Liquid Terminals Industry Overview

Liquid Terminals Industry Worldwide Directory

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Liquid Terminals Industry Overview

Bulk Liquid Terminals

Bulk liquid terminal companies store commercial liquids in aboveground storage tanks, which are often referred to as "tank farms." Any liquid that is transported in bulk such as crude oil or petroleum refined products (gasoline, diesel, fuel oils, kerosene) or chemicals (solvents, fertilizer, pesticides, acid) are stored at terminals.

Some terminals provide only petroleum storage, others only chemical storage, and some store about any bulk liquid. Terminal companies interconnect with, provide services to and transfer products to and from oceangoing tank ships, tank barges, pipelines, tank trucks, and tank rail cars. Some terminal companies provide an array of additional services including blending, packaging, canning, drum filling warehousing and bonded storage.

Terminals Types

Terminal companies are generally classified as For-Hire Terminals, Proprietary Terminals, or a combination for-hire and proprietary operation. For-hire terminals lease tank space to product owners, lease bulk storage for a fee and are independent of control of major oil and chemical companies. Proprietary terminals own both the tank and product in it.

Proprietary terminals include refineries, chemical manufacturers, marketers of bulk liquid products, utilities, and fuel supply companies. Combination for-hire and proprietary terminals are owned by companies that store bulk liquids they own, but also store similar or different products for customers.
Commodities Stored

Bulk liquid terminals store commodities including crude oil and refined petroleum products chemicals, alcohol, asphalt, fertilizers, animal fats and oils (for cosmetics), vegetable oils (for food products), and molasses. Customers who store products at the for-hire terminals include oil producers and chemical manufacturers, food growers and producers, utilities, transportation companies (jet fuel for airlines), commodity brokers (buyers/sellers of heating oil), and government/military agencies.
Storage Capacity

In 1950 the U.S. total petroleum stock was approximately 550 million barrels which consisted of 45% crude and 55% refined products. In 1977/1978 refined product stock peaked at approximately 900 million barrels (78%) while crude oil remained almost unchanged at 250 million barrels (22%).

By 1984, the percentage of crude oil in stock exceeded the amount of refined products for the first time in history. U.S. petroleum stocks of crude oil and refined products totaled 1.6 billion barrels at the end of 2001, 54 percent crude oil and 46 percent product. This is a function of “just-in-time processing,” a very thin consumable supply, and a quick efficient distribution and storage system.

Primary storage, the majority of which is in proprietary terminals, is about 300 million bbls in crude oil and 700 million bbls in product stocks. Secondary and tertiary stocks are estimated to be 700/800 million bbls. Even though for-hire terminals store many different commodities they are an important part of the petroleum transportation, supply and distribution process.

Storage Cycle

Crude oil produced in the field, onshore or offshore, is transported via tank truck, pipeline, or ocean going tanker to its destination where it is transferred to a tank farm for temporary storage to be later shipped by pipeline to storage tanks at receiving refineries.

After the crude oil is refined, the resulting refined petroleum products (gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, etc.) may be transferred to a storage tank farm and then distributed in bulk via pipeline, truck, rail, or tank barge. The products then arrive at their state of use to be transferred again to a tank farm. Tank trucks then pick it up at the tank farm and deliver it to the end user, wholesaler or retailer.

Suppliers

A large number of manufacturing, engineering, supply and services companies provide a wide variety of equipment & services to the terminal industry. These suppliers play a vital role in daily operation, maintenance requirements and new construction.

Future Growth Prospects – North America

The domestic demand for refined products is forecasted to increase 80% between 2000 to 2020. This coupled with increases in associated crude oil stocks will necessitate additional storage.

It seems obvious that the new construction of storage facilities will be concentrated in the proximity of large consumption markets, however; geographical shifts in the supply and consumption patterns, environmental regulations, and a myriad of other factors could significantly affect the location of new construction.

Future Growth Prospects – International

Internationally, most low cost oil and gas producing areas of the world are long distances from consuming markets. Increases in demand both internally and for the export market will require additional storage facilities of all types.

The construction of proprietary and for-hire terminal storage is expected to rise several times that of the US. As the world's crude oil and product storage infrastructure grows, so do annual maintenance and associated operating costs.

Midwest Publishing Company (MWP)

Midwest Publishing's Worldwide Liquids Terminal Industry Directory is intended to list for-hire and proprietary terminals providing bulk storage for hydrocarbons, as well as all suppliers providing products & services to the terminal industry.

Midwest Publishing’s role is obvious: "provide the most timely, accurate information available at a fine enough level of detail to serve all component parts of the industry."