Drilling for Black Gold with California Oil World, 30 July 1925

by Paul R. Spitzzeri

I regularly drive by one of the last surviving portions of one of the major oil fields in our region, the Olinda, and, in the last few months, crews are engaged in the well decommissioning process at what is called Brea265, Aera Energy’s master plan for the 265-acre site on which oil has been drilled for well more than century, but which will soon have 1,100 homes, along with parks, trails, reserved space for a potential fire and police substation, expansion of the city’s sports park, and more.

Despite much political rhetoric, the United States produces, as noted by the Energy Information Administration, “more crude oil than any nation at any time . . . for the past six years in a row.” While America, Russia and Saudi Arabia combined produce 40% of the world’s supply, the United States has passed both and is poised to surpass 13 million barrels daily, while Russia is just over 10 and Saudi Arabia is at around 9.7.

Accelerating climate change due to fossil fuel production, use and emissions have led to increasingly sharp warnings by scientists and advocates that if there aren’t severe reductions in short order, the consequences will be dire. From inundations by flood, debilitating drought, more powerful hurricanes, more and larger wildfires and much else, what has long been predicted as the results of the warming of the atmosphere are, we are told, something of a dress rehearsal for the future unless conditions change.

Today’s post takes us back almost a century to the 30 July 1925 edition of California Oil World, which billed itself as “The Only Newspaper in the World Devoted Exclusively to Oil” and which added that it was “For Sixteen Years the Authority on the California Fields.” The headline sounds familiar given what was mentioned above about today’s production levels: “REFINERIES GO OVER TOP IN JUNE / BASIN PRODUCTION SETS RECORD.” The feature article added,

Two new production records for 1925 were established during the week of July 25 when Los Angeles Basin fields averaged 403,100 barrels daily, and Inglewood topped the 100,000-barrel average to a new peak of 110,000, leading Long Beach by 4,000 barrels.

This is the first time in two years that the Signal Hill field at Long Beach has slipped back to second place. Not since the gusher days of Santa Fe Springs has any other field come within close range of the Signal Hill field.

Inglewood’s supremacy was expected to be brief as the nearby Baldwin Hills (this land was owned by William Workman, F.P.F. Temple and others in the mid-1870s before lost to “Lucky” Baldwin following the demise of the Temple and Workman bank) field was expected to move into the 115,000 range. The growth explained the crossing of the 400,000 threshold, achieved for the first time in over a year.

Notably, though, Inglewood achieved its production level on 109 wells, while “Signal Hill, after four years of remarkable production, is holding its own at 106,000 daily from 521 wells. In other areas, the Rosecrans (also known as the Athens-Rosecrans) field’s production dropped by about 1,300 barrels daily, while Santa Fe Springs had a gain of about 1,100, but it was anticipated that production in the region would continue to be strong “with no indication of sharp declines.”

From a statewide perspective, the paper pointed out that “June was a big month in California refining with 49 refineries reporting to the U.S. Bureau of Mines daily average runs of 510,394 barrels of crude oil, a gain of 45,267 over May’s daily runs,” these called the largest ever. Moreover, daily capacity was pegged at just north of 650,000 barrels, 17,000 more than in May, and, with refineries at 78% of capacity, the monthly total was not too far south of 16 million barrels.

Natural gas gasoline output was at nearly 340,000 barrels, while gasoline was close to 145 million gallons, nearly 9% more than in the prior month, this latter being a new record and almost a third more than a year before. Even with these new yields, demand totaled some 43 million gallons so that inventory was at just shy of 416 million gallons as July dawned, but it was pointed out that “the disposal of these overflowing supplies” of fuel and heavy oil “is to be the big immediate problem.”

From the Port of Los Angeles, it was noted that more than 36,600 barrels of gasoline were daily shipped to ports in the Gulf Coast and Atlantic regions of the country in the first 25 days of July “thus establishing a probable record for July as the highest of any month.” It was believed that the month would surpass June, which established a new record, and climb north of 1 million barrels.

As “reduced to their commercial unit,” these exports through the 25th were nearly 40 million gallons or about a fifth of all California refinery output for June and “represented 4.75 per cent of the total national consumption during May.” Moreover, the report continued,

With a growing demand on the Atlantic Coast, already far ahead of daily supply, the indications are that August shipments will equal or exceed July’s with the probability that the big demand will continue into September.

The growing gasoline trade is resulting in a demand for more tankers to handle the business . . . Besides buying all the California finished gasoline they can get the big Atlantic Coast companies are also seeking California crude for their refineries.

In the week prior to the 25th, crude oil shipments were double that of gasoline and it was no surprise that the biggest purchaser of Golden State gasoline was the massive Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, which held almost a total monopoly on the industry before the major anti-trust action of 1911 forced the giant firm to be split into independent units. One of these, Standard Oil Company of California, held the lease to the Temple family’s land at the Montebello field that, by mid-1925, was a mere shadow of its boomtime self in the late Teens and very early Twenties.

Other major shipments were to Standard of Louisiana at Baton Rouge and Atlantic Refining at Philadelphia and it was added that California prices were such that they were very competitive with products of fields closer to those locations. There were reports, however, of new pipelines to reach Baton Route from fields in Arkansas and northern Louisiana fields to enhance crude being sent from Oklahoma.

Another front-page article of note concerned the use of “asphaltic concrete pavement” for roads, in use for more than three decades of the Pacific Coast. Observing that funds came from property taxes, the paper noted that the use of pavements that “cannot stand the pounding of traffic” resulted in more cost and higher taxes. This meant that,

The wide use of a durable type of pavement, requiring little or not maintenance, is a matter of interest and a direct saving to Los Angeles taxpayers, including the oil industry. The experience of Los Angeles with relation to types of pavement, during the past ten years, plainly indicates the logical future course as to type of pavement.

A section of Dalton Avenue, between Santa Barbara Avenue (Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.) and Vernon Avenue, southwest of Exposition Park, was paved in 1915 with a five-inch deep amount of this durable material, as were a section of what is now Glendale Boulevard (then Lakeshore Avenue) from Sunset Boulevard to Temple Street, much of it along the west side of Echo Park; the portion of Huntington Drive going through South Pasadena; and a section of Westmoreland Avenue between 3rd and 4th streets near Shatto Park.

It was reported that “all these streets have carried the heavy city traffic typical of Los Angeles for ten years or more. None of them has required any maintenance expense whatever. In driving over these it is obvious that they are in excellent condition today.” Elsewhere, “cement concrete pavements,” known as “rigid pavements,” had been in use, such as on Gaffey and Anaheim streets in San Pedro, but, after just three years, they were resurfaced with asphaltic concrete. Rossmore Avenue near the Los Angeles Country Club and Wilshire Boulevard from the city limits to Beverly Hills were also cited as needing the new material.

The article ended with the admonition that “a clear distinction should be made between the true asphaltic concrete type and streets merely treated with an oil surface,” of which there was plenty of the latter. These were done with an eye to the low cost of applying the oil when the streets were first laid, but “which are not satisfactory pavements.” The more durable material was made of “crushed rock or gravel, sand, fine material and asphalt mixed while hot in scientifically controlled mixing plants, spread evenly on the previously prepared sub-grade and rolled with a heavy roller until compacted.”

Among other front-page news was that the General Petroleum Corporation was initiating construction a 1.8 million barrel capacity reservoir, with the paper stating that the firm “in line with all the big operating companies, is preparing to put into storage a huge amount of surplus crude.” General, the article continued, “already has one of the biggest tocks of crude and gasoline on hand, in anticipation of its steadily increasing marketing and export business,” with “a considerable quantity of fuel oil” to be stored there.

The existing tank farm near the San Pedro breakwater, with a capacity of just under 200,000 barrels, was being dismantled and tanks repurposed at Vernon and Wilmington and other company-owned sites, while General’s new terminal was on, appropriately enough, Terminal Island. The piece ended with the note that other companies were enhancing storage capacity with California Petroleum building three tanks for nearly 400,000 barrels capacity, Shell adding two for 17,000 barrels, and Union taking bids on up to a dozen 80,000 barrel tanks.

A page three table of crude production in 25 districts in the Golden State for the first half of the year showed that June had nearly 19.3 million barrels, the highest of the year to date, with a low of about 16.9 million in February and an aggregate of north of 110 million for the six-month period. Long Beach was tops in California with more than 3.2 million in June and some 20.7 for the year, short of one-fifth of all production, while close behind was Midway-Sunset in Kern County in the lower San Joaquin Valley at 3.07 and 18.725, respectively.

For June production, the third highest producer was surging Inglewood at almost 1.9 million, but it is striking that the previous months from January forward were 7,000, 13,400, 51,200, 108,000, and 584,000, respectively. Santa Fe Springs remained relatively consistent through the first half, with not far below 1.6 million for June and a low of 1.4 million in February for a total of almost 9.3 million to date. Huntington Beach was also generally stable from a low of 1.145 in February to 1.315 in June for a total of over 7.6 million for the six-month period.

Torrance topped 1.1 million for June and just over 7 million for the period, while Elk Hills, near Midway-Sunset, was at 1.07 and 6.8, respectively. Other high-producing fields locally were Dominguez (961/8.2), Rosecrans (670/2.95), Coyote (625/3.7), with Montebello, where the Temple wells were situated, at thirteenth in the state for June with 566,000 barrels and eleventh for the half-year at over 3.4 million.

As for oil wells, close to half in California were in the aforementioned Kern County giant fields, with Coalinga third at 1,050. Locally, Torrance was ahead of others with 564, followed by Long Beach at 535 and then Los Angeles-Salt Lake (La Brea, 391) Fullerton, including Olinda (390), and Santa Fe Springs (354). Montebello was 18th on the list at 158, indicating that it was a highly productive field. Elsewhere, a table of crude oil prices showed that they ranges from $1.25 from the lowest to $2.40 for the highest gravity (the average price today is just north of $75.)

The editorial page has a brief comment on cement manufacturing, in which the paper observed that there was an industry advocacy group lobbying for the use of its members’ products for roads throughout the country and adept at advertising and “extolling the virtues of cement concrete.” Noting that “the propaganda has been highly successful in California,” but that the state “produces the finest asphalt in the world for highway building,” the piece counseled that “it is time for the asphalt manufacturers to get together and, with the entire oil industry which is strong interested, organize to counteract this propaganda” as this was not a subject “left to individual companies.”

Otherwise, amid many small news items, local and otherwise, advertisements are always interesting to note and a few examples are provided here. We’ll continue to offer posts on other issues of California Oil World and other industry-related publications from the Homestead’s holdings, so check back for those. As for oil production by state, in 2023, Texas generated more than 42%, with New Mexico at 14%, North Dakota at 9%, and Colorado, Oklahoma and Alaska all around 3.5%. California is seventh at 2.5% with Wyoming following at 2%.