Underground salt caverns are frequently used for crude oil storage. One customer pumps oil from barges into the storage caverns. An ultrasonic flowmeter records the total flow. To
get the oil out of the caverns, a brine solution is pumped into the cavern through a magnetic flowmeter. Brine and crude oil flowing in both directions are measured and reported to the DCS using the HART communication protocol for accuracy. The DCS tracks flow rate and total quantity to maintain a certain pressure inside the caverns (Figure 21).
Figure 21: Underground
Petroleum Storage