Method and system for determining an amount of a liquid energy commodity stored in a particular location

1. A method for determining an amount of a liquid energy commodity stored in a particular location, comprising the steps of:

storing volume capacity information associated with each tank at the particular location in a database;

periodically conducting an inspection of each tank at the particular location from a remote vantage point and without direct access to each tank, including collecting one or more images of each tank;

transmitting the collected images of each tank to a central processing facility;

analyzing the collected images of each tank to determine a liquid level for each tank;

calculating the amount of the liquid energy commodity in each tank based on the determined liquid level and the volume capacity information retrieved from the database; and

communicating information about the amount of the liquid energy commodity at the particular location to a third-party market participant.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , in which the collected images include photographic images.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , in which the collected images include infrared images.

4. The method as recited in claim 2 , in which the collected images include infrared images.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , in which the liquid energy commodity is crude oil.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , in which the liquid energy commodity is selected from the group consisting of crude oil, natural gas liquid derivatives, and refined petroleum products.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , in which communicating the information about the amount of the liquid energy commodity at the particular location includes exporting the information to an Internet web site accessible by the third-party market participant.

8. A method for determining an amount of a liquid energy commodity stored in a tank with an external floating roof, comprising the steps of:

receiving, at a central processing facility, volume capacity information associated with the tank and storing the volume capacity information in a database;

receiving, at the central processing facility, one or more images of the tank;

analyzing the one or more images of the tank to determine a liquid level for the tank, including a determination of a height of the external floating roof of the tank relative to a top of the tank;

calculating the amount of the liquid energy commodity in the tank based on the determined liquid level and the volume capacity information retrieved from the database; and

communicating information about the amount of the liquid energy commodity in the tank to a third-party market participant.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein the determination of the height of the roof of the tank relative to the top of the tank includes modeling the top, the roof, and a base of the tank as parallel elliptical planes.

10. The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein the tank has an arm that extends between the roof and a wall of the tank, and wherein the determination of the height of the roof of the tank relative to the top of the tank includes measuring an angle of inclination of the arm.

11. The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein the determination of the height of the roof of the tank relative to the top of the tank includes an analysis of one or more shadows generated by the tank.

12. A method for determining an amount of a liquid energy commodity stored in a tank with a fixed roof, comprising the steps of:

periodically conducting an inspection of the tank from a remote vantage point and without direct access to the tank, including collecting one or more images of the tank;

receiving, at a central processing facility, volume capacity information associated with the tank and storing the volume capacity information in a database;

receiving, at the central processing facility, the one or more images of the tank from the inspection;

analyzing the one or more images of the tank to determine a liquid level for the tank, including a determination of a height of a liquid level within the tank relative to a top of the tank based on the one or more images of the tank;

calculating the amount of the liquid energy commodity in the tank based on the determined liquid level and the volume capacity information retrieved from the database; and

communicating information about the amount of the liquid energy commodity in the tank to a third-party market participant.

13. A method for analyzing usage of one or more tanks used for storage of a liquid energy commodity at a particular location, comprising the steps of:

storing volume capacity information associated with each tank at the particular location in a database;

periodically conducting an inspection of each tank at the particular location, including collecting one or more images of each tank;

transmitting the collected images of each tank to a central processing facility;

analyzing the collected images of each tank to determine a liquid level for each tank;

calculating an amount of the liquid energy commodity in each tank based on the determined liquid level and the volume capacity information retrieved from the database;

conducting a further analysis based on the determined liquid level and the volume capacity information retrieved from the database to determine a frequency at which the liquid level in each tank varies over time; and

communicating information about the amount of the liquid energy commodity in each tank and the frequency at which the liquid level in each tank varies over time to a third-party market participant.

14. The method as recited in claim 13 , and further comprising the step of classifying each tank based on the frequency at which the liquid level in each tank varies over time, and then communicating that classification to the third-party market participant.

15. The method as recited in claim 13 , wherein the further analysis to determine the frequency at which the liquid level in each tank varies over time includes a computation of a coefficient of variance.

16. The method as recited in claim 14 , wherein the further analysis to determine the frequency at which the liquid level in each tank varies over time includes a computation of a coefficient of variance, and wherein a selected tank is classified as operational when the coefficient of variance is greater than or equal to 0.4 and classified as speculative when the coefficient of variance is less than 0.4.

17. The method as recited in claim 16 , in which communicating the information about the frequency at which the liquid level in each tank varies over time to the third-party market participant includes a visualization indicating whether each tank is operational or speculative.

18. A method for determining an amount of crude oil stored in a particular location, comprising the steps of:

storing volume capacity information associated with each tank at the particular location in a database;

periodically conducting an inspection of each tank at the particular location from a remote vantage point and without direct access to each tank, including collecting one or more images of each tank;

transmitting the collected images of each tank to a central processing facility;

analyzing the collected images of each tank to determine a liquid level for each tank;

calculating the amount of crude oil in each tank based on the determined liquid level and the volume capacity information retrieved from the database; and

communicating information about the amount of crude oil at the particular location to a third-party market participant.

19. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the remote vantage point is an aerial vantage point.

20. The method as recited in claim 18 , wherein the remote vantage point is an aerial vantage point.

21. The method as recited in claim 8 , in which the images include photographic images, infrared images, or both photographic images and infrared images.

22. The method as recited in claim 8 , in which the liquid energy commodity is selected from the group consisting of crude oil, natural gas liquid derivatives, and refined petroleum products.

23. The method as recited in claim 12 , in which the images include photographic images, infrared images, or both photographic images and infrared images.

24. The method as recited in claim 12 , in which the liquid energy commodity is selected from the group consisting of crude oil, natural gas liquid derivatives, and refined petroleum products.

25. The method as recited in claim 13 , in which the images include photographic images, infrared images, or both photographic images and infrared images.

26. The method as recited in claim 13 , in which the liquid energy commodity is selected from the group consisting of crude oil, natural gas liquid derivatives, and refined petroleum products.

27. A method for determining an amount of a liquid energy commodity stored in a particular location, comprising the steps of:

storing volume capacity information associated with each tank at the particular location in a database;

periodically conducting an inspection of each tank at the particular location, including collecting one or more images of each tank via a satellite imaging system;

transmitting the collected images of each tank from the satellite imaging system to a central processing facility;

analyzing the collected images of each tank to determine a liquid level for each tank;

calculating the amount of the liquid energy commodity in each tank based on the determined liquid level and the volume capacity information retrieved from the database; and

communicating information about the amount of the liquid energy commodity at the particular location to a third-party market participant.

28. The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein the one or more images of each tank are received from a satellite imaging system.

29. A method for determining an amount of a liquid energy commodity stored in a tank with a fixed roof, comprising the steps of:

receiving, at a central processing facility, volume capacity information associated with the tank and storing the volume capacity information in a database;

receiving, at the central processing facility, one or more images of the tank, wherein the one or more images of each tank are received from a satellite imaging systems;

analyzing the one or more images of the tank to determine a liquid level for the tank, including a determination of a height of a liquid level within the tank relative to a top of the tank based on the one or more images of the tank;

calculating the amount of the liquid energy commodity in the tank based on the determined liquid level and the volume capacity information retrieved from the database; and

communicating information about the amount of the liquid energy commodity in the tank to a third-party market participant.

30. The method as recited in claim 12 , wherein the remote vantage point is an aerial vantage point.