API 653 Tank Inspection Support in Louisiana

Short answer: API 653 inspection of a Louisiana storage tank means monthly owner checks, a five-year-maximum external inspection by an API 653 Authorized Inspector, corrosion-based shell UT surveys and periodic out-of-service floor inspections. The owner's Authorized Inspector plans the work, evaluates results and signs. Atlantis performs the NDE that feeds that decision: floor MFL with UT prove-up, shell and critical-zone UT, weld examination and settlement data.

Louisiana's tankage follows the Mississippi River and the Gulf coast. From the refinery and chemical belt between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, through the crude hub at St. James, to the Calcasieu Ship Channel at Lake Charles and the offshore-supply coast around Port Fourchon, tanks sit on soft, wet ground in a hurricane zone. That combination makes settlement, flooding and soil-side floor corrosion central to API 653 work here. This page sets out where the tanks are, what the code expects, the NDE methods that supply the data, and the state and federal rules that apply. Atlantis performs the NDE; your API 653 Authorized Inspector remains inspector of record and signs the inspection report. If you have tanks due, send us your Louisiana tank list.

Where API 653 tanks are in Louisiana

Direct answer: Louisiana's API 653 tank population clusters along the Mississippi River industrial corridor from Baton Rouge to the river parishes below New Orleans, at the St. James crude terminals, in the Lake Charles and Westlake refining and chemical complex, at coastal terminals around Port Fourchon and the LOOP Clovelly hub, and at smaller terminals and specialty refineries in north Louisiana around Shreveport.

Baton Rouge, Plaquemine and Geismar

The capital region combines one of the largest refineries in the country with chemical plants at Plaquemine, Geismar, St. Gabriel and Port Allen, river terminals on both banks, and pipeline-connected product storage. Tanks hold crude, intermediates, finished products, chlorinated and caustic chemicals, and a wide range of specialty products. Chemical tanks bring stainless steel and lined carbon-steel shells where PT and lining-related examinations matter as much as floor scanning. Our API 653 tank inspection page for Baton Rouge covers this area in more detail.

The river parishes: St. James, Garyville, Norco and Convent

Between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, St. James Parish has grown into a crude storage and distribution hub, with multiple terminals that receive crude by pipeline, barge and rail and deliver it to refineries along the river and on the Gulf Coast. Large refineries at Garyville and Norco and chemical plants across St. Charles, St. John the Baptist and St. James parishes add process tankage. Many of these crude tanks are large-diameter, external floating-roof tanks where floor and critical-zone condition drive the internal inspection.

New Orleans, Chalmette, Meraux and Belle Chasse

Below New Orleans, refineries at Chalmette and Meraux sit beside terminals serving barge and ship traffic. This area has direct experience of what flood water does to tanks: during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 a storage tank at the then Murphy Oil Meraux refinery shifted off its foundation and released crude into the surrounding neighbourhood. That history is one reason owners here take flotation, anchorage and post-storm inspection seriously.

Lake Charles, Westlake and Sulphur

The Calcasieu River corridor holds two large refineries, major chemical and polymer complexes in Westlake, and product and crude terminals on the ship channel. To the south and west, Cameron Parish hosts LNG export terminals; their full-containment LNG tanks are designed and inspected to other standards (API 620 and API 625 and the owner's own programme), but the same sites operate conventional atmospheric tanks for condensate, diesel, firewater and amine that fall under API 653. Hurricane Laura in 2020 and Hurricane Delta weeks later damaged roofs, seals and appurtenances across this area.

Port Fourchon, Houma and the coast

Port Fourchon supports most of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, and the LOOP Clovelly hub in Lafourche Parish combines salt-cavern storage with aboveground crude tankage. Coastal terminals and fuel docks from Houma to Venice store diesel, drilling fluids and produced liquids in a highly corrosive marine atmosphere.

North Louisiana

Shreveport and the Haynesville gas region add a specialty refinery, gathering-system tanks, compressor-station storage and product terminals. Tanks are smaller, but SPCC still expects integrity testing to an industry standard.

What API 653 requires, in plain terms

Direct answer: API 653, currently the Fifth Edition with addenda through Addendum 4 (July 2025), governs inspection, repair, alteration and reconstruction of in-service atmospheric steel tanks built to API 650 or API 12C. It requires routine monthly checks, formal external inspections by an Authorized Inspector, shell thickness surveys on corrosion-based intervals, and internal inspections whose timing depends on measured floor corrosion and the tank's safeguards.

Routine in-service inspection. Trained owner or operator personnel walk the tank at least monthly, looking for leaks, shell distortion, settlement signs, damaged coatings and insulation, roof drain and seal problems, and foundation erosion. In Louisiana these routine checks are particularly valuable after heavy rain, when floating roofs carry water loads and roof drains can block.

External inspection. The Authorized Inspector carries out a formal external inspection at least every five years, or more often if the shell corrosion rate is high: the code ties the external interval to a quarter of the remaining shell corrosion life when that is the shorter period.

Shell UT thickness. Where the corrosion rate is unknown, shell thickness must be measured at least every five years; once a rate is established the interval is based on half the remaining corrosion life, up to a fifteen-year maximum.

Internal inspection. The first internal inspection of a new tank is due within ten years unless the owner takes credit for safeguards such as cathodic protection, internal linings, leak detection or a release prevention barrier; with credits, the initial interval may reach twenty years without a release prevention barrier or thirty years with one. Later intervals follow measured floor corrosion and the minimum bottom thickness the code accepts at the next inspection, within the same ceilings, unless a qualifying risk-based programme is used. Settlement evaluation under the code's settlement annex is part of the fitness decision, and it is unusually important on Louisiana's compressible soils.

Atlantis does not set these intervals; the AI and owner do. We supply the thickness, corrosion-rate and settlement data the decision relies on. For background, read API 653 tank inspection intervals explained and check details against the current edition published by API at api.org.

NDE methods for API 653 work in Louisiana

Direct answer: Louisiana API 653 programmes rely on floor MFL scanning with UT prove-up, shell and critical-zone UT, area corrosion mapping, visual examination, surface methods and vacuum-box testing after repairs, volumetric testing of new shell welds, and settlement surveys. Soil-side floor corrosion and differential settlement are the recurring local themes.

Radiography is carried out only by crews licensed for industrial radiography in Louisiana. All procedures are reviewed by an ASNT NDT Level III, and technicians are certified to an SNT-TC-1A written practice. See aboveground storage tank inspection and API 653 tank inspection support for scope detail.

How Atlantis supports your Authorized Inspector

Direct answer: Atlantis works from your Authorized Inspector's inspection plan, performs the NDE, quality-checks the data and delivers a digital report the AI can evaluate and file. The AI then decides repairs and intervals and signs. We are not an Authorized Inspection Agency and we do not supply API-certified inspectors; we provide the examination data behind the inspection.

Louisiana owners often contract an inspection agency for the AI role and want the NDE from a separate, independent source, or they have in-house AIs who need reliable data delivered on their outage schedule. Either way the handoff is the same:

1. Scope. We take the AI's required examinations, coverage and reporting format, plus the tank's history, and confirm methods and access.
2. Procedures. An ASNT Level III reviews procedures for the tank's materials, coatings and conditions, for example scanning through thin floor coatings or examining stainless shells.
3. Examinations. Floor scanning and prove-up, shell and critical-zone UT, weld examinations and settlement readings, as scoped.
4. Data QA. Readings are reconciled with calibration records and the previous inspection before demobilisation.
5. Digital report. Floor maps, shell readings by course and location, weld records, photographs, calibration data and technician certifications in our reporting platform, with report templates matched to the AI's file.
6. AI evaluation and sign-off. The Authorized Inspector evaluates, decides repairs and intervals, and signs.
7. Next interval. Structured data carries forward, and owners can track tanks in a digital twin or our inspection-management ERP.

Corrosion rates and remaining-life values may be calculated from our data for the AI's review, but the decision stays with the AI and the owner. Atlantis performs the NDE; your API 653 Authorized Inspector remains inspector of record and signs the inspection report. Request an NDE scope for your AI's plan.

Louisiana regulations that sit on top of API 653

Direct answer: Louisiana has no single state API 653 mandate like Texas's ASVS Program. Tank integrity obligations come from the federal SPCC rule and its state mirror, LDEQ's Spill Prevention and Control regulations (LAC 33:IX, Chapter 9), PHMSA breakout-tank rules enforced for intrastate lines by the state pipeline safety program, fire-code oversight, and OSHA process safety management.

LDEQ Spill Prevention and Control (SPC)

Louisiana requires an SPC plan under LAC 33:IX, Chapter 9, which closely mirrors the federal SPCC rule; for oil, the aggregate aboveground storage threshold is 1,320 gallons counting containers of 55 gallons or more. Most owners prepare a combined SPCC/SPC plan. The plan should state how bulk storage containers are inspected and tested and to which industry standard. Confirm current details with LDEQ.

Federal SPCC (40 CFR Part 112)

The EPA rule requires bulk storage containers to be tested or inspected for integrity on a regular schedule and whenever material repairs are made, following industry standards. For field-erected tanks that is normally API 653; for shop-built tanks, STI SP001. The professional engineer who certifies the plan should document the standard and schedule.

PHMSA breakout tanks and the state pipeline safety program

Under 49 CFR 195.432, in-service atmospheric and low-pressure steel breakout tanks must be inspected in accordance with API 653; the regulation currently references the Third Edition (2001) and excludes the risk-based internal-interval option. A PHMSA proposed rule of June 2026 would move to the Fifth Edition and permit risk-based internal intervals; until a final rule appears, the existing text applies. For intrastate hazardous-liquid pipelines, the state's Office of Conservation Pipeline Safety program inspects operators on PHMSA's behalf. The parent agency has been reorganised more than once in recent years and is now the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy; confirm the current program name and contacts with the state.

Fire code and the State Fire Marshal

The Louisiana Office of State Fire Marshal enforces the adopted fire code, which governs flammable and combustible liquid storage design and operation. Fire-code compliance is not a substitute for API 653 integrity inspection, but both sit in the same facility file.

OSHA PSM and EPA RMP

Tanks within covered processes at refineries and chemical plants fall under 29 CFR 1910.119(j) mechanical integrity, which requires inspection and testing following recognised and generally accepted good engineering practice. API 653 is the practice most owners cite. EPA's Risk Management Program carries a parallel requirement.

Planning around turnarounds, hurricanes and high water

Direct answer: External inspections and shell UT can run in service year-round, but Louisiana internal inspections should be planned around refinery turnaround peaks, the June-to-November hurricane season, river high-water periods that affect barge-fed terminals, and the time needed to empty, clean and degas large crude tanks.

Most owners prefer not to have tanks empty during peak storm weeks: an empty or light tank on a flooded site can float or shift, as the Meraux experience showed. Many terminals therefore schedule out-of-service work in late autumn through spring. That aligns with refinery turnaround season, so NDE crews, scaffolding and cleaning contractors are in demand at the same time. Lock in scope and coverage early so the floor scan starts as soon as the tank is released.

After a named storm, owners often need fast external condition checks across many tanks: floating roofs, seals, pontoons, wind girders, stairways and foundations. Visual examination plus targeted UT on damaged areas gives the AI what is needed to clear tanks back to service or plan repairs. Shell repairs then generate their own examination scope.

Wet foundations deserve attention in every internal inspection. Water trapped under the bottom plate edge drives soil-side corrosion in the critical zone, and differential settlement is common on deltaic soils. A settlement survey at a known product level, compared with the previous survey, helps the AI judge whether movement is ongoing. Book a scoping call to plan NDE around your outage dates.

API 653 inspection support across Louisiana

Direct answer: Atlantis mobilises crews to tank sites across Louisiana, with the schedule agreed during scoping. The pages below cover local tank, corrosion, piping, vessel, weld and third-party inspection in the state's main industrial centres.

• Baton Rouge:API 653 tank inspection in Baton Rouge, tank inspection services in Baton Rouge, corrosion inspection, weld inspection and third-party inspection in Baton Rouge.
• New Orleans and the river parishes:tank inspection in New Orleans, corrosion inspection in New Orleans and weld inspection in New Orleans.
• Lake Charles:third-party inspection in Lake Charles.

Tank farms connect to process piping and pressure vessels; see our companion hubs for API 570 piping inspection in Louisiana and API 510 pressure vessel inspection in Louisiana, plus the statewide NDT inspection services in Louisiana page. Breakout-tank operators may also want pipeline inspection services.

What to send us for a quote

Direct answer: Send the tank list with dimensions and service, the last API 653 report, your AI's required examinations, cleaning and access status, and your outage dates. We will reply with a scoped NDE quote within 24 hours.

1. Tank list and drawings: tank numbers, diameter, height, roof type, product, plate thicknesses, annular ring, lining and cathodic protection details.
2. Last inspection report: previous external and internal reports, floor maps, shell readings and settlement surveys.
3. The AI's inspection plan: required examinations, coverage, and report format.
4. Access and cleaning: in-service or out-of-service, cleaning contractor, gas-free and confined-space arrangements, scaffold or rope access.
5. Dates and constraints: outage window, storm-season restrictions, site safety orientation and TWIC requirements, and whether the tank is a PHMSA breakout tank.

Get a quote within 24 hours by sending those details.

Frequently asked questions: API 653 tank inspection in Louisiana

Who can perform an API 653 tank inspection in Louisiana?

An API 653 Authorized Inspector must direct the inspection and sign the report, whether employed by the owner or by an inspection agency. Qualified NDE contractors perform the examinations. Atlantis performs that NDE with ASNT-certified technicians under Level III oversight and delivers the data to your AI.

Does Louisiana require API 653 inspections by law?

There is no single Louisiana statute naming API 653 for all tanks. Obligations come through SPCC and LDEQ's SPC rule (integrity testing to an industry standard), PHMSA rules for breakout tanks, and OSHA PSM for process tanks. Confirm applicability with LDEQ, the state pipeline safety program and your own counsel.

How often must a storage tank be inspected under API 653?

Owner checks at least monthly; a formal external inspection at least every five years or sooner if shell corrosion is fast; shell UT on a corrosion-based interval; and internal inspections at intervals set from floor corrosion rates, within code ceilings of twenty or thirty years depending on release-prevention barriers, unless a qualifying risk-based programme applies.

Should tanks be inspected after a hurricane?

Owners commonly carry out post-storm condition inspections of roofs, seals, pontoons, shells, appurtenances and foundations, and the AI decides whether a formal inspection or repairs are required before return to service. We can provide visual and UT examinations quickly once the site is accessible.

What NDE methods are used for API 653 in Louisiana?

Floor MFL with UT prove-up, shell and critical-zone UT, corrosion mapping, visual examination, MT, PT and vacuum-box testing after repairs, PAUT or RT of new shell welds, and settlement surveys. Settlement and soil-side corrosion receive extra attention on Louisiana's wet foundations.

Is Atlantis an Authorized Inspector or inspection agency?

No. We are not an Authorized Inspection Agency and we do not supply API-certified inspectors. We perform and interpret the NDE; your Authorized Inspector evaluates it, sets intervals and signs as inspector of record.

Can you inspect while the tank stays in service?

External visual examination, shell UT, accessible-area corrosion mapping and settlement readings are normally done in service. Floor scanning, critical-zone UT and internal weld work require the tank to be empty, cleaned and gas-free.

What certifications do your NDE technicians hold?

Technicians are certified to an ASNT SNT-TC-1A written practice for each method, with procedures reviewed by an ASNT NDT Level III. Radiography is performed only by crews licensed for industrial radiography in Louisiana.

What will the report include?

Floor maps with indications and UT prove-up values, shell readings by course and location, critical-zone readings, weld records, settlement data, photographs, procedures, calibration records and technician certifications, delivered digitally for the AI's file.

Do you provide RBI or fitness-for-service assessments?

No. RBI programmes and fitness-for-service assessments are performed by the owner's engineers or specialist consultants; Atlantis supplies the inspection data they use.

Do you train API 653 inspectors?

No. Atlantis provides ASNT SNT-TC-1A NDT training only, including NDT training in Louisiana. For the API certification route, see the API inspector career guide.

How quickly can a crew reach Lake Charles, St. James or Port Fourchon?

Crews are mobilised to your site on a schedule agreed during scoping, built around your outage window. Send tank details and dates for a quote within 24 hours.

Plan your Louisiana tank inspections

From a single fuel tank in Houma to a crude terminal campaign at St. James, the starting point is your AI's plan and your tank list. Send us your tank list, or see NDT consulting in Louisiana for Level III procedure support.

More Atlantis NDT services in Louisiana

• NDT training and certification in Louisiana
• Level III consulting in Louisiana
• NDT inspection services in Louisiana
• API 510 pressure vessel inspection support in Louisiana
• API 570 piping inspection support in Louisiana
• NDT ERP software in Louisiana
• Practical NDT simulator in Louisiana

Part of the wider aboveground storage tank inspection service at Atlantis NDT.