A 330-tonne roof has been fitted on what is claimed will be Europe’s largest ethane storage tank at Grangemouth in Scotland.
The tank is 56 metres in diameter and 44 metres high – that gives it a displacement volume of 108,372 cubic metres, INEOS said in a statement.
The building of the ethane storage tank is a part of INEOS’ $1 billion global project to get US shale gas to Europe.
INEOS has contracts to access a 100 mile pipeline from the Marcellus Shale in western Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook gas terminal close to Philadelphia.
It has commissioned eight Dragon class ships to carry the liquefied shale gas ethane from the US to Europe.
The company built two new import terminals to receive the gas, one at Grangemouth and the other at Rafnes in Norway.
John McNally, CEO of INEOS O&P UK , said: “ It is still early days on this project as we now set to work on the internal structure of the tank and the surrounding infrastructure. We are on schedule for the first US ethane to arrive in Grangemouth during the second half of 2016 .”
Image: INEOS