McKittrick Oil Field
The McKittrick Oil Field is a large
Setting
The oil field is in the McKittrick Valley and the adjacent foothills of the Temblor Range at the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley. California State Route 33 and 58 intersect at the town of McKittrick, and both routes cross over portions of the field. The climate is hot and arid to semi-arid, with an average annual rainfall of 5 to 6 inches (130 to 150 mm), and summertime highs commonly exceeding 100 °F (38 °C). Some subfreezing temperatures occur in the winter, with the mean freeze-free period being from 250 to 275 days. Drainage is to the northeast, away from the Temblors towards the Central Valley, and streams are dry for most of the year.[2] The predominant vegetation in the vicinity of the field is low scrub, in particular the saltbush Atriplex lentiformis.[3] Elevations on the field range from approximately 1,000 to 1,500 feet (300 to 460 m).
Many other productive oil fields are nearby. Adjacent to the north is the enormous, and densely developed
The total productive area of the field is 3,970 acres (16.1 km2). The field is about 5 mi (8.0 km) long on the southeast to northwest axis, and about 2.5 mi (4.0 km) across.
Geology and paleontology
The predominant geologic feature, and the one that makes the McKittrick field distinctive, is the presence of a huge block of Monterey shale – more than 6 mi (9.7 km) long, approximately 1 mi (1.6 km) wide, and up to 2,000 ft (610 m) thick – which slipped off of the slopes of the adjacent Temblor Range during the Pleistocene and moved eastward onto the plain, almost entirely covering the field, and forming an impermeable cap over the oil-bearing rock. This mass of stone, consisting of over 3 cu mi (13 km3) of rock, moved 2 to 3 miles (3.2 to 4.8 km) from its source region, and down about 2,000 feet (610 m) in elevation. While it probably did not move into its present position all at once, the incident must have been dramatic.[4][5]
Another unusual feature of the McKittrick field is its large tar seeps, points on the surface where petroleum has migrated upwards, forming pools. In California, the
Oil in the McKittrick field is in 13 separate pools: eight in the Northeast Area, and five in the Main Area. The most productive pools have been the Tulare-San Joaquin, Olig, and Basal Reef Ridge in the Main Area, and the Tulare-San Joaquin, Phacoides, and Oceanic in the Northeast Area. Oil
Major
History, production, and operations
The McKittrick Tar Pits have been known to the local Native American population, the
In the 1860s, San Joaquin Valley settlers made the first attempts to mine the asphaltum, digging pits, trenches, and tunnels. They refined the viscous substance onsite, making it into lubricating oil and kerosene. These early attempts were only marginally profitable, but this changed in 1896 when the first real oil well was drilled. The Klondike Oil Company's Shamrock gusher, which spewed 1,300 barrels (210 m3) of oil per day, was not only the first gusher in the region, but the first significant oil well in the San Joaquin Valley, which went on to become one of the richest petroleum regions in the nation.[10]
Many of the deeper pools were found in the 1960s, and some of them proved not only to have higher quality oil, but were more productive. In the Northeast Area, the Phacoides, Oceanic, and Point of Rocks pools vary from 7,900 to 9,100 ft (2,400 to 2,800 m) below ground surface; the temperature of the oil varies from 230 to 260 °F (110 to 127 °C) at that depth, and the initial reservoir pressures were also high, up to 4,100 psi (28,000 kPa), pressures that would have caused major blowouts and gushers during the early part of the century, but can be better managed with modern technology.[11]
As of 2008, there were 1,135 producing oil wells on the field. Producers besides
California Historical Landmark
| California Standard Oil Well 1 | |
|---|---|
 California Standard Oil Well 1 at McKittrick | |
| Location | 1 mile south of McKittrick, California |
| Coordinates | 35°17′54″N 119°38′02″W / 35.2982°N 119.6340°W |
| Official name | California Standard Oil Well 1 |
| Designated | November 7, 1941 |
| Reference no. | 376 |
California Historical Landmark reads:
- NO. 376 CALIFORNIA STANDARD OIL WELL 1 - This well was one of the early wells that in 1899 started a new oil field called the McKittrick Field. The well pumped about 150 barrels of oil per day for the first six months - its last production was in April 1929.[13][14]
See also
References
- California Oil and Gas Fields, Volumes I, II and III. Vol. I (1998), Vol. II (1992), Vol. III (1982). California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR). 1,472 pp. McKittrick Oil Field information pp. 268–272. PDF file available on CD from www.consrv.ca.gov.
- California Department of Conservation, Oil and Gas Statistics, Annual Report, December 31, 2006.
Notes
- ^ California Department of Conservation, Oil and Gas Statistics, Annual Report, December 31, 2006, p. 67
- ^ "Antelope Plain subregion description". Archived from the original on 2005-03-11. Retrieved 2014-02-22.
- ^ "McKittrick Tar Pits from Kern Inventory of Natural Areas". Archived from the original on 2007-05-06. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
- ^ J.A. Taff: "Geology of the McKittrick Oil Field and Vicinity, Kern County, California." American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 1933 available here
- ^ Thickness of the unit is estimated from the cross sections shown in DOGGR, p. 268
- ^ a b Vista Museum of Natural History: page on the McKittrick Tar Seeps
- ^ Geology of the McKittrick Tar Pits, at San Joaquin Valley Geologic Society
- ^ DOGGR, p. 269–272
- ^ Buena Vista Museum
- ^ Regional history, at San Joaquin Valley Geologic Society[dead link]
- ^ DOGGR, p. 272
- ^ DOGGR database query interface
- ^ californiahistoricallandmarks.comL andmark chl-376
- ^ Cal California parks Historical Landmarks
