Page 1 1997 No.7 PACIFIC PETROLEUM CEOLOCIST NEWSLETTER of the Pacific Section American Association of Petroleum Geologists JANUARY 1997 NO.7 IAMESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT I In my last two columns I acquainted you with two and Texas. We appreciate his long and continued in­ thirds of the Pacific Section Executive Committee and volvement in the Pacific Section. the work they are doing for our professional society. The remainder of the Executive Committee will be the JackWest (Epoch) is a past President of the Pacific Sec­ grist for this column. tion (1988-89). In addition to working on convention committees, he recently was ourliaison to the National Vic Church (Consultant) has been active in the local AAPG Advisory Council and is currently the represen­ and National AAPG since long before I met him. His tative on the Executive Committee for the California interest in the preservation of cores caused him to be in Well Sample Repository. on the planning and opening of the California Well Sample Repository at Cal State Bakersfield. He has As you hopefully have noticed in reading mylast three championed the cause of core preservation at the Na­ columns, there are many geologists in the Pacific Sec­ tional AAPG level as well and keptus apprised oftheir tion AAPG who feel it is worth while to spendsome of efforts. Hehas most recently been the chair ofthe Hon­ their time keeping ourprofessional society intact. These ors and Awards Committee for the Pacific Section, a people are some of the hardest working andmost gen­ position he resigned as I was writing this column. He erous I have ever known. They are definitely people will continue as a member of the committee. who believe that being a geologist is not the same as being a plumber. Ifyou have the time let some of them Phil Ryall (Consultant) has been active in the Pacific know that you appreciate their efforts. The work they Section on and off over the years. He is currently the do is for everyone's benefit. Dwindling attendance and chair of the Committee on Legislation and Public Af­ participation at the society meetings and the annual fairs. Phil keeps an eye on Sacramento and notifies us conventions makes me think of a lineI once read..."Her of impending bills before the Legislature as well as love was stalwart, but her patience was tried". anything else going on in the world that may impact - Larry Knauer our membership. President Bob Lindblom (Consultant) is a past President of the Inside this issue ..• Pacific Section (1986-87). He has served in numerous The Lakeview Gusher pages 2-3 jobs for the local society, the Pacific Section and the Elk Hills Sale page 3 National AAPG. He keeps us on our toes by making Geologists On the Move page 4 sure we follow the bylaws of our society. He knows DOE Workshop page 5 them well since he had a big part in rewriting them Remote Sensing on the Internet page 5 two years ago. Bob is the chair of the Committee on DEG Environmental Issues page 6 Constitution and Bylaws and he has agreed to chair CUSA Flats Monitor page 6 the Committee onHonors and Awards effective imme­ USC P. E. Masters Program page 9 diately. Bob recently stepped down as President of the Youth Activities." page 11 News from the Societies page 12-15 California Board ofRegistration for Geologists andGeo­ Drill Pipe Shortage page 15 physicists. Bob contiltues to be an active proponent of CIPA & PTTC page 17 the Pacific Section at the National level where we are AAPG Distinguished Lecturer Abstracts pages 18-19 often overwhelmed by the large Sections in Oklahoma Pac Sec 1996-97 Officers & Newsletter page 20 Page 2 1997 No. 7 Unique Contributions of California to the History of the Oil Industry PART 111- The Lakeview Gusher Presented by Michael S. Clark, Steve Mulqueen, John Nichols, J. P. Chauvel, and Dean Van Zant in conjunction with the Carpinteria Valley Museum of History, Santa Paula UnionOil Museum, West Kern Oil Museum, and the Kern County Museum at the National Convention of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, San Diego, May 19-22, 1996. Dean Van Zant, the Kern County Energy Coordinator, will present the story of the Lakeview Gusher at the Spouses Night dinner meeting of the San Joaquin Geologic Society on 2/11/97. Please call George Stewart at 321-4150 for reservations or additional information. California has had many gushers, starting with Adams No. 16 in 1888 and continuing with "Old Maud" at Santa Maria field in 1904. But none of these came close to rivaling the Lakeview No.1 of Midway-Sunset field which flowed, uncapped and untamed, at 18,000 barrels a day for 18 months in 1910 and 1911. Julius Fried, a grocer by trade, picked thesite for the Lakeview No.1 because he thought a clump of red grass indicated good oil land. When Fried and his partners naively spudded their well in the axis of a syncline on New Years day in 1909, hopes ran high. Yet drilling progressed slowly, and their company went broke at 1,655 feet. Neighboring Union Oil offered to help and took over operations, but only in their spare time when crews were available. "Dry Hole Charlie" Woods, a driller with a string of "dusters" to his name, was assigned to the well. Charlie's luck changed on the morning of March IS, 1910, when the well came in with a roar from a depth of 2,225 feet and blew the crown block off the top of the derrick with an estimated initial flow of 125,000 barrels a day. On coming to work that morning, Charlie solemnly commented that Lakeview "must have cut an artery of the earth's great central storehouse of oil, whereas all previous wells had been merely pinpricks in the earth's thick hide." A roaring column of sand and oil twenty feet in diameter and two-hundred feet high sent a stream of oil, dubbed the "Trout Stream" flowing down every adjacent ditch and gully. Rather than diminishing in force, the flow grew stronger and eventually buried the engine house in a mountain of sand. Although the wooden derrick remained standing a few weeks longer, eventually it too, and all the drilling equipment as well, were completely swallowed up by a huge crater formed by the gusher. Torrents of oil poured from the wild well, and hundreds of men worked round the clock building sand­ bag dams to contain the crudein twentylarge sumps. The flow continued unabated, and thirty days after the first gush was estimated at 90,000 barrels a day. The Lakeview No.1 quickly became America's most famous gusher. A four-inch pipeline leading to eight 55,000 barrel tanks about 2-1/2 miles away was installed in the amaz­ ingly short time of four hours. From the tanks, an eight-inch line carried the oil to Port Avila on the California coast. Lakeview's roaring and spoutingbegan to be measured, not in days, but months. It seemed little discouraged by the feeble efforts of humans to control it. Besides the labor of holding the oil, there was constant anxiety and fear. Adjacent landowners sued. Workmen cursed the sticky flood and labored in fear that spray from the well, carried on the wind for up to ten miles, could cause accidental fires. Preachers and their flocks prayed that oil might notcover the earth and bringabout its flaming destruction. The entire oil industry wilted as this seemingly inexhaustible fountain brought crude prices down to 30 cents a barrel. Even Union Oil Company, with endless lawsuits, labor bills and low-priced crude on its hands, began to despair of having made the "richest" oil discov­ ery in history. Despite precautions, a nearby well known,as "Tightwad Hill", blew out and caught fire midway through the life of the Lakeview gusher. Apparently, light from the Tightwad well was so bright that tourists were able to view the distant Lakeview gusher even at night. Contmued on page 3 Page 3 1997 No.7 Continued from page 2 ELK HILLS SALE In desperation, a wooden box of massive timbers was pulled over the gusher with heavy cables, but oil DOE announces strategy to sell the Elk Hills field in still spurted out at 48,000 barrels a day. Eventually, this segments,hoping to increase the value of the asset and the box too was destroyed bya hugecraterthat formed with number of small and mid-sized companies submitting bids. a central cone of sand thirty feet high. The gusher was finally brought under control on Patricia Fry Godley, Doe's AssistantSecretaryfor Fossil Energy, was in Bakersfield on Oct. 16 for a public meet­ October, 1910 bybuilding an embankment ofsandbags, ing outlining the government's strategy to sell its 78­ a hundred-feet indiameter, around the welland its cra­ percentshare ofthe Elk Hills NavalPetroleumReserve. ter. When this embankment reached a height oftwenty feet, it created an oil pool over the crater that was deep More than 100 prospectivebidders and others interested enoughto reduce theflow ofoil from an uprushing col­ intheElk Hills saleattendedthemeeting at Bakersfield's umn to a gurgling spout. Red Lion Hotel. A similar meeting conducted the day before in Houston, Texas, wasattendedbyabout 50 rep­ When the bottom of the hole caved in on Septem­ resentatives from the oil industryand investmentfirms. ber 10, 1911, the well died. Although Lakeview No.1 produced 9.4 million barrels during the 544 days it DOE plans to offer an "operatorship interest" made up flowed, less than half of this oil was saved-the rest ofa significant portion of the government's share ofthe evaporating off or seeping into the ground.