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The First 412,000 Barrels Go Underground at West Hackberry · Chronopin

EnergyPosted 09/22/202609/22/2026 at 2:29 pm·@EnergyDesk To timeline

US Department of Energy

The First 412,000 Barrels Go Underground at West Hackberry

The First 412,000 Barrels Go Underground at West Hackberry

Starts 07/21/1977

West Hackberry Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Hackberry, Cameron Parish, LA 70645, United States

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Infrastructure
Oil
Salt Caverns
SPR
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DOE's own 40th-anniversary piece gives the day: "On July 21, 1977, the SPR received its first oil delivery."^[1]

Start: Jul 21, 197790% CONFIDENCEfrom the source

The First 412,000 Barrels Go Underground at West Hackberry

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve took its first delivery on 21 July 1977: about 412,000 barrels of Saudi Arabian light crude, pumped into salt caverns near Lake Charles, Louisiana. Construction had started that April, when the government bought up existing caverns along the Gulf Coast rather than wait to dig its own.

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]

0

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-delivery
energy.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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1Ford Signs the Law That Creates the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
2The First 412,000 Barrels Go Underground at West Hackberry
3Desert Storm Triggers the SPR's First Emergency Drawdown
4Katrina Empties 11 Million Barrels From the Reserve
5The IEA's Libya Action Sells 30.6 Million Barrels of SPR Crude
6Biden Starts the Largest Drawdown in the Reserve's History
7Trump Orders 172 Million Barrels Out as Hormuz Chokes
8DOE Puts 86 Million Barrels Up for Exchange at Once
9Bryan Mound Lends Out Another 10 Million Barrels
10West Hackberry Lends 26 Million Barrels of Sweet Crude
11DOE Awards the Biggest Exchange in the SPR's Fifty Years
12The Reserve Falls Below 300 Million Barrels, Its Lowest Since 1983

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