Barnshaws Polska, part of the UK-based Barnshaws Group (www.barnshaws.com) has supplied over 2,100 tonnes of rolled steel plates to support the construction of a crude oil storage tank in the Czech Republic which is part of a large central crude oil tank farm, that holds emergency reserves of oil and provides interim storage before the refining process.

The oil tank farm in Nelahozeves stores crude oil transported by the Druzhba, the world’s longest oil pipeline, and the Ingolstadt–Kralupy–Litvínov (IKL) pipeline, which originates in Germany. The site features multiple steel storage tanks ranging in capacity from 50,000m³ to 125,000m³, all installed above ground with floating roofs. This allows the site to hold up to 1,550,000m³ of oil, which could cover 90 days of oil delivery shortage in the Czech Republic.

With growing demand for energy, the site has been continually expanded since its opening in 1994. Metrostav a.s., the largest Czech construction and steel fabrication company, was approached in 2018 regarding the addition of a new storage tank and as a large quantity of precision curved steel plate was required, Metrostav a.s. contacted Barnshaws Polska.

Maciej Walkowicz, director at Barnshaws Polska, said: “Our location allows us to offer the full range of Barnshaws metal bending services in Europe, with additional support from the UK. In this case, we were required to roll 531 steel plates ranging in thickness from 10mm up to 39mm, in widths from 2m to 3m and 10m in length. There was a range of toe-in and toe-out bends across the plates.”

The completed tank measures over 84min diameter and despite its large size, the tolerance on the tank diameter is 10-15mm. Constructed from hundreds of plates of varying thickness, ensuring precision during the bending process was vital as this would allow tank assembly to be carried out efficiently by Metrostav — Barnshaws Polska’s plate rolling service supplied the curved plates within tolerances.

Mr Walkowicz added: “The precision with which we curved the plates ensured that the tank could be easily assembled to a high-quality level. Metrostav was pleased with this outcome and now relies on us to provide precision curved plate to support other projects. We are used to the requirements of working with large customers, from both a quality and quantity perspective.”

Barnshaws Polska offers its customers access to an extensive metal bending capacity, including plate rolling machines. This ensured that the large order could be serviced effectively.

The business regularly supplies curved metal to the construction, transport, marine, oil and gas and power generation sectors. Thanks to this capability, the 531 plates were completed in the time-frame required.

When the new storage tank is complete, the Nelahozeves central crude oil tank farm will offer the Czech Republic increased energy security.