offs are documented as the job moves through it.
Before we arrive
We send the facility a current training matrix and personnel mobilization forms. Once your side approves the people, every work group and vendor attends your facility orientation, and we hold a pre-job meeting at the tank with everyone who will be involved. JSAs are written and reviewed for equipment inspection, equipment setup, de-inventory of remaining waste and the isolation work. All equipment is grounded and function tested before first use.
Isolation
Double block and bleed per the isolation plan, blinds and skillets installed under lockout and tagout. Isolation is verified by every work group involved and re-verified with your assigned personnel, then personnel locks go on.
Positive isolation
Spill containment goes in before any flange is broken: containment pans under every break point, berms and absorbent staged. Tags are ready before the blinds and skillets go in. Rigging, mechanical devices and straps are inspected and the load weight verified before anything is moved.
Flood to water-draw height
Water goes in through the tank's 2-inch water-draw connection, or through a top connection installed under supplied air, using a 2-inch diaphragm pump. At height we stop and pump down to the oil water separator, which holds 1,000 gallons and handles a minimum of 50 GPM.
Top manway wash
Nozzles go into the tank through the 20-inch top manway with the manway sealed off, crews on supplied breathing air. Material is pumped down from the water draw to the waste frac tank.
Degassing
A third party mobilizes a direct-fire thermal oxidizer for vapor control, connected to a top flange with a knock-out pot in line so no liquid can reach it, on its own generator. Inlet and outlet VOC and LEL readings are taken every 30 minutes and logged, and the tank LEL is checked throughout. Degassing is complete when the reading is confirmed under 5 percent LEL.
Non-entry purging
Once LEL is under 50 percent, nozzles go in at the bottom manway under supplied air to help the degassing along and move sediment. The waste is liquefied so it can be pulled out and discharged to the waste frac tank. Crews remove what they can reach without breaking the plane of entry.
Ventilation
A 20-inch blower goes on the top manway opening and pulls outside air in through the bottom opening, flushing the remaining vapor out the top.
Bottom manway cleaning, from outside the tank
The confined space entry permit is completed, the blower is shut down, and the supervisor tests the atmosphere through the bottom manway with a gas monitor. Results are documented and the blower restarts. Personnel working the opening are on supplied air with full body harness and protective clothing, and monitoring is continuous. Waste near the manway comes out with water pressure, vacuum, 6-foot aluminum squeegees and brass shovels.
Confined space entry
The supervisor walks the crew through the JSA and a detailed rescue plan, ventilation is shut down for an accurate atmospheric test, and the entry permit is completed. Entrants go in through the bottom manway on supplied air in full harness and protective clothing. A hole watch and rescue personnel stay stationed at the manway for the entire entry, the hole watch never leaves the post, and every entry and exit is logged. Sludge and solids come out with vacuum and washdown, walls and floor are cleaned with a hot or cold water blast unit, and cleaning height is no less than 3 feet and higher where what we see calls for it. The tank is washed with detergent, then you and PMI walk it together before anything is rigged down.
Disposal
All waste from the tank and from the cleaning goes into the frac tank. When it is ready to move, a vacuum truck is dispatched to your approved disposal site. Used PPE is drummed and goes the same way.
Demobilization
Both manways reinstalled, skillets removed and piping restored, personnel locks off, equipment rigged down, work area cleaned, trash and oily rags and absorbent pads in proper waste containers, and the area swept for debris.
Questions we get
Storage Tank Terminals FAQs
How fast can you mobilize?
Usually within 24 hours. Cost and schedule both come back faster if we know the tank size and the last product in it.
We do not have an MSA with PMI. How long does that take?
Our team gets the documentation your procurement group needs back within 24 hours. If we are not in your system yet, we can often start under an affiliate company that already is.
What size crews do you run?
Anywhere from 2 to 12 or more. Everyone is cross-trained, and for larger scopes we pull from our Port Fourchon operation, which houses 60 to 80 people.
Can you give us one turnkey price?
Yes. Ventilation is part of the cleaning scope, not a change order. Scaffolding and waste hauling are third-party services we coordinate, and we prefer those billed direct to you.
What drives the cost?
Tank size, the product the tank held, and how much product is left in it after pump-off.
Do you offer coating or inspection?
No. We hand the tank back clean so your coating and inspection contractors can start on schedule.
What training do your people carry for terminal sites?
Valid TWIC cards, general safety training, confined space entry and confined space rescue training, plus whatever site-specific training your facility requires.
What happens to the tank bottoms?
Waste hauling is third-partied and we prefer it billed direct to you. We can also help find a buyer for the bottoms or heels left in the tank.
Tell us about the tank.
Send the tank size, the last product in it and the window you are working with. Dispatch answers 24/7 when a tank comes free early or a contractor falls through.
