Аннотация:Zheleznikov, N. V. The use of underground storage facilities in the creation of a strategic oil reserve / N. V. Zheleznikov, Scientific supervisor: Eremin Nikolay Aleksandrovich // Zolotukhin readings. Oil, Gas and Energy in the Arctic region : Proceedings of the International Scientific and Practical Conference, Arkhangelsk, April 20-21, 2023. – RUSSIA: Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov, 2023. – pp. 146-152. – EDN VMKIUX. ISBN 978-5-261-01679-3Key words: strategic oil reserve, underground oil storages, vertical steel tanks.Currently, against the background of ongoing political and economic structural changes both in Russia and in the rest of the world, the issue of the need to maintain stability in various industries subject to sanctions restrictions is acute [1, 2]. Recently, the idea of creating a strategic oil reserve in Russia to ensure the economic and national security of the country has been frequently discussed [3, 4]. However, despite the obvious need for such a reserve, no concrete steps have been taken yet. Against the background of the significantly superior use of the US strategic reserve both in terms of volume and efficiency, Russia urgently needs its own instrument of soft regulation of exports and domestic reserves [5-13]. One of the promising directions is the construction of a network of underground storage facilities in salt formations. Some authors have attempted to analyze possible areas of reserves with a volume of 1 million m3 or more, but the published fragment is mainly limited to the central and southern parts of the Russian Plain [7]. In addition, additional research is required to identify local structures, as well as structures suitable for smaller storage capacity [3].When creating underground oil storage facilities, we are usually talking about large volumes of product and low cost of storage, due to which their use makes it possible to create a strategic reserve of the country. And this, in turn, makes it possible to ensure uninterrupted supplies to consumers, smooth out peak consumption loads, cheap storage of surpluses during a decline in consumption, as well as storage of large production surpluses to minimize losses in the event of oil export restrictions.The construction of shaft-less underground oil storage facilities in salt domes is often carried out by the extraction of brines. This method involves the excavation of caves in the rock by pumping a large amount of fresh water into a well in a salt reservoir at an average rate of 7 tons of water per 1 ton of stored oil. The water dissolves the salt, forming a brine, which is subsequently removed. Oil is extracted by pumping fresh water to the bottom of the cave.This method of oil storage has serious advantages. It provides a low cost of storing the product over a long distance (an order of magnitude less than ground tanks) and is the safest for the environment. The latter is caused by the special properties of the rock salt, thanks to which the rock mass is self-healing, covering the resulting microcracks in the walls of the salt tank. The approximate cost of construction can be estimated at 90-170 rubles/m3. Then the storage capacity of 60 million m3 will cost about 5.4–10.2 billion rubles.Mine underground oil storage facilities are used less often than shaft-less ones. They represent one or an entire network of artificial workings formed during the extraction of minerals or formed as a result of an explosion. Their cost is 20 times higher than the cost of shaft-free tanks in salt formations and is about 1800-3450 rubles/m3. Then the cost of storage for 60 million m3 will be approximately 108-207 billion rubles.The initiative to create a strategic oil reserve based on underground storage facilities was actively discussed back in 2020, which was due to the influence of the epidemiological situation and falling oil prices. The experts of the Russian Gas Society proposed to create a reserve in the amount of 10-20% of the country's annual production, located in artificial reservoirs in salt formations. It was assumed that it would take about 10 years to create such a large reserve. Tanks with a capacity of 30, 60, 90 and 120 million m3 were offered for use. Suitable salt basins are the Caspian Basin, the Volga-Ural basin, the Central Basin, the Shedok birthplace in the North Caucasus [3,4,6,8].In 2022, the Russian Federation faced new political and economic challenges, such as an embargo on Russian oil supplies by sea, the introduction of a price ceiling and a significant discount on sales to Asia. In October 2022, the head of the GKZ announced that priority underground oil storage facilities would be built in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory [8].In Kashkarskaya Square of Bashkortostan, construction of underground salt reservoirs began in 1974, and their total volume is about 1.5 million m3, which can be increased to 2.5 million m3. Another underground storage facility was built in the Irkutsk region near the Kazayak station. In this reservoir, which has a design volume of 1.7 million m3, underground reservoirs with a total volume of 314 thousand m3 have already been put into operation [7].The reservoirs of PJSC "Transneft" can contain more than 144.5 million barrels of technological oil, which is not a strategic reserve. Russia has experience in storing petroleum products: there are about 8.5 million tons of petroleum products in tank farms throughout the country [4].It is rational to use old salt deposits for the equipment of underground oil storage facilities. As an example, we can take the Strukovo deposit of rock salt in the Orenburg region. Its geographical conditions are favorable for the formation of stable workings up to 1 million m3. Along the routes of the main oil pipelines, salt layers should be analyzed for suitability for the arrangement of underground oil storage facilities of various capacities in them. It is also possible to create a network of medium-sized storage facilities in limited suitable areas, including near cities. In addition, almost the entire Arctic zone of Russia is suitable for creating storage facilities in permafrost rocks.Meanwhile, a strategic reserve of oil has long been created in the United States, which is mainly contained in underground storage facilities.Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is a federal oil storage facility established by the U.S. government in 1975 to protect the economy in the event of an oil supply crisis. The storage facility is located on the Gulf Coast, in the state of Louisiana. The total storage capacity is about 714 million barrels (113.3 million m3). At the end of February 2023, 371.6 million barrels (59.1 million m3) were filled. The repository includes three complexes: Stretch, Brian Mound and Big Hill [9, 10]. Cushing Storage and Transportation Hub is the world's largest commercial oil storage facility. The total volume is about 76 million barrels. (12.1 million m3) in steel tanks. At the end of February 2023, the storage was filled by 38 million barrels. (6 million m3) [10, 11]. Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) is an underground oil storage facility located in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana. Artificial caves for storage are cylindrical vertical spaces hollowed out in a vast underground salt reservoir. The total storage capacity is about 60 million barrels. (9.5 million m3) [12]. Mont Belvieu storage facilities is a complex of storage facilities in Texas, which includes several underground storage tanks for oil, gas and other refined products. The total storage volume is about 80 million barrels (12.7 million m3) [13].In addition to the United States, other countries have large oil reserves: China – about 400 million barrels, Japan – about 215-325 million barrels, South Korea – 244 million barrels, Spain – 120 million barrels, India – 39 million barrels [4].As can be seen from the above statistics, the strategic reserves of the United States and other countries significantly exceed the Russian ones. Creating such a system in our country may not seem like a very useful expensive undertaking, because we fully provide ourselves with oil, and reserves are already contained in our bowels. At the same time, world experience shows that large oil reserves are most effective in mitigating crisis situations and influencing the global oil market. When reasoning in this way, it becomes obvious that it is not possible to quickly rebuild the work of industry by increasing or decreasing production. Rather, it is possible to reduce production and production in a short time, but in the medium and long term, such actions have an extremely negative impact on the economy. Field development is a complex and time–consuming process, which may involve employees of various companies or subsidiaries that directly manage development, drilling, and provide service and consulting services. And all this massive economic structure will be forced to limit its activities, indirectly affecting even other industries. But in addition to the above economic consequences, structural changes may occur in the reservoir during a mass shutdown of wells, entailing a decrease in the recovery coefficient, which will lead to a loss of reserves.The strategic reserve should be considered as a short-term solution that allows the industry to adjust to new conditions of activity with minimal losses of capital and reserves, and for the state - as a lever of influence on world politics through the economy. It is all the more annoying that despite the discussions that revived in 2020, not a single storage facility was built. Preparation of a salt reservoir may require about 3-5 years in a depleted deposit or more than 10 when laid from scratch.The strategic reserve should be considered as a short-term solution that allows the industry to adjust to new conditions of activity with minimal losses of capital and reserves, and for the state - as a lever of influence on world politics through the economy. It is all the more annoying that despite the discussions that revived in 2020, not a single storage facility was built. Preparation of a salt reservoir may require about 3-5 years in a depleted deposit or more than 10 when laid from scratch.If at this stage it is considered necessary to create a strategic reserve, the question arises which storage facilities should be built. As it was shown earlier, underground storage in salt formations is more profitable than steel surface tanks, however, options should be considered more carefully in each case. Steel vertical tanks have significant advantages and disadvantages. Their production has been mastered for a long time, does not require imported technologies and is carried out at a variety of plants in Russia. Also, such tanks are prefabricated, which, in addition to simplifying transportation, allows them to be reused elsewhere. It is much easier to monitor the condition of the ground tank and the necessary repairs than with regard to the underground storage. Nevertheless, the need for transportation, especially in the conditions of vast territories of Russia, requires careful economic analysis. High metal consumption may seem to be a significant disadvantage, but from the point of view of state interests it can be beneficial. This is due to the fact that two industries will take an active part in the creation of an extensive fleet of steel tanks at once: oil and metallurgical.In March 2022, with the subsequent expansion of the sanctions list in October, a number of products made of cast iron and various types of steels were banned from trade [1, 2]. At the same time, there is a reduction in oil production in the oil and gas industry, which in the current economic situation is caused by [5]:- insufficient geological knowledge and investment volumes due to the long payback period;– restrictions on exports to European countries by pipeline;– restrictions on the lease and insurance of oil tankers;– limited domestic demand;– increased delivery times to consumers in Asia due to the congestion of the transport system.Convincing commercial organizations of the economic benefits of such a strategic reserve looks like a completely non-trivial task, because in order to make a profit from it, it is necessary to develop new trade and management mechanisms, including at the state level. It is obvious that such a large-scale project cannot be carried out by the forces of oil companies alone, even in the case of legal requirements, therefore, the state, as the main beneficiary, must take everything under control and provide a significant part of the financing. In essence, this will be a profitable investment of money supply to fulfill three important tasks of the state policy: maintaining and ensuring the sustainable development of many enterprises in two strategic industries at once, creating a state oil reserve as a factor in ensuring economic, energy and political flexibility, as well as maintaining citizens' incomes. I would like to dwell on the latter in more detail: the basis of both the state as a whole and its economy are its working citizens. According to the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation of 2021, the highest priority of state policy is to save and improve the quality of life of the people of Russia. Maintaining the level of production and purchasing power in the medium term will give the best effect.As the events of 2022 have shown, ground-based oil depots can be subjected to terrorist attacks, the consequences of which can lead to the destruction of the entire tank fleet. Underground storage facilities are practically devoid of this drawback and are much more resistant to external influences. Their construction requires significantly more time, but they can serve for decades. For example, in the United States, the main stock of oil is contained in tanks built back in the 1970s. Underground storage facilities in salt beds have the ability to self-repair when cracks occur in the arches, therefore they require less attention. Having a significantly greater potential in the physical volume of the reservoir, they require lower costs for surface logistics infrastructure. However, it is not yet possible to completely drain the underground storage, so at the moment we can talk about conditionally irretrievable oil losses.The most advantageous option would be to combine surface parks of steel tanks and underground storage facilities in salt beds or multi-year-old frozen rocks. The former will mitigate the problem of the lack of oil reserves and free volumes to regulate exports in the short term, for the period until a sufficient fund of underground storage facilities is formed. Further, steel tanks can simply be decommissioned after the expiration of the term, or if repair is impractical.This approach will make it possible to support not only two strategically important industries at once, but also citizens. In the case of the transition of the economy to oil refining products, the storage facilities can be retrained. To achieve the maximum effect, it is required to conduct a comparative analysis in each potential placement region. 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