Publications

Operation, maintenance, and monitoring of large-diameter caverns in oil storage facilities in domal salt

Sobolik, Steven R.; Lord, Anna S.

This paper presents a study of operational and abandoned large-diameter caverns and their long-term implications for oil storage facilities in domal salt. Two caverns at the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserves West Hackberry site, Caverns 6 and 9, present concerns due to their large diameters, unusual shapes and close proximity to each other. The Bryan Mound site has three caverns whose unusual shapes and dimensions have caused concerns about cavern collapse, sinkhole formation, and loss of accessibility to stored oil. This report presents a case study of how historical field data, computational geomechanical analyses, and the implementation of new instrumentation and historical data analyses may be used to develop site operation and monitoring plans for these caverns.