Two new high-pressure storage tanks nestle down at the Ju’aymah NGL site.
From the May 11, 1977 edition of The Arabian Sun.
When the first of two new 740-ton high-pressure storage tanks nestled down onto its foundation at the Ju’aymah NGL site in mid-April, it did so with an ease quite foreign to any object so gigantically sized. One of a pair of cylindrical surge drums 125 feet long and 26 feet in diameter, the tank had completed an ocean voyage of 7,584 miles, disembarked, and arrived “home” with such little incident it stood as proof that planning pays.
The identical twins, latest entries on Aramco’s list of “biggest ever,” are the world’s largest prefabricated high-pressure storage tanks for natural gas liquids. Weighing 742.5 tons each, they have a shell thickness of 3.78 inches and were designed to withstand pressures of 550 pounds per square inch. They will be used to hold 10,000 barrels each of raw NGL until it can be processed.
The surge drums were designed by Fluor’s Haarlem office in The Netherlands, and by the time designers’ sketches were distributed, a comprehensive study was already underway to determine the best method of transport. Details were worked out during the 10 months the drums were under manufacture in the IHI plant in Yokohama, Japan.
Aramco’s Materials Supply organization is assigned overall responsibility for planning and coordinating the movement of all heavy lifts from factory to construction site. Many organizations, however, participated in this project.
On March 16 the tanks left Yokohama lashed down in tandem on the deck of the Inagua Light. Twenty-five days later they arrived at Ras Tanura’s West Pier, and the work of discharging the first vessel began the following day.
— The Arabian Sun: May 12, 2023