API 653 Tank Inspection Support in Quebec

Short answer: In Quebec, API 653 is the standard owners use to inspect in-service field-erected steel tanks, and the owner's API 653 Authorized Inspector evaluates and signs. On top of it, the Régie du bâtiment du Québec regulates petroleum equipment under Chapter VIII of the Construction Code and Chapter VI of the Safety Code, including operating permits and periodic certificates of compliance for high-risk equipment. Federal rules apply at ports, airports and federally regulated pipelines. Atlantis performs the NDE behind the inspection and reports to your inspector.

Quebec's tank population follows the St. Lawrence. Montreal East holds a refinery, former refinery sites converted to terminals, petrochemical plants and the end of the Line 9 crude pipeline. Across from Quebec City, the refinery at Lévis is one of the largest in Canada and ships products up-river by pipeline and vessel. Downstream, Bécancour's industrial park, the Saguenay's aluminium smelters and the Côte-Nord's iron-ore ports at Sept-Îles and Port-Cartier all depend on bulk storage, and isolated communities from the Magdalen Islands to Nunavik rely on diesel tank farms. This page covers where the tanks are, what API 653 asks, how the RBQ's petroleum equipment rules and federal rules sit on top, how examiner certification and French-language documentation are handled, and what Atlantis does. Atlantis performs the NDE; your API 653 Authorized Inspector remains inspector of record and signs the inspection report. To begin, send us your Quebec tank list.

Where API 653 tanks are in Quebec

Direct answer: Quebec's field-erected steel tanks are concentrated in Montreal East and the Port of Montreal, at the Lévis refinery and the Port of Québec, in the Bécancour and Sorel-Tracy industrial areas, at Saguenay smelters and port facilities, at Côte-Nord mining ports in Sept-Îles and Port-Cartier, at airport fuel farms, and at fuel depots and power plants serving isolated communities.

Montreal East and the Port of Montreal

Montreal East is Quebec's oldest refining and petrochemical district. Suncor's Montreal refinery operates there, former refinery sites have been converted into large product terminals, and petrochemical plants produce aromatics and other intermediates. Enbridge's Line 9 delivers crude from Sarnia to Montreal, and the Trans-Northern pipeline carries refined products west toward Ontario. The Port of Montreal, open to shipping year-round, adds liquid bulk terminals for fuels, chemicals and vegetable oils. Many of these tanks are decades old, have changed service more than once and sit on urban sites close to neighbours, rail lines and the river.

Lévis and the Quebec City region

Valero's Jean-Gaulin refinery in Lévis, on the south shore opposite Quebec City, is one of the largest refineries in Canada by capacity. It receives crude by tanker on the St. Lawrence and ships products to the Montreal area by the Saint-Laurent pipeline and by vessel. Its crude and product tank farm is large and its marine terminal handles deep-sea tankers. The Port of Québec adds bulk-liquid terminals on the north shore.

Bécancour, Trois-Rivières and Sorel-Tracy

Between Montreal and Quebec City, the Bécancour waterfront industrial park hosts chemical, metals and industrial gas plants, and the Sorel-Tracy and Trois-Rivières areas add metallurgical, pulp and paper and port storage. Chemical service, including acids, caustic and solvents, makes product-side corrosion, lining condition and material compatibility central to the inspection scope.

Saguenay, Côte-Nord and the Gaspé

Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean is home to aluminium smelters and the port at Grande-Anse. On the Côte-Nord, Sept-Îles and Port-Cartier ship iron ore from Labrador and northern Quebec mines, and their fuel terminals supply mines, railways and towns. Pulp and paper mills across the province store chemicals and fuel. The Gaspé peninsula and the Magdalen Islands add marine fuel terminals and diesel storage for power generation.

Airports and isolated communities

Montréal-Trudeau and Québec City airports store jet fuel in large tanks. Off-grid communities in Nunavik, on the Lower North Shore and on the Magdalen Islands depend on diesel tank farms resupplied by sealift or ship in the short open-water season, so tank integrity there is a matter of energy security as well as spill prevention, and inspections are planned around that resupply window.

What API 653 requires, in plain terms

Direct answer: API 653 governs inspection, repair, alteration and reconstruction of in-service atmospheric steel tanks built to API 650 or API 12C. Owners check tanks routinely, an Authorized Inspector performs a formal external inspection at least every five years, shell UT follows a corrosion-based interval, and internal inspections are timed by measured floor corrosion and the tank's safeguards.

Routine in-service checks. API 653 expects owner personnel to inspect each tank at least monthly for leaks, shell distortion, settlement, roof, seal and drain problems and foundation damage. The RBQ's Safety Code goes further for petroleum equipment and requires a weekly visual check of aboveground tanks and their piping, so most Quebec owners run one combined round.

External inspection. An Authorized Inspector performs a formal external inspection at least every five years, or sooner where shell corrosion is fast, since API 653 also caps the interval at a quarter of the remaining shell corrosion life.

Shell UT thickness. Where UT readings are used, they are due within five years of commissioning while the corrosion rate is unknown, then at the lesser of half the remaining shell corrosion life or fifteen years.

Internal inspection. A new tank's first internal inspection is generally due within ten years and can be extended within API 653's ceilings by crediting safeguards such as release prevention barriers, linings and cathodic protection. Later intervals are calculated from measured floor corrosion and minimum remaining bottom thickness, or set by a qualifying risk-based assessment carried out by the owner's specialists.

Cold, settlement and edition. Quebec winters bear on the inspector's brittle-fracture screening before repairs or changes of service, and the clay soils of the St. Lawrence lowlands make settlement evaluation important on older tanks. API 653 is in its fifth edition with addenda; Addendum 4 (July 2025) revised the text on bottom thickness measurement, so check procedures against the current edition from api.org. See API 653 tank inspection intervals explained and the API 653 tank inspection guide.

Quebec regulations that sit on top of API 653

Direct answer: The Régie du bâtiment du Québec regulates petroleum equipment, including fuel storage tanks and intra-provincial pipelines, under the Building Act, Chapter VIII of the Construction Code and Chapter VI of the Safety Code. High-risk equipment needs an operating permit and periodic certificates of compliance from a recognised person. Environmental authorisations, federal tank rules and the Canada Energy Regulator add further layers.

RBQ petroleum equipment rules: what is covered

Since April 2007 the RBQ has regulated petroleum equipment installations: equipment used to distribute, handle, transfer or store petroleum products, from service-station tanks and heating-oil tanks to depot storage and intra-provincial pipelines. Two scope points matter for tank owners. First, according to the RBQ, crude oil and refined non-fuel products are not petroleum products within the meaning of the Building Act, so crude tanks and some refinery or chemical tanks fall outside these rules and are governed by other legislation and the owner's own program. Second, aboveground equipment is classed as high-risk at 2,500 litres or more of Class 1 fuel, or 10,000 litres or more of Class 2 fuel or heating oil, and equipment used for trade purposes, as well as all pipelines, is always high-risk. Federal and interprovincial pipelines sit with the Canada Energy Regulator. See our RBQ compliance overview.

Safety Code Chapter VI: operating duties and certificates of compliance

In summary, and based on the RBQ's published explanatory table of the Safety Code's petroleum equipment provisions:

• Operating permit. Owners of high-risk petroleum equipment hold an RBQ operating permit (permis d'utilisation).
• Certificates of compliance. Owners of an installation with at least one high-risk item must provide the RBQ with a certificate of compliance (attestation de conformité), produced and signed by a recognised person, at set verification periods, for example every two years for a depot and every six years for high-risk aboveground equipment that is not in a depot.
• Quality control program alternative. An owner may instead run an RBQ-approved quality control program, under the responsibility of a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec or a licensed professional technologist, with an annual management report and inspection register sent to the RBQ.
• Routine duties. Weekly visual checks of aboveground tanks and piping for tightness, weekly gauging with inventory reconciliation (temperature-corrected for aboveground tanks over 250,000 litres), monthly function tests of valves, overfill controls, vents and fire protection, and an annual check of each safety valve.
• Reuse of tanks. An aboveground tank may be reused for petroleum storage only if approved under CAN/ULC-S676, which involves inspection, evaluation and, where needed, refurbishment.

These are compliance verifications against the codes, not an API 653 inspection of the shell and floor, so most owners of large field-erected tanks run both: the RBQ certificate or quality program, and an API 653 program whose NDE data feeds it. Confirm the current text and verification periods with the RBQ, since the Safety Code has been amended since the version summarised here.

Environment, fire and workplace safety

Refineries, terminals and chemical plants hold authorisations under the Environment Quality Act from the Ministère de l'Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs, which may include storage and spill-prevention conditions, and leaks trigger the province's contaminated-land rules. Municipal fire services enforce fire-safety requirements. Confined-space entry for internal inspections follows Quebec's occupational health and safety regulations administered by the CNESST, and site permits.

Federal rules: ports, airports and pipelines

The federal Storage Tank Systems for Petroleum Products and Allied Petroleum Products Regulations (SOR/2008-197) apply to systems on federal land and Indigenous land and to systems serving federal works and undertakings such as airports, railways and some port facilities; in Quebec that can include airport fuel systems, federal installations, First Nations reserve lands and some sites at the Montreal and Québec port authorities. Confirm applicability with Environment and Climate Change Canada. For older vertical aboveground tanks without secondary containment, the regulations require continuous leak detection or monitoring, or a tank or floor inspection every ten years, with tank inspections following the API 653 version in effect at the time. Line 9 and the Trans-Northern pipeline are regulated by the Canada Energy Regulator, so their terminal tanks sit within the operator's CER-regulated management system with CSA Z662 as the pipeline standard; see our CSA Z662 overview.

Pressure equipment and radiography

Pressurised storage such as propane and butane bullets and spheres is pressure equipment, regulated in Quebec by the RBQ's pressure-installation rules and inspected under API 510 rather than API 653. Industrial radiography is licensed federally by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, and exposure devices are operated by CNSC-certified operators; Atlantis uses only crews holding the required licence and certifications. See our CNSC overview.

NDE examiner qualifications and French-language documentation

Direct answer: For atmospheric tanks the owner's specification decides which NDE certification scheme is accepted. CAN/CGSB-48.9712 (ISO 9712) is widely specified in Quebec; some owners accept ASNT SNT-TC-1A, especially on US-code or US-parent projects. Atlantis technicians are certified to an ASNT SNT-TC-1A written practice under ASNT Level III oversight. Certification acceptance and the language of procedures and reports are discussed during scoping.

CAN/CGSB-48.9712, aligned with ISO 9712, is Canada's national NDT personnel certification scheme, administered by Natural Resources Canada's NDT Certification Body. The Canadian General Standards Board, which published the standard, closed on 1 April 2026; NRCan's certification body continues and CAN/CGSB-48.9712 remains valid, according to NRCan and CWB Group notices. Confirm the current certification body when you update a specification. See CAN/CGSB-48.9712 and the NRCan NDT Certification Body.

The honest position: Atlantis is an ASNT-based NDE contractor. Our technicians hold certification to an SNT-TC-1A written practice and an ASNT NDT Level III reviews our procedures. Every proposal names the certification basis method by method. Where a Quebec specification requires CGSB certification only, we say so at scoping. Atlantis does not provide CGSB or ISO 9712 training or certification; our training is ASNT SNT-TC-1A only, through NDT training in Quebec and across Canada.

Language. French is the normal language of work and documentation at most Quebec sites, under the Charter of the French Language and site practice. Whether your procedures, field records and reports need to be in French, in English or bilingual, and what that means for crew composition and the inspector's file, is discussed during scoping, before any proposal is final.

NDE methods for API 653 work in Quebec

Direct answer: Quebec tank work relies on floor MFL scanning proved up with UT, shell and annular-plate UT thickness, corrosion mapping on chemical and heated tanks, visual examination of roofs, seals, foundations and containment, MT, PT and vacuum-box testing after repairs, PAUT or radiography of new welds, and settlement data for the inspector.

Every reportable MFL indication is proved up with UT, and every procedure is reviewed by an ASNT NDT Level III. For floor-method trade-offs see MFL versus UT for tank floors; for the full scope see aboveground storage tank inspection.

How Atlantis supports your Authorized Inspector

Direct answer: Atlantis takes the scope from your API 653 inspector's plan, performs the NDE, checks the data on site and delivers a digital report your inspector can review, accept and sign, and that your recognised person can draw on for RBQ compliance work. We are not an Authorized Inspection Agency and we do not supply API-certified inspectors, and we are not an RBQ recognised person. Our job is the examinations and the data.

1. Scope from the inspector's plan: floor coverage, shell and annular-plate locations, roof, seal, foundation and dike examinations, weld examinations and settlement points.
2. Certification and language check: we confirm the examiner certifications your specification requires and the documentation language before booking a crew.
3. Procedure review by an ASNT NDT Level III, including cold-weather UT and temperature correction.
4. Examinations by technicians certified to an SNT-TC-1A written practice: MFL with UT prove-up, shell and annular UT, corrosion mapping, visual, surface and volumetric methods.
5. Data QA on site: readings checked against calibration records and the previous inspection, with anomalies flagged to the inspector immediately.
6. Digital report in our reporting platform: floor maps, prove-up readings, shell readings by course and location, weld records, photographs, calibration data and technician certification records, on report templates matched to your inspector's file.
7. Inspector evaluation and sign-off, then reuse of the same locations at the next interval, tracked in our inspection-management ERP or visualised on a digital twin of the tank farm.

We can calculate corrosion rates and remaining life from our thickness data for the inspector's review; the interval decision belongs to the inspector and the owner under API 653 and the rules that apply. Atlantis performs the NDE; your API 653 Authorized Inspector remains inspector of record and signs the inspection report. Request an NDE scope for your inspector's plan, or read about API 653 tank inspection support.

Planning around winter, the thaw, the construction holiday and turnarounds

Direct answer: Quebec internal inspections, floor scans and repairs are usually planned from late spring to autumn, around refinery turnarounds, terminal rotation, the spring thaw and the construction industry's summer holiday. Winter work is mainly external UT, mapping and visual inspection under cold-weather procedures. Remote sites follow the shipping and sealift season.

Winter. Cold snaps of minus twenty-five and below in Montreal and Quebec City, and colder on the Côte-Nord and in the Saguenay, affect couplants, batteries, access and technician safety, and they matter to the inspector's brittle-fracture assessment for repairs. External surveys in winter need heated enclosures and shorter work periods; freezing rain is a particular hazard on roofs and stairways.

The spring thaw. Seasonal load restrictions during the thaw period limit heavy vehicles on many roads, which affects cleaning equipment, cranes and repair crews. Plan cleaning and repairs around them.

The construction holiday. Much of Quebec's construction industry stops for two weeks in late July. Tank repairs carried out by construction contractors are affected, so owners usually schedule internal inspections so that NDE results and the inspector's evaluation are ready before or well after that window.

Turnarounds, rotation and shipping. The Montreal and Lévis refineries plan turnarounds well ahead, and port terminals rotate tanks around vessel schedules. Côte-Nord and island terminals, and Nunavik community tank farms, are planned around the open-water and sealift season, when equipment and crews can travel by ship. Book a scoping call for your next season.

API 653 inspection support across Quebec

Direct answer: Atlantis mobilises crews to tank sites throughout Quebec on a schedule agreed during scoping, covering Montreal and Montreal East, the South Shore and Varennes, Lévis and Quebec City, Bécancour and Trois-Rivières, Sorel-Tracy, Saguenay, Sept-Îles and Port-Cartier, the Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands, and remote northern storage.

• Montreal and Montreal East: refinery, terminal, petrochemical, port and airport tanks. Related pages: NDT training in Montreal, digital twins in Montreal, NDT ERP in Montreal and practical NDT in Montreal.
• Lévis and Quebec City: refinery tank farms, marine terminal tanks and port storage; for technician development see practical NDT in Quebec City.
• Bécancour, Trois-Rivières and Sorel-Tracy: chemical, metallurgical and port tanks.
• Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean: smelter, mill and port storage.
• Sept-Îles and Port-Cartier: fuel terminals serving mines, railways and communities on the Côte-Nord.
• Gaspé, Magdalen Islands and Nunavik: marine fuel terminals and diesel tank farms, planned around shipping and sealift windows.

Pressure vessels and process piping at the same sites follow their own codes and the RBQ's pressure-installation rules; see our companion hubs for API 510 pressure vessel inspection in Quebec and API 570 piping inspection in Quebec. For Level III procedure and written-practice support see NDT consulting in Quebec and NDT consulting across Canada; for inspection data and certification tracking see NDT ERP in Quebec.

What to send us for a quote

Direct answer: Send your tank list, the last API 653 reports and RBQ certificates, your inspector's plan with certification and language requirements, cleaning and access status, and your preferred window. We return a scoped NDE quote within 24 hours.

1. Tank list and drawings: tank IDs, diameter, height, roof type, product (fuel, crude or non-fuel), year built, construction standard, plate thicknesses, floor design, foundation, cathodic protection and leak detection.
2. Regulatory context: RBQ permit status and verification dates or quality-program arrangements, environmental authorisations, federal tank rules or CER-regulated pipeline status.
3. Previous reports: API 653 reports, floor maps, shell readings, settlement surveys and the latest certificates of compliance.
4. The inspector's plan: examinations, coverage, acceptance references, report format, required examiner certifications and documentation language, with your Authorized Inspector's name or agency.
5. Access and logistics: in service or cleaned and gas-free, heated enclosures, permits, site orientation, and ship or air access for remote sites.
6. Dates: turnaround, rotation, construction-holiday and shipping-season constraints.

Get a quote within 24 hours.

Frequently asked questions: API 653 tank inspection in Quebec

Does Quebec require API 653 inspections?

Quebec's petroleum equipment rules, administered by the RBQ, set operating permits, routine checks and periodic certificates of compliance rather than naming API 653 for in-service tank integrity. Owners of field-erected tanks apply API 653 through their integrity programs, and federal rules require API 653-based inspections in some cases. Confirm your obligations with the RBQ.

Do RBQ rules cover crude oil tanks?

According to the RBQ, crude oil and refined non-fuel products are not petroleum products within the meaning of the Building Act, so those tanks fall outside its petroleum equipment rules. They follow environmental and fire rules and the owner's own program, which normally means API 653.

What is an RBQ certificate of compliance?

An attestation de conformité is a certificate produced and signed by a recognised person confirming that high-risk petroleum equipment meets the applicable code requirements, provided to the RBQ at set verification periods. Owners may instead run an RBQ-approved quality control program.

Who can perform an API 653 inspection in Quebec?

An API 653 Authorized Inspector engaged by the owner, directly or through an inspection agency, evaluates the tank and signs the report. Qualified NDE technicians collect the data. Atlantis performs that NDE with ASNT-certified technicians under Level III oversight and delivers the results to your inspector.

Is Atlantis an Authorized Inspector or RBQ recognised person?

No to both. We are not an Authorized Inspection Agency, we do not supply API-certified inspectors, and we do not sign RBQ certificates of compliance. We perform and document the NDE that your inspector and your recognised person rely on.

Can reports and procedures be in French?

The language of procedures, field records and reports is discussed during scoping, along with what your site, your inspector and the Charter of the French Language require. We confirm what we can deliver before the proposal is final.

Are your technicians CGSB certified?

No. Atlantis technicians are certified to an ASNT SNT-TC-1A written practice under ASNT Level III oversight. The owner's specification decides which scheme is acceptable, and we confirm it during scoping. CAN/CGSB-48.9712 remains valid after the Canadian General Standards Board's closure on 1 April 2026; confirm the current certification body.

How often does a storage tank need an API 653 inspection?

Monthly owner checks, which the RBQ's weekly check requirement exceeds for petroleum equipment, an external inspection at least every five years, shell UT on a corrosion-based interval, and an internal inspection first due within ten years, then on a calculated interval within the code's ceilings.

Do federal tank rules apply at Quebec ports and airports?

They can, on federal land and at systems serving federal works such as airports, railways and some port facilities. Older vertical tanks without secondary containment then need continuous leak monitoring or a tank or floor inspection every ten years, following API 653. Confirm with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Who licenses radiography of tank repair welds in Quebec?

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission licenses industrial radiography federally, and exposure devices are operated by CNSC-certified operators. PAUT is often chosen on busy port and urban sites.

Do you do RBI, fitness-for-service or API 653 training?

No. RBI and fitness-for-service assessments are performed by the owner's engineers or specialists using our data. Atlantis offers ASNT SNT-TC-1A NDT training only; for the API certification route see our API inspector career guide.

How soon can a crew reach Montreal East, Lévis or Sept-Îles?

Crews are mobilised to your site on a schedule agreed during scoping, built around cleaning, turnaround, holiday and shipping constraints. Send tank details and we return a quote within 24 hours.

Plan your Quebec tank inspections

From a floor scan on a Lévis crude tank to a shell survey at a Montreal East terminal or a diesel tank farm on the Côte-Nord, start with your inspector's plan, your certification and language requirements and a realistic season window. Send us your tank list, see what an API 653 program involves, or explore practical NDT in Quebec for technician development.

More Atlantis NDT services in Quebec

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

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