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Site geotechnical considerations for expansion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to one billion barrels

Description: Eight Gulf Coast salt domes have emerged as candidate sites for possible expansion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to one billion barrels. Two existing SPR sites, Big Hill, TX, and Weeks Island, LA, are among the eight that are being considered. To achieve the billion barrel capacity, some 25 new leached caverns would be constructed, and would probably be established in two separate sites in Louisiana and Texas because of distribution requirements. Geotechnical factors involved in siti… more
Date: January 1, 1991
Creator: Neal, J. T.; Whittington, D. W. & Magorian, T. R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Improving the injectability of high-salinity brines for disposal or waterflooding operations

Description: This work is part of a study conducted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to improve the performance of brine injection wells at Gulf Coast Strategic Petroleum Reserve Sites. Our involvement established that granular media filtration, when used with proper chemical pretreatments, provides an effective and economical method for removing particulates from hypersaline brines. This treatment allows for the injection of 200,000 B/D with significantly increased well half-lives of 30 yea… more
Date: July 25, 1981
Creator: Raber, E.; Thompson, R.E. & Smith, F.H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Prediction of subsidence resulting from creep closure of solutioned-mined caverns in salt domes

Description: The prediction of subsidence rates over a range of areal configurations of solution-mined caverns in salt domes is possible, based on some fifty years of history in solution mining. Several approaches contribute to predictions: site-specific observations obtained from subsidence monitoring; numerical modeling, now becoming more practicable and credible; salt-creep data from testing; and rule-of-thumb methods, based on experience. All of these approaches contribute to understanding subsidence bu… more
Date: January 1, 1991
Creator: Neal, J.T.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Microseismic activity observed during depressurization of an oil storage cavern in rock salt

Description: In November 1978, the Los Alamos National Laboratory installed a triaxial downhole geophone package at the Bryan Mound Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a salt dome near Freeport, Texas. Monitoring was for the purpose of detecting microseismic activity during the depressurization of one of the oil storage caverns. Seismic activity started soon after the start of depressurization, reached a peak 5 days later, and rapidly died off. Nineteen locatable microearthquakes with magnitudes between -1 and -2 … more
Date: January 1, 1981
Creator: Albright, J. & Pearson, C.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Threat of a sinkhole: A reevaluation of Cavern 4, Bayou Choctaw salt dome, Louisiana

Description: Cavern Lake at Bayou Choctaw salt dome resulted from the failure of Cavern 7 in 1954. Uncontrolled solutioning of this cavern through the thin caprock had set the stage for overburden to collapse into the cavern below. A similar situation developed with nearby Cavern 4, but with less dissolutioning of the caprock. Because pressure loss was already a problem and because another 800 ft diameter lake would have endangered surface operations, solutioning of Cavern 4 was stopped and the cavern aband… more
Date: September 1, 1993
Creator: Neal, J. T.; Todd, J. L.; Linn, J. K. & Magorian, T. R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Origin, diagnostics, and mitigation of a salt dissolution sinkhole at the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage site, Weeks Island, Louisiana

Description: A sinkhole was first observed in May 1992 over the edge of the two-level former salt mine that was converted for oil storage by the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Diagnostic studies that included geophysical, geochemical, drilling, and hydrological methods suggest a direct connection exists between the surface collapse area and the underground mine as shown by correlative measurements of sediment slump rates and brine influx into the mine. The dissolution of salt below the sinkhole that … more
Date: January 27, 1995
Creator: Neal, J.T. & Myers, R.E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Transient Analysis for the Multimechanism-Deformation Parameters of Several Domal Salts

Description: Use of Gulf Coast salt domes for construction of very large storage caverns by solution mining has grown significantly in the last several decades. In fact, a nationally important Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) storage occurs in large cavern arrays in some of these domes. Although caverns have been operated economically for these many years, these caverns have a range of relatively poorly understood behaviors, involving creep closure fluid loss and damage from salt falls. It is certainly pos… more
Date: August 16, 1999
Creator: Munson, Darrell E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Sinkhole progression at the Weeks Island, Louisiana, Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) site

Description: A sinkhole measuring 11 m (36 ft) across and 9 m (30 ft) deep was first observed in alluvium overlying the Weeks Island, Louisiana, salt dome in May 1992, but it was about a year old, based on initial surface appearance and subsequent reverse extrapolation of growth rates. A second and much smaller sinkhole was identified in early 1995, nearly three years later. Their position directly over the edges of the SPR oil storage chamber, a former room-and-pillar salt mine, caused apprehension. The as… more
Date: November 1, 1995
Creator: Neal, J. T.; Bauer, S. J. & Ehgartner, B. L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Groundwater flow velocity measurements in a sinkhole at the Weeks Island Strategic Petroleum Reserve Facility, Louisiana

Description: In 1992, a sinkhole was discovered above a Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage facility at Weeks Island, Louisiana. The oil is stored in an old salt mine located within a salt dome. In order to assess the hydrologic significance of the sink hole, an In Situ Permeable Flow Sensor was deployed within a sand-filled conduit in the salt dome directly beneath the sinkhole. The flow sensor is a recently developed instrument which uses a thermal perturbation technique to measure the magnitude and direc… more
Date: February 1, 1995
Creator: Ballard, S. & Gibson, J.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Salt dissolution sinkhole at the Weeks Island, Louisiana, Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage site

Description: A sinkhole was first observed in May 1992 over the outer edge of the two-tiered former salt mine that was converted for oil storage by the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Results of diagnostic studies which included geophysical, geochemical, drilling, and hydrological methods suggest a direct connection exists between the surface collapse area and the underground mine. The connection was confirmed by correlative measurements of sediment slump rates, piezometric surface deflection, and bri… more
Date: December 31, 1994
Creator: Neal, J. T. & Myers, R. E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Characterizing the Weeks Island Salt Dome drilling of and seismic measurements from boreholes

Description: A sinkhole 36 ft across, 30 ft deep was first observed in the alluvium over the Weeks Island Salt Dome (salt mine converted for oil storage by US Strategic Petroleum Reserve) May 1992. Four vertical, two slanted boreholes were drilled for diagnostics. Crosswell seismic data were generated; the velocity images suggest that the sinkhole collapse is complicated, not a simple vertical structure. The coring operation was moderately difficult; limited core was obtained through the alluvium, and the q… more
Date: October 1, 1996
Creator: Sattler, A. R.; Harding, R. S.; Jacobson, R. D.; Finger, J. T.; Keefe, R. & Neal, J. T.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Energy security in the post-Cold War era: Identifying future courses for crises

Description: This paper addresses US energy security in the post-Cold War era for a conference on energy security jointly sponsored by the Department of Energy and the National Defense University. It examines the evolving nature of energy security based on analysis of past crisis-inducing events and-discusses potentially important geopolitical, environmental, regulatory, and economic developments during the next twenty-five years. The paper steps beyond the traditional economic focus of energy security issu… more
Date: November 1, 1994
Creator: Freund, M. T.; Wise, J. A.; Ulibarri, C. A.; Shaw, B. R.; Seely, H. E. & Roop, J. M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Mine-induced sinkholes over the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) Storage Facility at Weeks Island, Louisiana: geological mitigation and environmental monitoring

Description: A sinkhole formed over the former salt mine used for crude oil storage by the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve at Weeks Island, Louisiana. This created a dilemma because in-mine grouting was not possible, and external grouting, although possible, was impractical. However, environmental protection during oil withdrawal and facility decommissioning was considered critical and alternative solutions were essential. Mitigation of, the sinkhole growth over the salt mine was accomplished by injecting … more
Date: March 1, 1997
Creator: Neal, J.T.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Correlation of Creep Behavior of Domal Salts

Description: The experimentally determined creep responses of a number of domal salts have been reported in, the literature. Some of these creep results were obtained using standard (conventional) creep tests. However, more typically, the creep data have come from multistage creep tests, where the number of specimens available for testing was small. An incremental test uses abrupt changes in stress and temperature to produce several time increments (stages) of different creep conditions. Clearly, the abilit… more
Date: February 16, 1999
Creator: Munson, Darrell E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Geotechnical studies associated with decommissioning the strategic petroleum reserve facility at Weeks Island, Louisiana: A case history

Description: The first sinkhole at the Weeks Island Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) site was initially observed in May 1992. Concurrent with the increasing dissolution of salt over the mined oil storage area below, it has gradually enlarged and deepened. Beginning in 1994 and continuing to the present, the injection of saturated brine directly into the sinkhole throat some 76 m beneath the ground surface essentially arrested further dissolution, providing time to make adequate preparation for the safe and… more
Date: May 1, 1997
Creator: Bauer, S. J.; Ehgartner, B. L. & Neal, J. T.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Using three dimensional structural simulations to study the interactions of multiple excavations in salt

Description: Three-dimensional quasistatic finite element codes are being used at Sandia National Laboratories to simulate the interactions of multiple large room and pillar mines in rock salt. The calculations presented in this paper are of a salt dome which contains multiple closely-spaced room and pillar mines. One of the mines was used as an oil storage facility, supported by the US DOE under the auspices of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) program. The facility has recently been decommissioned due… more
Date: February 1, 1998
Creator: Hoffman, E.L. & Ehgartner, B.L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Spall formation in solution mined storage caverns based on a creep and fracture analysis

Description: Because of limited direct observation, understanding of the interior conditions of the massive storage caverns constructed in Gulf Coast salt domes is realizable only through predictions of salt response. Determination of the potential for formation of salt spans, leading to eventual salt falls, is based on salt creep and fracture using the Multimechanism-Deformation Coupled Fracture (MCDF) model. This is a continuum model for creep, coupled to continuum damage evolution. The model has been suc… more
Date: February 2, 2000
Creator: MUNSON,DARRELL E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Three dimensional finite element simulations of room and pillar mines in rock salt

Description: 3-D quasistatic finite element codes are being used at Sandia to simulate large room and pillar mines in rock salt. The two examples presented in this paper are of mines supported by US DOE, under the auspices of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve program. One of the mines is presently used as an oil storage facility. These simulations, validated by field measurements and observations, have provided valuable insight into the failure mechanisms of room and pillar mines in rock salt. The calculation… more
Date: May 1, 1996
Creator: Hoffman, E.L. & Ehgartner, B.L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Swords into plowshares: Military geology and national security projects

Description: Military geology and national security projects are often comparable, achieving their rai-son d`etre in support of national goals, military operations, and/or systems-all for vital national interests. The application of Geoscience to these ends, especially engineering geology, has occurred from pole to pole and included every conceivable environment and natural condition. In the conduct of such projects, the Geosciences have advanced, and vice versa. Desert trafficability, most notably regardin… more
Date: December 31, 1994
Creator: Neal, J.T.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Mine-induced sinkholes over the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) storge facility

Description: The initial sinkhole at the Weeks Island SPR site that was first observed in May 1992 gradually enlarged and deepened, concurrent with the increasing dissolution of salt over the mined oil storage area below. Beginning in 1994 and continuing to the present, the injection of saturated brine directly into the sinkhole throat some 76 in (250 ft) beneath the surface essentially arrested further dissolution, buying time to make adequate preparation for the safe and orderly transfer of crude oil to o… more
Date: December 31, 1995
Creator: Neal, J. T.; Bauer, S. J. & Ehgartner, B. L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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