Crude oil tankers, Crude oil washing planning

There have been occasions when poor crude oil washing performance has resulted in protracted discharge times. In other cases, tankers have sailed with excessive amounts of sludge in cargo tanks, even after crude oil washing has been carried out. For this operation to be conducted effectively, it is essential that the officer in charge of cargo operations understands the effectiveness of crude oil as a washing media and knows how to optimize the crude oil washing time during cargo discharge.

In Seagull’s latest module in the Crude Oil Tanker Series, those aspiring to be Chief Officers on crude oil carriers are given the essential knowledge required to plan effective crude oil washing operations but also understand the effectiveness of crude oil as watching media.

This module explains the planning and preparation required when crude oil washing while emphasizing the need to perform the operation in compliance with the vessel’s approved crude oil washing manual.

As crude oil washing extends the normal discharge time, it is important that the officer in charge is able to plan to minimize the crude oil washing time and simultaneously maximizes the cargo outturn by reducing the remaining sludge to a minimum. The module also looks at some of the issues of planning and monitoring the effectiveness of crude oil washing.

Learning objectives:

• Outline the preparations and planning required before performing crude oil washing
• Planning a suitable crude oil washing program
• Know how sludge is deposited in cargo tanks
• Know the types of crude oil used
• Determining the level of crude oil washing required