Historical Cavern Floor Rise for All SPR Sites

Technical Report · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1431478· OSTI ID:1431478

Moriarty, Dylan Michael ^[1]

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1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) contains the largest supply is the largest stockpile of government-owned emergency crude oil in the world. The oil is stored in multiple salt caverns spread over four sites in Louisiana and Texas. Cavern infrastructure near the bottom of the cavern can be damaged from vertical floor movement. This report presents a comprehensive history of floor movements in each cavern. Most of the cavern floor rise rates ranged from 0.5-3.5 ft/yr, however, there were several caverns with much higher rise rates. BH103, BM106, and BH105 had the three highest rise rates. Information from this report will be used to better predict future vertical floor movements and optimally place cavern infrastructure. The reasons for floor rise are not entirely understood and should be investigated.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE), Petroleum Reserves (FE-40)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 1431478
• Report Number(s): SAND2016--9445; 647639
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM