Various portable tanks, similar to the submersible 
barge type of mobile rigs, have served as tem- 
porary oil reservoirs in depths to about 40 feet. If 
production increases or new discoveries justify a 
pipeline, these storage units then can be moved to 
another location. In the relatively calm waters of 
the Persian Gulf, a large tanker hulk was used to 
store as much as 250,000 barrels of crude, and a 
360,000-barrel tanker was used to store oil off 
Nigeria. Transport tankers moved the oil from 
these storage tankers to the market. 
Subterranean nuclear blasts below the ocean 
floor some day could carve out huge cavities to 
store petroleum as it is extracted from the earth. 
This might be far cheaper than storage methods 
now in use. Under one plan, the explosive for a 
million-barrel cavity would be lowered through a 
small diameter drilled hole 1,400 feet below the 
ocean floor and detonated from the surface. The 
blast would create a cavity approximately 200 feet 
wide and 600 feet high; all nuclear contaminants 
would be sealed far underground, preventing their 
escape into the atmosphere. 
Summarizing, various oil companies anticipate 
that many installations in deep or hazardous areas 
by 1980 will be on the bottom of the sea, not on 
the surface. Drilling most likely will continue from 
the surface, but oil well operations and some 
temporary facilities will be on the bottom. 
G. Government Role 
1. Legal-Political Environment 
The Government should maintain a proper legal 
and political environment to assure the con- 
tinuance of the necessary incentives as industry 
moves into the more speculative offshore areas. 
These incentives will encourage continuing devel- 
opment of the required exploitation technology. 
2. Environmental and Hurricane Predictions 
Hurricane Betsy in 1965 churned a path 
through investments by the oil and gas industry 
valued at $2 billion, causing damage exceeding 
$100 million. In the preceding year Hurricane 
Hilda raged through an area involving $350 million 
in capital, causing over $100 million in damages. 
While Hurricanes Betsy and Hilda were large 
VI-176 
storms, fortunately the industry has not experi- 
enced a maximum intensity hurricane moving 
through a highly developed offshore area. Such a 
storm will involve a combination of extremely 
high winds and low barometric pressure with slow 
storm progress causing tremendous wave forces 
which will persist for several hours, as with 
Hurricane Carla. One can only speculate about the 
extent of damages such a storm could cause. 
Problems involving environmental prediction 
and modification, therefore, continue to be the 
prime category in which Federal Government 
efforts could have a major benefit to industry. 
Progress in hurricane research has been disap- 
pointingly slow; better predictions of path and 
energy dissipation would be of great value. A 
reasonable goal would be to attain considerably 
improved hurricane understanding within the next 
five years and limited hurricane modification 
within 10 years. Improved accuracy of weather 
information, wave data and predictions, and ocean 
current measurements would be extremely useful. 
Measuring wave heights during an actual hurricane 
is a promising subject for investigation. There is a 
critical need for this data. It is extremely expen- 
sive to install wave measuring equipment at fixed 
locations and then to wait possibly for years for 
the arrival of a large hurricane at the particular 
site. Seeking out a hurricane and taking wave 
measurements from an airplane, for example, 
would yield much more information on platform 
storm damage criteria than years of monitoring 
waves from a fixed platform. 
3. Information and Technology Transfer 
a. From Industry The petroleum industry has 
developed independently a technology for working 
at sea. Many companies engage in cost-sharing 
programs under unique arrangements encompass- 
ing research and basic engineering on environ- 
mental prediction, platform design, underwater 
completion, materials studies, welding techniques, 
and other subjects. Cooperative work is being 
performed among elements of the industry, uni- 
versities, and Government. Much engineering 
knowhow evolved by the industry could be of 
great value to the Government. In addition, many 
companies continue to encourage the Government 
to make use of their platforms for immediate and 
historical measurements. 
