Reader flags a math error in the article's land-area figure
3 Sep 17 12:21 AM · 7d ago · 4 comments · 1 source · development 3 of 3
Commenter tmellon2 recalculates the acreage needed for 1,130 surface tanks and finds roughly 2,260 acres rather than the 45,000 acres stated in the post, questioning that figure.
“The Math does not hold up. 300 feet diameter circular area is 1.62 acres. So at max you would need about 1130 x 2 = 2260 acres and not 45000 acres as projected!”
tmellon2johnjwang Author of the engineering explainerU.S. Navy Operator of the Red Hill fuel storage facilityanigbrowl HN commenternostrademons HN commentertmellon2 HN commenter
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There was a good comment on r/oil by someone who worked on the engineering for the SPR. Unfortunately it's fallen off the front page and I can't find it now, but:> Also, the more water we pump in, the more salt leeches into the water and the more the bottom of the chamber deforms, creating shear forces in the upp walls that lower its overall…
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Hmm...The Math does not hold up. 300 feet diameter circular area is 1.62 acres. So at max you would need about 1130 x 2 = 2260 acres and not 45000 acres as projected !From the post :"300 feet in diameter...""To hold 714 million barrels of oil (the full capacity of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve), you’d need about 1,130 of these tanks. If you use…
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I wondered to what extent they know the size and shape of the cavern at any given time and what they use to monitor it. The answer is apparently sonar, and there are some pretty pictures here:
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Peter Zeihan did a 5m video [1] on this 10 days ago (give or take) - and the history of how they've been used, and why the original design (big draw-downs during major emergencies - perhaps 5 of them, ever) hasn't lent itself well to the way they ended up being used.[1]
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> Keep the oil secure against attacks by our adversaries. This is an especially hard challenge because petroleum has this tendency to light on fire, so a huge concentration of it is especially difficult to keep safe.> Release oil quickly so it can reach the market during a supply disruption.But what if the adversaries destroy the refineries or…
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The Wikipedia page needs an update, this map[1] still shows Gulf of Mexico. Thank you for your attention to this matter![1]
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Underground Natural Gas storage is handled the exact same way interestingly enough
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I always thought the smartest thing to do since countries chose to accept fiat currency in exchange for oil was to create as many patroleum reserves as possible and print as much money to buy as much oil to store for later use as they would sell.
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Where can I find more of these incredibly clever engineering solutions explained so simply? Love reading about this sort of stuff.
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This is so incredibly interesting and one of the best things I’ve seen on HN recently. Thank you for the awesome post!
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The salt caves were only designed to be used a few times and to be used for maximum draw down, weren't they?
All 3 developments of How the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve Stores Oil in Salt… →
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