lenaitch
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 7,033
- Points
- 1,160
I don't know the details about storing liquid petroleum underground but suspect it relies more on geology rather than simply abandoned holes in the ground.
Pipelines, energy and natural resources
- Thread starter QV
- Start date
- Reaction score
- 13,582
- Points
- 1,160
AI....
In North America, salt caverns provide a highly secure, cost-effective method for bulk petroleum and natural gas liquids (NGL) storage. They are created by solution mining—pumping freshwater into underground salt deposits and extracting the dissolved brine. Because rock salt is impermeable, it prevents hydrocarbons from leaking or migrating.
United States
The US operates the world's largest salt cavern-based strategic crude oil reserve. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is maintained by the Department of Energy to secure the country against severe supply interruptions.
Storage Sites: The reserve consists of massive caverns clustered at five sites in deep salt domes along the Texas and Louisiana coasts:
Bryan Mound (Freeport, TX): ~20 caverns holding 254 million barrels.
Big Hill (Winnie, TX): ~160 million barrels of authorized storage.
West Hackberry (near Lake Charles, LA): ~227 million barrels.
Bayou Choctaw (Baton Rouge, LA): ~76 million barrels.
Weeks Island (~1.1 million barrels capacity).
Total Capacity: The SPR's maximum authorized capacity exceeds 700 million barrels.
Commercial and NGL Storage:
Beyond government strategic reserves, numerous commercial salt caverns are used across Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi to hold working inventory of crude oil, propane, butane, and ethylene.
Canada
Canada primarily uses underground salt caverns to store natural gas and Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) like condensate, propane, butane, and ethylene.
Unlike the US SPR, Canada's federal Strategic Petroleum Reserve (United States) strategy relies more on industry-held inventories.
Alberta: The vast majority of cavern storage is located in bedded salt formations in Alberta.
Major facilities, including the ATCO Salt Cavern Storage Expansion Project, are concentrated in the province's "Industrial Heartland" around Fort Saskatchewan. More than 100 salt caverns have been utilized across Alberta for decades to store hydrocarbons.
Southern Ontario: About 71 operational solution-mined salt caverns are situated near Windsor and Sarnia. These are crucial for storing hydrocarbons—such as ethylene, propane, and butane—that are either liquids or become liquid under storage pressures.
Emerging Regions: New frontiers are developing, such as the Fischells Salt Dome in western Newfoundland, which is considered the only domal salt formation in Canada and is being eyed for large-scale energy storage, including clean hydrogen and compressed air.
....
Potash is a salt.
In North America, salt caverns provide a highly secure, cost-effective method for bulk petroleum and natural gas liquids (NGL) storage. They are created by solution mining—pumping freshwater into underground salt deposits and extracting the dissolved brine. Because rock salt is impermeable, it prevents hydrocarbons from leaking or migrating.
United States
The US operates the world's largest salt cavern-based strategic crude oil reserve. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is maintained by the Department of Energy to secure the country against severe supply interruptions.
Storage Sites: The reserve consists of massive caverns clustered at five sites in deep salt domes along the Texas and Louisiana coasts:
Bryan Mound (Freeport, TX): ~20 caverns holding 254 million barrels.
Big Hill (Winnie, TX): ~160 million barrels of authorized storage.
West Hackberry (near Lake Charles, LA): ~227 million barrels.
Bayou Choctaw (Baton Rouge, LA): ~76 million barrels.
Weeks Island (~1.1 million barrels capacity).
Total Capacity: The SPR's maximum authorized capacity exceeds 700 million barrels.
Commercial and NGL Storage:
Beyond government strategic reserves, numerous commercial salt caverns are used across Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi to hold working inventory of crude oil, propane, butane, and ethylene.
Canada
Canada primarily uses underground salt caverns to store natural gas and Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) like condensate, propane, butane, and ethylene.
Unlike the US SPR, Canada's federal Strategic Petroleum Reserve (United States) strategy relies more on industry-held inventories.
Alberta: The vast majority of cavern storage is located in bedded salt formations in Alberta.
Major facilities, including the ATCO Salt Cavern Storage Expansion Project, are concentrated in the province's "Industrial Heartland" around Fort Saskatchewan. More than 100 salt caverns have been utilized across Alberta for decades to store hydrocarbons.
Southern Ontario: About 71 operational solution-mined salt caverns are situated near Windsor and Sarnia. These are crucial for storing hydrocarbons—such as ethylene, propane, and butane—that are either liquids or become liquid under storage pressures.
Emerging Regions: New frontiers are developing, such as the Fischells Salt Dome in western Newfoundland, which is considered the only domal salt formation in Canada and is being eyed for large-scale energy storage, including clean hydrogen and compressed air.
....
Potash is a salt.
- Reaction score
- 8,306
- Points
- 1,360
nobody seems to talk about refineries. We have closed down numerous ones over the last couple of decades; at least 4 that I know of in the golden horseshoe alone. Is it not advantageous to distill and ship finished product? I mentioned it earlier but with California shuttering theirs due net zero would it not be profitable to pick up the slack including shipping globally?
- Reaction score
- 13,582
- Points
- 1,160
PrairieFella
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 4,277
- Points
- 1,110
I have the foggiest wjat youre getting at with this project. Theres been no consultation or groundwork. May as well be a line on a map. Patience.
daftandbarmy
Army.ca Fossil
- Reaction score
- 47,023
- Points
- 1,160
More progress...
Trans Mountain Reaches Settlement Agreement with Shippers
Trans Mountain Corporation (“Trans Mountain”) announced today that it has filed a negotiated Settlement with the Canada Energy Regulator (“CER”) covering tolling, tariff and service-related matters on the Trans Mountain Pipeline System (“System”). The parties to the Settlement Agreement (“Settlement”) represent the substantial majority of contracted firm shipment volumes on the System and reflect a broad range of commercial interests.
The Settlement, reached following approximately 18 months of extensive engagement and good-faith negotiations with shippers, establishes a comprehensive long-term framework for tolls, tariffs and service on the System, subject to CER approval. It provides greater certainty and predictability for customers and stakeholders, while supporting the long-term operation of the Trans Mountain Pipeline System.
Trans Mountain Reaches Settlement Agreement with Shippers - Canadian Energy News, Top Headlines, Commentaries, Features & Events - EnergyNow
Agreement establishes long-term commercial framework for tolls and service New Open Season offers additional capacity Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - July 7, 2026) - Trans Mountain Corporation ("Trans Mountain") announced today that it has filed a negotiated Settlement with the Canada Energy...
energynow.ca
- Reaction score
- 8,190
- Points
- 1,260
Oh!
I thought it was like a water hose in my backyard that I just unravel and walk over to my pool and turn on to top off the water level. It works well and very little water drips on the ground when I take it from the pool and coil it back up. The small amount of water dripped dries up right quick.
- Reaction score
- 13,582
- Points
- 1,160
Hub article on the VLCC requirements at Vancouver.
thehub.ca
Why TMX chose Burnaby
During planning for the Trans Mountain expansion more than a decade ago, the pipeline company evaluated Roberts Bank as an alternative to expanding its longtime home terminal in Burnaby.
Engineering documents filed with the former National Energy Board envisioned many of the same features now appearing in Alberta’s current proposal. These included deep-water berths, a larger tank farm, additional utility infrastructure, and roughly seven kilometres of offshore trestle.
Ultimately, Trans Mountain chose to stick with Burnaby, citing the “significantly greater cost” of the Roberts Bank option, which it estimated would add roughly $1.2 billion to the project.
But the price premium was only part of the story.
Trans Mountain also highlighted engineering challenges, environmentally sensitive coastal habitat, and the difficulty of fitting another major industrial project into one of Canada’s busiest ports and transportation corridors—on the doorstep of Metro Vancouver communities including Delta, Tsawwassen, and Richmond.
Many of those same considerations now loom over Alberta’s proposal.
“It’s not like you’re sitting on the Prairies where you’ve got lots of room to manoeuvre,” said Veldman. “Routing through the Lower Mainland? It’s a pretty dense area. And the closer you get to Roberts Bank…you’re going to get into some sensitive areas, you’re going to get into some wetlands.”
Can the Port of Vancouver handle supertankers? A closer look at the other megaproject inside Alberta’s pipeline proposal
Everyone's talking about Alberta's pipeline—but the Port of Vancouver upgrade hiding inside the proposal may be the harder part. Here's what it takes to handle supertankers.
thehub.ca
Why TMX chose Burnaby
During planning for the Trans Mountain expansion more than a decade ago, the pipeline company evaluated Roberts Bank as an alternative to expanding its longtime home terminal in Burnaby.
Engineering documents filed with the former National Energy Board envisioned many of the same features now appearing in Alberta’s current proposal. These included deep-water berths, a larger tank farm, additional utility infrastructure, and roughly seven kilometres of offshore trestle.
Ultimately, Trans Mountain chose to stick with Burnaby, citing the “significantly greater cost” of the Roberts Bank option, which it estimated would add roughly $1.2 billion to the project.
But the price premium was only part of the story.
Trans Mountain also highlighted engineering challenges, environmentally sensitive coastal habitat, and the difficulty of fitting another major industrial project into one of Canada’s busiest ports and transportation corridors—on the doorstep of Metro Vancouver communities including Delta, Tsawwassen, and Richmond.
Many of those same considerations now loom over Alberta’s proposal.
“It’s not like you’re sitting on the Prairies where you’ve got lots of room to manoeuvre,” said Veldman. “Routing through the Lower Mainland? It’s a pretty dense area. And the closer you get to Roberts Bank…you’re going to get into some sensitive areas, you’re going to get into some wetlands.”
- Reaction score
- 24,315
- Points
- 1,010
I am curious where they are going to put the tank farm, on a river delta, that will liquify in the even of an earthquake.
I am sure it can be done. I am just not sure how.
daftandbarmy
Army.ca Fossil
- Reaction score
- 47,023
- Points
- 1,160
They're adding a big container port at Roberts Bank too... lots of infill will be needed. The gravel companies will be booming ...
Local impacts of pipeline to B.C. coast and Delta port expansion
“As we look to double exports, that’s going to require a lot more capacity, and thankfully we have game-changing projects on the horizon like Roberts Bank Terminal 2 that’s going to increase container trade capacity by $100 billion annually,” Alexa Young told CityNews, a spokesperson for the Port of Vancouver.
The port is also proposed to be the end of Alberta’s new pipeline route as the federal and provincial governments uphold the northern tanker ban, a move welcomed by coastal First Nations who rely on the critical waters.
“We have been supporting this type of measure for at least five decades, and we had members there in the late 70s talking about what the impacts would be, talking about if an oil spill happened in our territory that it would finish us,” said Chief Marilyn Sleet of the Heiltsuk Nation.
Local impacts of pipeline to B.C. coast
After Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier David Eby announced the Canada – B.C. Cooperative Prosperity Agreement, Delta’s shipping port is now the centre of attention.
vancouver.citynews.ca
Similar threads
