Re:The Engineering Behind the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve
by ivraatiems on Wednesday September 16, 2026 @07:43PM
(#49734571)
How long does the crude last uner these conditions? Refined oil products like gas have pretty limited shelf lives (I think 6-12 months for gas).
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Re:The Engineering Behind the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve
by aqfamnzc on Wednesday September 16, 2026 @07:47PM
(#49734606)
Under ideal conditions - about 200 million years at least. In the salt, I'm not sure.
Re:The Engineering Behind the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve
by nostrademons on Wednesday September 16, 2026 @10:24PM
(#49735714)
In the salt it's pretty similar. The salt caverns are basically just like the conditions where the early, easily-exploitable oil deposits ("gushers") were.
Re:The Engineering Behind the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve
by buckle8017 on Wednesday September 16, 2026 @07:45PM
(#49734595)
well it's been underground in similar conditions for a couple dozen million years, so I think a while
Re:The Engineering Behind the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve
by thrawa8387336 on Wednesday September 16, 2026 @09:18PM
(#49735272)
One time I heard the limited shelf life is by design to avoid consumers hoarding. Diesel OTOH fares better
Re:The Engineering Behind the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve
by jaggederest on Wednesday September 16, 2026 @11:18PM
(#49736013)
No, it's because gasoline is not a very thoroughly refined chemical, so it basically has a bunch of aromatic rings, benzene, and all sorts of monomers floating around, that rapidly (~year or two) turn into varnish and other polymerized nastiness when they oxidize and crosslink. I believe gasoline was originally a refinery byproduct that was used because it was so cheap as a fuel.
Diesel and other heavier fuels generally are much closer to aliphatic hydrocarbons (straight chains, not aromatic) and so are much more storable, because aliphatic hydrocarbons have much less opportunity for oxidation (they're like saturated fat, i.e. much more stable).
You can get polymerization inhibitors to put into gasoline if you want it for long term storage, with the caveat that they produce some nastiness at the bottom of tanks that you'll have to avoid when pumping it out, and I think they can also slightly reduce the octane rating.
Re:The Engineering Behind the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve
by robocat on Thursday September 17, 2026 @07:52AM
(#49739446)
Diesel has limited shelf life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbial_contamination_of_die...
Fuel companies state that untreated fuel will remain usable for only one year, after which fuel contamination ("the diesel bug") begins to appear
Re:The Engineering Behind the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve
by jaggederest on Thursday September 17, 2026 @03:17PM
(#49745274)
Typically, though, the diesel bug only happens in the interface between the water and the fuel itself, so if you have a proper filter and separator on the pumping system it won't be a factor.
Gasoline, when it goes bad, goes bad from top to bottom and is not recoverable through e.g. a centrifuge like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4Fdu3e4gYw