Long Beach, CA oil wells, early 20th century.
Posted on 07/13/2008 6:16:02 AM PDT by kellynla
While all American oil users' eyes are focused on the supply/demand distortion nationally, as well as worldwide, it may be surprising to learn that California, until recently, has been the fourth-largest energy-producing U.S. state, trailing only Louisiana, Texas and Alaska.
In the not-so-distant past, California's production of more than one million barrels a day was a mainstay of America's energy independence, along with the better-known oilfields of the Southwestern United States.
Despite the severe attrition of the past decade, record prices, eclipsing the $140 per barrel mark, have resulted in many previously used-up wells being brought back into production, according to the California Department of Conservation.
Be that as it may, a gradual downward trend in the state's oil production, which began in 1995, has continued its slide through 2007.
This degeneration is due to the predominant dependence on mature wells. Some of them have been pumped for more than 100 years. But, like most of the world's oil well availability, California's reserves have enjoyed an average lifetime of less than 20 years.
Its previous growth had been in new wells constantly being made productive, especially in Kern County, still the most prolific area left in California today.
Today, no significant new oil pools are being discovered in California; but by using the latest technology, such as extraction by injection, to squeeze out the remaining oil, additional recovery has delayed the ultimate depletion of existing fields.
California's 2007 oil production was 243.2 million barrels (666,000 barrels a day), a decrease of 2.3 percent from 2006 and the state's lowest production since 1941.
The state's three largest fields (Midway-Sunset, South Belridge, and Kern River) all in Kern County, accounted for nearly half of the total production. California oil production peaked just short of 424 million annual barrels in 1985.
In 2007, the state's onshore wells produced 204 million barrels. Wells in state-controlled offshore fields produced 14.7 million barrels. Those in federal offshore fields produced 24.7 million barrels.
Due to both the state-imposed moratorium, and the 1981 executive order, most of California's outer shelf has been declared off-limits until now.
3 billion barrels
California's Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources estimates there are at least three billion barrels of crude oil in reserve in California.
This is based on what is "economically feasible" to recover under today's high prices. The agency notes that strong upward prices could move this figure up in the future.
But even significantly increased drilling activity will not move the reserve availability up anywhere near the 1985 peak, no matter what the price availability might be. Only massive outer-shelf production could eventually make that happen.
Natural gas production in California has also declined - for the sixth consecutive year - falling from 320.7 billion cubic feet in 2006 to 312.2 billion cubic feet in 2007. California is estimated to have more than three trillion cubic feet of natural gas in reserve. Peak gas production was 714.9 billion cubic feet as far back as 1968.
Also troubling is that California produces roughly 33 percent of the crude oil and only 15 percent of the natural gas that it consumes today, which obviously means the Golden State will require liquid natural gas imports from overseas, or eliciting additional demands from other sources in the United States.
When considering that the U.S. imports two-thirds of the oil that is now consumed on a daily basis, California is a microcosm of the deterioration that America as a whole has suffered in continually reversing the supply/demand ratio of the past 25 years.
The American experience of previous mass energy production in Texas, Louisiana and a powerful position in Oklahoma is reflective of the United States' diminution of reserves in the past quarter century.
Only Western Gulf of Mexico deep sea drilling and the Prudhoe Bay North Slope in Alaska has maintained the one-third supply needed to fill up 255 million cars and trucks traversing U.S. highways. Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, if approved, could conceivably add up to one million barrels a day within five years.
Also not to be forgotten are the huge amounts of oil derivatives such as chemicals, petrochemicals and plastics, and a host of other consumer items needed every day by U.S. households, to which California still contributes.
ping
when i lived in los angeles and orange counties,
i never lived further than one or two city blocks from producing oil wells.
most people don’t see them because they are hidden behind facades.
there are some areas that oil or tar seeps out of the ground, usually near earthquake faults.
We can’t drill our way out of this. We can tax our way out of this.
Barry Obummer
The children particularly enjoyed seeing the wells that had been designed to look like a huge insect with antennae. The head bobing up and down enterained them for a long while.
It was a kinder, gentler time.
An encouraging thing I’ve seen in the last couple of years here in Oklahoma is a lot of old dormant oil wells that haven’t pumped anything for years are all active and pumping away.
I’ve also seen new drilling as well with several new rigs going up.
There will be plenty of oil when all us baby boomers die off./s
Yeah, but there won't be anyone left who knows how to get it or what to do with it, if today's public schools and our nation's welfare mentality are any guide.
We got ya covered, There's plenty of us old oil field trash still around. Most of us are raised in it and our kids will be also.
I wish more would come online to help explain.
Even the Saudi's are tryin', a Tanker captain friend of mine spoke of a news conf. over there (not cover'd over here of course) where a reporter ask directly "why don't you pump more?".
"Are you going to buy it?", came the reply.
He went on to explain about the market, the real market, they pump what they can sell, if they can't sell it they don't pump it.
When gas gets to $6/gal, SommomWood will be crying for drilling. When it costs 20K to fill their G5s, even they will feel it.
Pray for W and Our Troops
“Despite the severe attrition of the past decade, record prices, eclipsing the $140 per barrel mark, have resulted in many previously used-up wells being brought back into production, according to the California Department of Conservation.’
Over the years most of the oil wells north of Decatur, Illinois were in various states of disrepair, only a few pumping. Now they are all in action.
The nation is not troubled by oil wells in California, Texas, etc., yet we have people who view an oil well in Alaska as a catastrophe.
“The nation is not troubled by oil wells in California, Texas, etc., yet we have people who view an oil well in Alaska as a catastrophe.”
Yea, well even that opinion is fast changing...finally!
Polar bears & caribou don’t pay the bills ‘round here! LOL
And most folks who, in the past, were against drilling in ANWR; were to actually go to ANWR or see pictures of the area, they would change their minds. Aside from the oil & gas reserves, ANWR is a barren area!
Long Beach, CA oil wells, early 20th century.
They kind of gloss over the fact than many wells were capped while they were still able to produce thanks to greenies and their BS. Also they failed to notice that, like the Florida coast, CA has oil reserves off shore that could be tapped, along with natural gas. Don’t want to disturb the peak oil theory by mentioning little items like this, it may give people the idea that all we need to do is uncap some wells and drill in areas where there is actually oil and natural gas in order to help us obtained the energy independence we once had, and can have again.
up to one million barrels a day peak for a year or two and then the inevitable decline.
In the 50s Standard oil drilled and capped a field that was easat of Prudohe Bay that is 10 times the size.
I got this from VPs at both Richfield and Union in the 70s when we were doing all the work for 2 general contractors that built all the gas stations in the southwest.
Most of the fields in California were shutndown after Carter put in the 10% wellhead tax (called excess profit) and made the total tax load so heavy that it was unprofitable to consume our oil ang give most of the income to the government (total of all levels) when the same $ came out of foreign oil.
What a bunch of fools!
Haven’t they heard? You can’t drill (or tap) your way out of this crisis! (s/)
Conoco keeps running that ad about the Discovery #1 well at Prudhoe in 1968. A person can hear all kinds of things.
“up to one million barrels a day peak for a year or two and then the inevitable decline.”
So?
that’s equivalent to what we import from Saudi Arabia...
I don’t know about you, but enriching our enemies every time we fill up is NUTZ!
We’re paying for the WOT on BOTH ENDS!
and when ANWR runs dry, we move on to the next reserve...
Heck, there’s enough American coal alone out there to last two hundred years!!!
This info wasn’t from PR people, it was from the execs oersinally.
Just like the hugh oil field in Mexico that was “discovered” in the 70s when prices jumped 3 times was actually discovered and capped in the early 50s.
I knew about it then they did it but it wasnt profitable to use it when mideast oil could be bought fot under $3.
It was from his WHAT? :)
personally
sorry about that, i’m typing with 2 severed tendons in my hand.
Actually, when I was working at Prudhoe about ‘76 the drill holes out to the east were on the map. Prudhoe got developed because it was State land. Out to the east it was Fed land and they were lucky to get to drill exploration wells at all. Then came Pres Carter and his ANILCA and that has pretty well shut down all Fed land in Alaska.
I was down in the Kern County oil patch a few months ago, and I saw a LOT of shutdown wells. I also saw quite a few new drill rigs out there, too. There’s oil there, and other places here in the Central Valley, too. Coalinga, Helm, and a few wells out by Mendota, also. I’d be surprised if there weren’t more oil there that could be produced now that the higher oil prices make formerly marginal wells economical to use now.
drill drill DRILL HERE and NOW!!!!
Kern River field at 100: The city that oil built
The Bakersfield Californian
"...two men hand-dug a 45-foot-deep shaft near the banks of the Kern River below the Panorama bluffs, then bored into the earth with an auger. What they discovered changed the fortunes of Bakersfield and shaped the future of the city."
"James Elwood and his father Jonathan had tapped into a 3.8 billion-barrel reservoir of crude oil, a field so massive that it ranks as one of the nation's largest..."
Here we are one of the richest countries in the entire world with enough oil, coal and natural gas to last hundreds of years and we letting a bunch of camel jockeys & tin horn dictators ruin our economy and way of life???
BS...build the co-generation nuclear power plants off ALL coasts for desalination & electricity, off shore drill, oil shale, coal and lets get off this “foreign oil dependency” and lets DO IT NOW!
“Heck, there’s enough American coal alone out there to last two hundred years!!!” U.S coal reserves stand at 275 billion tons, an amount that is greater than any other nation in the world. Are capable of meeting domestic demand for more than 250 years at current rates of consumption. Drill for American oil Now! Nancy.
“We got ya covered, There’s plenty of us old oil field trash still around. Most of us are raised in it and our kids will be also.”
Glad you’re out there. God Bless the lot of you.
Thanks. And I wish more people would seek the truth available online rather than soaking up MSM garbage. But gas prices ain't high enough, I guess.
Just yesterday an Exxon-Mobil facility got it's assessment reduced to half it's market value and next year promise of same again.
Meanwhile, if I paint the doghouse outback mine doubles!
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