- Start
- Jul 21, 197790% CONFIDENCEfrom the source
The First 412,000 Barrels Go Underground at West Hackberry
- The first delivery was about 412,000 barrels of Saudi Arabian light crude, on 21 July 1977[1]
- Construction began that April, when the government bought existing Gulf Coast salt caverns to hold the first 250 million barrels[2]
- West Hackberry sits in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, about 25 miles south-west of Lake Charles; it now has 21 caverns and an authorised capacity of 220.4 million barrels[2]
- A cavern is made by drilling into a salt dome and dissolving the salt with fresh water: about seven barrels of raw water for every barrel of storage[2]
References 390% CONFIDENCE
The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.
- [1]90%energy.gov/hgeo/articles/spr-celebrates-40th-anniversary-first-oil-deliveryenergy.gov· Posted Sep 22, 2026· Starts Jul 21, 1977 ✓· 33% of score
DOE's own 40th-anniversary piece gives the day: "On July 21, 1977, the SPR received its first oil delivery."
- [2]95%SPR Storage Sites (US Department of Energy)energy.gov· Added Sep 22, 2026· 33% of score
DOE's page on the four sites, for West Hackberry's location, cavern count and capacity and for how the caverns were made.[1]
- [3]85%History of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (US Department of Energy)energy.gov· Added Sep 22, 2026· 33% of score
Explains why salt caverns on the Gulf Coast were chosen and what the reserve can hold.[1]
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