Fuel delivery checklist: receiving diesel on site

Under BP's general terms for sales of petroleum products, a quantity or quality complaint must be notified in writing within 45 days of completion of discharge, "accompanied by evidence fully supporting the complaint". That evidence is the readings and samples you take, or fail to take, on the day the truck empties into your tank.

Receiving a fuel delivery takes an hour. It is the hour that decides whether you received what you paid for. Here is the checklist, in order.

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• Get our printable checklist: ask for it on WhatsApp.
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Before the truck arrives

1. Check the space available in your tank: free volume above the announced delivery, with a margin.
2. Dip your tank: level, water at the bottom, temperature. Note the time. Without this "before" reading, no "after" calculation is possible.
3. Prepare the equipment: dipstick or gauge tape, water-finding paste, thermometer, hydrometer for density, clean sample bottles, labels, seals.
4. Ask for the documents in advance: loading note, certificate of analysis for the lot, seal numbers, truck registration.

On arrival: documents and truck

1. The registration of the truck and tanker matches the loading note.
2. The loading note shows, for each compartment, the volume, the temperature, the density at 15 °C and the volume corrected to 15 °C.
3. The certificate of analysis carries the same lot or tank number as the note.
4. The seals are intact and their numbers match the note. A broken seal or a different number is recorded in writing, with a photo, before anything is opened.

Before discharge: measure and sample

1. Dip each compartment against the truck's calibration chart, or read the meter if the delivery is metered. A temperature compensated meter prints the volume at 15 °C directly.
2. Take the temperature of the product in each compartment.
3. Look for water at the bottom of the compartments with water-finding paste, which changes colour on contact with water.
4. Take a sample from each compartment, or a composite sample, in clean bottles. Make at least three: one for you, one for the supplier, one in reserve. Close them with numbered seals and have the driver sign the label.
5. Look at the sample against the light. Method ASTM D4176 exists for exactly this: diesel must be "clear and bright", with no water or particles at the bottom of the bottle. A hazy product is not discharged.
6. Measure the density with a hydrometer (method ASTM D1298), correct it to 15 °C and compare it with the note. A clear gap should make you suspend the discharge and call the supplier.

During discharge

• Stay present, and do not let the hose be connected to a tank holding another product.
• Check at the end that each compartment is empty: a remainder at the bottom of a compartment is a shortage nobody will see later.

After discharge: count and sign

1. Dip your tank again once the product has settled: level, water, temperature.
2. Calculate the quantity received at 15 °C: the difference between the two readings, corrected for temperature. Diesel loaded warm and delivered cooler will have lost volume without a drop going missing: 40,000 litres loaded at 35 °C make about 39,657 litres at 25 °C. The calculation is in diesel tonnes to litres.
3. Compare with the note in litres corrected to 15 °C, not in observed litres.
4. Sign with reservations if something is wrong: write on the note the shortage found, the state of the seals, the appearance of the product. A signature without reservations is very hard to challenge afterwards.
5. Keep the samples sealed, cool and out of the light, at least until the claim deadline set by the contract has passed.

When the numbers do not add up

• Write to the supplier immediately, with the readings, the photos and the seal numbers. Claim deadlines run from delivery: 45 days under BP's general terms for a cargo.
• Have the reserve sample analysed by an independent laboratory if quality is in question, with the supplier present if it wishes.
• Check the tolerance in the contract. For a cargo, BP's general terms admit no quantity claim below a 0.5 % difference between loaded and discharged. For a truck delivery, your contract sets the threshold: write it in.

Signs that do not lie

A broken seal, a truck arriving hours late with no explanation, a note with no temperature or density, a hazy sample or an abnormal flash point at analysis. We cover these signals in adulterated diesel: how to spot it.

Frequently asked questions

How do I receive a diesel delivery?

Dip your tank before, check the documents and seals, dip and sample each compartment, check appearance and density, discharge under supervision, dip again after, calculate the quantity received at 15 °C and sign with reservations if needed.

How many samples should I take?

At least three sealed and signed bottles: one for you, one for the supplier, one in reserve for an independent laboratory.

How do I detect water in a road tanker?

With water-finding paste on the dipstick, at the bottom of each compartment, and by looking at a sample: diesel must be clear and bright, with no water at the bottom of the bottle.

Why did I receive fewer litres than the note says?

Often because of temperature: diesel contracts as it cools, by about 0.85 % for every 10 °C. Always compare in litres corrected to 15 °C before concluding there is a shortage.

What we do

GRACECORP AMD GROUP delivers diesel in West Africa by road tanker from our own depots or those of our partners in Dakar, Abidjan, Lomé or Cotonou, depending on availability: tanks sealed at loading, trucks tracked by GPS, a certificate of analysis for every lot, and volumes stated at 15 °C. Elsewhere in Africa we deliver by ship to your port, from 2,000 tonnes.

Request an offer on WhatsApp or see our fuel offer.

Read next: diesel buffer stock on site: how many days and diesel certificate of analysis: how to read it.

Sources: BP Oil International, 2015 general terms, version 1.2, sections 2.1 (presence of the buyer's representative) and 59.2.1 (claims within 45 days with evidence, 0.5 % threshold); ASTM International, D4176-22e01 (free water and particulate contamination in distillate fuels, visual "clear and bright" inspection, usable in the field) and D1298 (density by hydrometer); Measurement Canada, volume correction factors for diesel, Table 54B, and bulletin V-18 (meters with automatic temperature compensation); our articles on adulterated diesel and on diesel buffer stocks.