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flooding. The early peak in production took place in 1917, during which 4 million barrels (640,000 m) of oil were pumped; then production steadily declined, with a few spikes, until the enhanced recovery techniques which began to be employed in the 1960s began to pay off. In 1981 the field produced almost 6 million barrels (950,000 m), and has remained a high producer, reaching close to 12 million barrels (1,900,000 m) in 2006. During that year it had the fourth-largest production increase in the state, and preliminary estimates for 2007 show that production has increased yet again, to 12.2 million barrels (1,940,000 m)
261:, began drilling for more nearby; they soon found the Cahn and Reef Ridge pools, in 1913, and then the Tulare pool in 1915. There were relatively few wells on the field for the first several decades; indeed, by 1979, there were only 39 wells producing from the Monterey Formation, and each of these wells only produced an average of eight barrels per day. It took the development of advanced recovery technology to turn the Lost Hills into a high-producing oil field.
219:
recoverable from the unit (only three to four percent so far). According to
Chevron's estimate, there are approximately 2.2 billion barrels (350,000,000 m) of oil in place in the Lost Hills Field, only five percent of which has been extracted. The oil in place is about twenty times greater than the California Department of Oil and Gas reserves estimate (109 million barrels (17,300,000 m)), which is volume that can be economically produced.
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per year. The dropping land surface causes operational problems, including fractures of well casings, and sometimes complete well failures. Waterflooding â the practice of filling the reservoir with water to push petroleum to recovery wells, and thereby also reoccupying the space vacated by oil and gas â has partially mitigated the problem. Some wells have actually disappeared into craters: in 1976, a
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immediately exploding into flame, knocking over the massive drilling rig, destroying the trailer, and melting the nearby drilling equipment. This enormous pillar of fire, which rose to 340 feet (100 m) into the sky, could be seen more than 40 miles (64 km) away, and the quantity of oil release was estimated at 2,000
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Drillers Martin and Dudley accidentally discovered the Lost Hills Oil Field in July 1910. They were drilling a water well for livestock grazing; instead of finding groundwater, however, they struck oil, specifically the
Etchegoin Pool at a depth of 530 feet (160 m). Other drillers, encouraged by
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The climate in the Lost Hills area is arid to semi-arid, with an average rainfall of 5 to 6 inches (130 to 150 mm) a year, almost all in the winter months. Vegetation in the vicinity of the field is mostly grassland and sparse scrub, with some adjacent orchards, although in the oil field itself
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being drilled into a promising anticlinal fold underneath the
Monterey Formation, northeast of the main Lost Hills field, reached the depth of 17,000 feet (5,200 m) and hit a previously untapped reservoir of gas under intense pressure. Natural gas and petroleum condensate burst from the well,
234:
of the ground surface as it collapses into the area vacated by the petroleum after being pumped out. Portions of the hills overlying the oil field have subsided up to 8 feet (2.4 m) in the central region of operations, and subsidence occurs field-wide at a rate of about 9 inches (230 mm)
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Unusual for a
California oil field, the years of maximum recovery were not early in the 20th century, but recently: peak oil production from the Etchegoin Pool did not occur until the early 21st century, assisted by several enhanced recovery technologies, including water flooding and cyclic steam
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The
Belridge Diatomite portion of the Monterey Formation defines the productive limits of the field. Characteristic of this rock unit is that it is full of oil â almost 50% of the unit is saturated, and the unit has high porosity, in the 45% to 70% range â but very little of the oil has been
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In 1998, the Lost Hills Field was the site of one of the largest and most spectacular well blowouts in modern U.S. history. The
Bellevue blowout â also called the "Bellevue gusher" â involved six months of uncontrolled natural gas expulsion, and a gigantic gas fire that lasted two weeks.
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While only the 18th-largest oil field in
California in size, in total remaining reserves it ranks sixth, with the equivalent of over 110 million barrels (17,000,000 m) producible reserves still in the ground, according to the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources
334:. Vol. I (1998), Vol. II (1992), Vol. III (1982). California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR). 1,472 pp. Lost Hills Field information pp. 256â259. PDF file available on CD from www.consrv.ca.gov.
115:. The hills rise scarcely more than 200 feet (61 m) above the San Joaquin Valley to the east, and only 100 feet (30 m) or less above the Antelope Plain to the west; in places they are almost flat. The hills and associated oil field are between
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As of 1997, four pools â the Tulare, Etchegoin, Cahn, and Reef Ridge â continued to have active recovery operations using waterflooding, steam flooding, and fire flooding. As of 2008, the principal operators on the Lost Hills Field were
80:, the principal operator, estimates considerably more oil in the ground). Production at Lost Hills has been increasing steadily: as of the end of 2006, it was California's second fastest-growing oil field, exceeded only by the nearby
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well blew out, and quickly collapsed into a crater over 15 feet (4.6 m) deep and 30 feet (9.1 m), taking with it the concrete pad, casing, and pumping unit. Yet another Getty well suffered the same fate in 1978.
322:. It burned for fourteen days, and continued spewing even after the fire was out; only a secondary well bore, drilled at a slant to intercept the main well, was able to plug the opening and snuff the blowout at last.
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Well spacing on Lost Hills varies based on the geologic characteristics in the unit being drilled, with one well per 5 acres (20,000 m) in siliceous shale to one well per 1.25 acres (5,100 m) in
91:. In 1998, one of the field's gas wells was the site of a spectacular blowout, producing a pillar of fire which burned for 14 days and was visible more than 40 miles (64 km) away.
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movement. The Lost Hills Field occupies a portion of a SE-plunging anticline. There are six oil pools in the five producing units, which are, from the top, the
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to the west, both of which parallel the field; Interstate 5 runs about 4 miles (6.4 km) away and Route 33 about 7 miles (11 km). The
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The Lost Hills Field underlies a long, low range of southeast-to-northwest trending hills of the same name adjacent to the
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Natural gas well in the southeast extension of the Lost Hills Field, owned by
Solimar and Livingstone Energy.
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on the south, along the western edge of the San
Joaquin Valley. These anticlines run closely parallel to the
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California
Department of Conservation, Oil and Gas Statistics, Annual Report, December 31, 2006.
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California Department of Conservation, Oil and Gas Statistics, Annual Report, December 31, 2006
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California Department of Conservation, Oil and Gas Statistics, Annual Report, December 31, 2006
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California Department of Conservation, Oil and Gas Statistics, Preliminary 2007 Annual Report
346:. California Division of Oil and Gas. Sacramento, 1984 and 1990. Available on the web at
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California State Regional Water Quality Control Board: Discharge Conditions for Lost Hills
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Advanced Reservoir Characterization in the Antelope Shale to Establish the Viability of CO
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Advanced Reservoir Characterization in the Antelope Shale to Establish the Viability of CO
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Lost Hills Field Trial: Incorporating New Technology for Reservoir Management, p. 4
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Chevron USA Production Company, prepared for US Department of Energy, April 2000.
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Chevron USA Production Company, prepared for US Department of Energy, April 2000.
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age; the Reef Ridge Shale, McClure Shale, and Devilwater Shale, members of the
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Oil well with storage tanks in the background: Lost Hills Field, April 2008
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of California, which had recently been subject to antitrust litigation and
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Enhanced Oil Recovery in California's Monterey Formation Siliceous Shales
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Enhanced Oil Recovery in California's Monterey Formation Siliceous Shales
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below the Temblor, but none of these lowest units have had oil pools.
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most vegetation has been removed from the areas of active operations.
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runs adjacent to the field boundary on the northeast, and the town of
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in the Williamson Lease identified further rock units as old as the
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and Miocene age. A well drilled to 11,553 feet (3,521 m) by
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age, which can be found in much of coastal California; and the
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A peculiarity of the Lost Hills operations is the pronounced
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The Lost Hills Field is one of a series of oil fields along
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The Lost Hills field also contains considerable reserves of
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The Bellevue Gusher, at the San Joaquin Geological Society
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San Joaquin Geological Society: Oil history in Kern County
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to the west, and formed as a result of compression from
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Pictures and description of the 1998 Bellevue Blowout
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California Oil and Gas Fields, Volumes I, II and III
135:, which passes through the field from east to west.
543:"San Joaquin Geological Society: Bellevue Blowout"
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499:DOGGR, California Oil and Gas Fields, p. 257
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131:is on the other side of the aqueduct along
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606:Natural gas fields in the United States
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611:Oil fields in Kern County, California
107:on Lost Hills Oilfield near route 46.
35:. Other oil fields are shown in gray.
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297:On the evening of November 23, a
16:Kern County, California oilfield
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249:the find, including the mighty
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203:, underneath the others, of
51:Range, north of the town of
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582:35.6158861°N 119.7247056°W
397:Pasqual R. Perri, et al.
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437:Pasqual R. Perri, et al.
133:California State Route 46
616:Oil fields in California
587:35.6158861; -119.7247056
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244:History and operations
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103:There are hundreds of
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163:on the north and the
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344:Lost Hills Oil Field
41:Lost Hills Oil Field
25:Lost Hills Oil Field
578: /
320:standard conditions
185:Etchegoin Formation
165:Midway-Sunset Field
125:California Aqueduct
621:San Joaquin Valley
314:(2.3 million
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193:Monterey Formation
161:Coalinga Oil Field
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113:San Joaquin Valley
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29:San Joaquin Valley
201:Temblor formation
169:San Andreas Fault
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213:Upper Cretaceous
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119:to the east and
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573:119°43â˛28.94âłW
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508:Land, p. 13-14
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355:External links
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348:their FTP site
342:Paul E. Land,
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121:State Route 33
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271:Chevron Corp.
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259:Supreme Court
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551:. Retrieved
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427:Land, p. 3-9
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316:cubic metres
299:wildcat well
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251:Standard Oil
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159:between the
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117:Interstate 5
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82:Cymric Field
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487:Land, p. 12
181:Pleistocene
89:natural gas
57:Kern County
55:in western
43:is a large
31:of central
600:Categories
553:2008-04-12
326:References
312:cubic feet
306:(320
232:subsidence
157:anticlines
129:Lost Hills
71:Production
61:California
53:Lost Hills
49:Lost Hills
33:California
255:broken up
237:Getty Oil
225:diatomite
205:Oligocene
183:age; the
105:pumpjacks
63:, in the
45:oil field
189:Pliocene
173:tectonic
520:, p. 67
304:barrels
257:by the
197:Miocene
143:Geology
95:Setting
47:in the
27:in the
532:, p. 1
387:, p. 2
372:Notes
195:, of
187:, of
179:, of
273:and
39:The
23:The
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492:^
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84:.
67:.
59:,
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445:.
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308:m
76:(
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