Military

Chibana Compound
Okinawa, Japan

Chibana Compound is a satellite of Torii Station. The 505th Quartermaster Battalion is the Petroleum Pipeline & Terminal Operating unit at Chibana Compound Okinawa, Japan. From jet fuel for the Air Force and Marine Corps, diesel for Navy ships or the unleaded gasoline purchased at an AAFES service station, the 505th handles all fuel used by the Department of Defense on Okinawa. Inside the base lab at Chibana Compound, technicians run tests on fuel samples taken from six different tank farms where the fuel is stored as well as from various points along the way to the final consumer. The 505th's laboratory technicians test this fuel time and again to ensure it meets the standards at each step along the way. Anytime fuel comes in they have to do a type C test, which is a minimum test to make sure that the fuel coming in on these ships is actually quality fuel. All the fuel is tested prior to going on the ship, but they have to make sure before they take it off that it still meets the specifications which the military has for all different types of petroleum products. Once the fuel gets the "okay" the ship-to-shore transfer begins. If the incoming fuel is a different type than the previous shipment sitting in the pipeline then a different test has to conducted every 10 seconds as a technician monitors the pipeline to determine the point where the new fuel meets the old.