ABS Publishes Industry-First Guide for Modifying Tank Entry Surveys
In an industry first, ABS has published guidance to enable internal examination of tanks beyond the typical five-year requirements to once every 10 years with options to have additional expanded survey intervals.
The new guidance has the potential to maximize operational uptime for site-dependent assets such as floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), floating production and storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs), floating storage and offloading vessels (FSOs) and floating offshore liquefied gas terminals (FLGTs).
Such units are often engaged in long-term employment on a single site and face challenges in maintaining the tank examination schedule during the traditional five-year period. Tank inspections are also potentially hazardous, so reducing the inspection frequency without compromising the structural integrity of the asset can advance safety performance.
Announced at the 2025 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), the ABS Guide for Modified Tank Entry Program provides a program for qualifying site-specific assets that allows for extending tank entry.
The MTEP is to include the structural and cargo containment aspects of the tank along with all electrical, mechanical piping, valves, and machinery and components inside the tank normally subject to close-up surveys. Assets with integral equipment in the cargo tanks are to be enrolled in an approved preventative maintenance program (PMP) that allows for alternative means to credit surveys to qualify for the MTEP.