[en] There is an abundance of salt domes in the Gulf Coastal region. Advances in leaching technology and cavern shape control make it possible to build large caverns with configurations approaching teardrops, cylinders, and spheres. Fenix and Scisson has designed and constructed several dozen caverns in sizes up to three million barrels (16.8 million cubic feet). It is now within current technological bounds to evacuate the brine left in the cavern following construction, dehumidify the cavern atmosphere and supply conditioned cavern ventilation. The state-of-the-art in drilling large diameter holes has advanced to the point that it is now possible to drill 120-in. holes as deep as 6,000 ft and 144-in. holes to lesser depths. Additional research is needed in the area of cavern stability. Cavern shrinkage rates are known to increase with depth because of lower salt strengths at higher pressures and temperatures