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The engineering behind the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve

281 points · 115 comments · johnjwang

  1. amelius · · focus · HN ↗
    > Keep the oil secure against attacks by our adversaries. This is an especially hard challenge because petroleum has this tendency to light on fire, so a huge concentration of it is especially difficult to keep safe.

    > Release oil quickly so it can reach the market during a supply disruption.

    But what if the adversaries destroy the refineries or other downstream equipment which is much simpler to do?

    1. spacephysics · · focus · HN ↗
      I think the world events we’ve seen over the last 4 or so years (especially last 12 months), will mean both new (and existing) data centers and refineries will begin to have counter measures beyond a security guard and some fences.

      Anti-drone equipment for one. The pipelines themselves are tough to secure given how long some are.

      Closer and closer to a cyberpunk world with faux (or real) military at these data centers and refineries in areas that may not be in direct active conflict.

      Imagine building a new refinery, the money and time alone, only for a few thousand dollar drone to be snuck in and launched? Insurance on these facilities going to start requiring far more elaborate physical security measures.

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