>strategic oil reserve is about to experience permanent catastrophic damage from being drained too low

Apparently salt domes have a life span, you pump water in to remove oil. The water wears at the domes and removes more salt creating a larger cavern. It's not that we pumped out so much oil lately, it's because we were pumping out little bits over the last 5 decades constantly wearing at the domes. They were created at the time to only be used in a catastrophic situation, not when ever you want to control the price of oil......

Either way, you are correct in that their life has come to an end, we will require more expensive above ground storage going forward or we can electrify.