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46-553: The Brea-Olinda field occupies a long, narrow band along and south of the Whittier Fault Zone , which forms the southern boundary of the Puente/Chino Hills in the inland Los Angeles Basin. It is approximately six miles long overall, with a maximum width of about a mile, running from northwest to southeast, and covering approximately 2,000 acres (8.1 km). Other oil fields continue in both directions from

92-533: A Ross Dress for Less in the Fairfax District in 1985, caused by an overnight accumulation of methane which had seeped up from the underlying Salt Lake Oil Field , construction over Los Angeles's old oil fields became much more controversial and difficult. The city defined "methane zones" around all oil fields within its limits, and then enacted ordinances to ensure that new and existing structures within these zones were sufficiently ventilated to prevent

138-701: A fence on South Mountain View Avenue one block east of Alvarado Street in the Westlake neighborhood, producing about 3.5 barrels per day (0.56 m /d). The fortunes made during development of the field led directly to the discovery and exploitation of other fields in the Los Angeles Basin. Of the 1,250 wells once drilled on the field, and the forest of derricks that once covered the low hills north of Los Angeles from Elysian Park west, little above-ground trace remains. The Los Angeles City field

184-580: A quarter-mile across. Its former productive area amounts to 780 acres (3.2 km ). Discovered in 1890, and made famous by Edward Doheny 's successful well in 1892, the field was once the top producing oil field in California, accounting for more than half of the state's oil in 1895. In its peak year of 1901, approximately 200 separate oil companies were active on the field, which is now entirely built over by dense residential and commercial development. As of 2011 only one oil well remains active – behind

230-716: Is a geologic fault located in eastern Los Angeles County in Southern California , that is one of the two upper branches of the Elsinore Fault Zone , with the Chino Fault the second. The Whittier Fault is a 40-kilometer (25 mi) right-lateral strike-slip fault that runs along the Chino Hills range between the cities of Chino Hills and Whittier . The fault has a slip rate of 2.5 to 3.0 millimeters (0.098 to 0.118 in) per year. It

276-606: Is estimated that this fault could generate a quake of M w 6.0–7.2 on the moment magnitude scale . This Los Angeles County, California –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about structural geology is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Los Angeles City Oil Field The Los Angeles City Oil Field is a large oil field north of Downtown Los Angeles . Long and narrow, it extends from immediately south of Dodger Stadium west to Vermont Avenue , encompassing an area of about four miles (6 km) long by

322-529: Is of variable gravity, with the Pliocene pool having the heaviest oil, with API gravity of only 15-18. Sulfur content is low, and in the early days of the 20th century was the lowest of any oil produced in the state of California. The first recorded well on the field, and the one considered to be the discovery well, was drilled by Rowland & Lacy, later to become the Puente Oil Co., in 1880. While

368-572: Is one of many in the Los Angeles Basin. To the west are the still-productive Salt Lake and Beverly Hills fields; to the south is the Los Angeles Downtown Oil Field. Ten miles east-southeast is the Brea-Olinda field , the first to be worked in the region. Even larger fields are still productive in other parts of the basin, such as the giant Wilmington field which stretches from Carson to Long Beach . Terrain in

414-594: The Hollywood Freeway , parallels part of the field to the north, and California State Route 110 , the historic Arroyo Seco Parkway – the first freeway in the United States – cuts directly through the eastern part of the field immediately south of Dodger Stadium. The neighborhoods that contain the field include, from west to east, Koreatown , Westlake , Echo Park , Chinatown , and Elysian Park . Some significant public facilities built directly on

460-794: The Los Angeles Stock Exchange had to open a separate facility just to deal with oil stocks. By far the most successful entrepreneur on the field, however, was a piano teacher from Kentucky named Emma Summers , soon nicknamed the "Oil Queen of California." She purchased a half-interest in an oil well for $ 700 in the area of the present-day Civic Center, using the proceeds from her piano lessons, and then purchased some others on credit. As her wells became successful, she shrewdly acquired others, forcing other operators out of business, and selling her oil to various local power companies, hotels, and utilities, all while doing her own accounting and continuing to give piano lessons at night. When

506-770: The San Gabriel River . Wildfires are a frequent occurrence in the summer and autumn; the point of origin of the Landfill Fire, part of the 2008 Freeway Complex Fire , was on the eastern portion of the field owned by BreitBurn Energy near the landfill. In general, the oil field consists of a series of steeply dipping sedimentary beds ending at the Whittier Fault Zone, specifically at the Tonner Fault. Oil has traveled upward from its source rocks within various permeable units, usually ending at

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552-528: The Topanga Formation , of Miocene age – no commercial quantities of oil have been found at these great depths. The field is split into three geographic zones, unrelated to the three vertical zones. The Western Area contains seeps that were known prehistorically; it is separated from the Central zone by a fault. The Central Area, the first to be exploited, extends from the fault to approximately

598-454: The $ 1,000 to $ 1,500 to drill an oil well, could potentially become rich – especially if they could get their well into production before their neighbors drained the oil reservoir. Within a year of the Doheny well there were 121 wells on the field interspersed with homes and businesses, and the field's cumulative production had reached 100,000 barrels (16,000 m ). Well crowding was extreme:

644-682: The Brea-Olinda field along the fault zone, including the Sansinena field to the northwest, followed by the Whittier Oil Field , and the Yorba Linda and Esperanza fields to the southeast. Dense urban and suburban development covers the area south and southwest of the Brea-Olinda field; to the north and northeast, the hills are relatively undeveloped. Elevations on the oil field range from approximately 400 feet (120 m) on

690-407: The Brea-Olinda field presented a complex geological problem, and new fault blocks continued to be found and produced throughout the first decades of the field's history. As the geology became better understood, and production improved in efficiency and drilling in precision, the overall production from the field rose. Some enhanced recovery technologies have been used since the 1960s, particularly in

736-492: The Miocene and Pliocene producing horizons. Steamflooding of the Pliocene commenced in 1973, a method useful for decreasing viscosity of heavy oil and encouraging it to flow to pumping wells. The Miocene pool has been subject to cyclic steam, steamflooding, waterflooding, and fireflooding. Unocal operated most of the field until March 1996, at which time it sold off all of its California assets to Nuevo Energy. Nuevo operated

782-549: The Puente Formation, and are given ordinal numbers: First, Second, and Third zones. In addition to these zones, small pockets of oil have been found throughout the upper part of the Puente. The average depth of the three zones from top to bottom is 900, 1,100, and 1,500 feet. Although wells have been drilled to much greater depths – for example, Seaboard Oil Company of Delaware drilled over 7,500 feet (2,300 m) into

828-749: The accumulation of explosive levels of methane. Mitigation systems for modern buildings include subsurface barriers, ventilation systems, methane detectors, and alarms. Thousands of buildings in the Los Angeles area have such systems, including the Staples Center and Los Angeles Convention Center . Construction of the Belmont Learning Center, now known as the Edward R. Roybal Learning Center , "the nation's most expensive high school" began in 1988 adjacent to, and partially above,

874-674: The area is a thin layer of Pliocene - and Pleistocene -age alluvium and terrace deposits. Structurally the field is a faulted anticline which trends generally east to west, with oil accumulations trapped in sand units dipping south, ending to the north either at a fault – in the eastern part of the field – or at the surface as tar seeps, in the western area. Mechanisms of entrapment include pinchouts and local changes of permeability – forms of stratigraphic traps – and structural traps such as oil-bearing units blockaded by unrelated, impermeable units put there by motion along faults . Three separate producing horizons, or vertical zones, are present in

920-473: The area of former oilfield operations include Shriners Hospital for Children, St. Vincent Medical Center , Belmont High School , and the Edward R. Roybal Learning Center . Oil in the Los Angeles City field is relatively close to the surface. Every productive deposit has been in a single geologic unit, the shallow Miocene -age Puente Formation . Covering the Puente Formation throughout most of

966-443: The eastern boundary of the field. By the end of 1897, 270 wells had been drilled into this new area. Cumulative production from the entire field at the end of that year had passed a million barrels, from 551 wells. During the early development of the field, no single firm had a dominant share. Drillers started their own companies, flooding the local stock exchange with shares of start-up oil firms. There were so many of these that

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1012-496: The exact locations of the discovery well and the other earliest wells are not known, the depths have been recorded – between 150 and 260 feet (79 m) – insufficient to penetrate the main oil-bearing rocks, but enough to reach the tar sands which are responsible for the surface seeps that drew the first prospectors to the area. By the mid-1880s, wells were reaching the E/F unit, which has an average depth of 1,200 feet (370 m). This

1058-403: The fault when it reaches an impermeable rock type positioned there by motion along the fault. These petroleum-containing formations are themselves broken apart by faults perpendicular to the main Whittier Fault Zone, and each has different characteristics. Occasionally the petroleum-containing formations pinch out within impermeable units prior to reaching the fault. Dips within the section along

1104-609: The fault zone range from 45 to 90 degrees. Tar seeps at the surface – the petroleum signature that alerted early prospectors to the presence of an oil field in the area – exist where oil has found a pathway to the surface either within a permeable unit, or in the broken rock along a fault. The principal producing formations within the Brea-Olinda field are the Repetto , the Puente , and the Puente- Topanga . Pools are named for

1150-475: The field at this time. Peak production on the field was in 1953, unusual for an old oil field in the Los Angeles Basin; most of the other fields (such as the Los Angeles City , Salt Lake , Beverly Hills , Long Beach ) reached their maximum production within several years of their discovery, only attaining a secondary peak with the advent of advanced recovery technologies in the mid-20th century, but

1196-519: The field during the first decades of the 20th century was fuel oil, and it was also sprayed onto the young city's dirt roads to settle the dust. Tar seeps have been known in the area from prehistoric times, and the Native American population of the Los Angeles basin used the tar for waterproofing and other purposes. The Spanish settlers used it for their lamps, as a sealant for roofs, and as grease for wagon wheels. The earliest known well on

1242-460: The field for seven years, finally selling its portion of the field in 2003 for $ 59 million to BlackSand Partners, L.P., prior to themselves being acquired by Plains Exploration & Production . At that time the field was producing 2,269 barrels per day. BlackSand ran operations on the field for a little over three years, and in 2006 Linn Energy bought it from BlackSand for $ 291 million. In February 2007 Aera Energy LLC transferred its 654 wells on

1288-407: The field occurred before the formation of regulatory agencies in California, record keeping was sometimes sparse, not only for oil production but for the very existence and location of the wells. R.E. Crowder, writing in 1961, counted 142 wells which likely existed, but could not be located; some may have been dry holes. A more recent survey suggested that up to 300 wells may have been drilled within

1334-420: The field to Linn Energy , leaving Linn as the largest operator on the field. As of 2009 Linn remained the principal operator with 361 active wells, followed by BreitBurn with 73 wells, Cooper & Brain with 21, and Thompson Energy Resources, LLC, with 18. 33°56′01″N 117°51′44″W  /  33.9337°N 117.8623°W  / 33.9337; -117.8623 Whittier Fault The Whittier Fault

1380-413: The field was 1901, during which 1,150 active wells pumped over 1.8 million barrels (290,000 m ). Over 200 separate companies were in operation on the field at this time. Of these, the largest were Union Consolidated Crude Oil Company, L.A. Terminal & Transport, and Westlake Oil Company. Edward A. Clampitt , an eastern businessman who had come to Los Angeles to make a fortune in the oil industry,

1426-422: The field, called the "Dryden Well", was a relatively shallow hole hand-dug near the intersection of 3rd Street and Coronado Street in 1857. It produced some heavy oil, tar, and asphaltum during the next 30 years, but the amounts were not recorded. The growing town purchased the product from the well owner to oil the streets. Another early well, this one a failure, was dug to almost 400 feet (120 m) in 1865 near

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1472-422: The field. However, it was Edward Doheny and Cannon's well, begun on November 4, 1892, that brought the field instant fame. They had dug a well to 155 feet (47 m), halting because of the accumulation of toxic hydrogen sulfide gas in the hole; however the oil seeps they encountered encouraged them to continue. Doheny brought in a sharpened eucalyptus log and used it as an improvised percussion hammer to deepen

1518-421: The former oil field, and within a methane zone. Soil tests in the early 1990s showed methane at high levels, possibly migrating up from old wellbores (not all of which were mapped, let alone abandoned to modern standards). Construction of the complex continued intermittently, with partial demolition and reconstruction after additional contamination and an earthquake fault were found. The Learning Center eventually

1564-528: The geologic age of the petroleum-bearing formation, and given letters: "1st, 2nd, 3rd Pliocene"; "1st, 2nd, 3rd Pliocene"; "D-1, D-2"; "E, F." The Pliocene pool is produced from an average depth of 1,800 feet (550 m) below ground surface; the Miocene , 4,000; the D-1/D-2 pool, discovered in 1954, 5,000; and the E/F pool, the one discovered in 1880, is only 1,200 feet (370 m) below ground surface. Oil

1610-416: The gigantic redwood oil tanks near Echo Lake ruptured, and crude oil flooded downhill into the lake, catching fire and burning on the water for three days. The lake is now part of Echo Park, within the neighborhood of the same name . Lawlessness was a problem during the boom period as well, with oil thieves draining tanks overnight, stealing tools, and sabotaging wells of competitors. As the boom years of

1656-490: The intersection of Temple and Boylston, but the attempt was abandoned after encountering hydrogen sulfide gas from the oil deposits, which were not far below. More persistent drilling in 1890 by several groups of prospectors, including Maltman and Ruhland, succeeded in establishing production of several barrels of oil a day, and the California Department of Conservation credits these drillers with discovering

1702-564: The intersection of the Hollywood and Pasadena Freeways, and the Eastern Area extends northeast from that intersection. Oil in the field is generally heavy, with API gravity averaging about 14, and ranging overall from 12 to 20. An early assessment by Paul Prutzman (1913) rated the quality of the oil from the field as low, due to the high sulfur content and absence of light fractions suitable for refining. The main use for oil taken from

1748-470: The price of oil peaked around $ 1.80 a barrel, she controlled about half of the wells on the central portion of the field. In 1903 the boom briefly turned to bust as the price of oil dropped to only fifteen cents a barrel, due to abundant oil flooding the market from the Los Angeles field and others just opening up both in the Los Angeles basin and in the San Joaquin Valley. The peak year for

1794-517: The south edge of the field for much of its length, and the 57 Freeway cuts across it from south to north. Native vegetation in the hills includes coastal sage scrub , grasslands, oak/walnut woodland, and various riparian habitats. Climate is Mediterranean , with warm summers and cool, moist winters. Runoff from the field is to the south and southwest, either down Carbon Canyon to the Santa Ana River , or southwest down various drainages to

1840-456: The town lots were often only 50' by 150', and sometimes contained as many as four wells. By the end of 1895, the field was producing 2,000 barrels (320 m ) of oil a day, had produced 750,000 barrels (119,000 m ) in the preceding year, and accounted for sixty percent of the state's oil production. But it was still expanding: in 1896 a new well found oil east of the fault zone near Sisters Hospital which had previously been considered to be

1886-691: The valley floor in the town of Brea, to over 1,400 feet (430 m) in the Puente Hills immediately north of the Los Angeles County line. Carbon Canyon Regional Park is adjacent to the field on the east, as is Chino Hills State Park ; the Firestone Boy Scout Reservation occupies a large area in the hills northeast of the main productive area of the field. Lambert Road in Brea, California State Route 142, follows

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1932-512: The vicinity of the Los Angeles City field includes gently rolling hills cut by ravines draining south. Elevations range from around 250 to 500 feet (150 m) above sea level, with the highest elevations in Elysian Park near Dodger Stadium. Urban development is dense in the part of Los Angeles containing the field's former productive area, with numerous apartment blocks mixed with commercial and light industrial structures. U.S. Highway 101,

1978-566: The vicinity of the oil field but abandoned without a trace. By 1961 most of the oil field was dedicated to redevelopment as a residential area, under the auspices of the Los Angeles Urban Renewal Association. At this time, 93 wells still remained active in the field, run by 22 separate companies. One by one the wells have been abandoned, with the one remaining well quietly pumping behind a fence on South Mountain View Avenue. After an explosion which leveled

2024-401: The well, and shortly afterwards they punctured an oil reservoir, and began producing about seven barrels a day. While hardly a gusher, their first well at the corner of Colton and Patton Streets was in the middle of an area of hundreds of small town lots that had been sold in a land boom of 1887. Since there were no regulations in California on well spacing at this time, anyone with a lot, and

2070-404: Was also one of the principal operators in the first decade of the 20th century. Production declined quickly after the peak; there were simply too many wells draining a reservoir of limited capacity and pressure, and less and less oil was able to be profitably extracted. After 1915 only two new wells were drilled on the field. The early years on the field were not without mishap. In 1907, one of

2116-467: Was the first commercial oil production in the Los Angeles Basin, an area which within fifteen years would become the state's most productive area, and in the early 1920s would be producing one-fifth of the world's oil. Development of the field proceeded over the next three decades, with 105 wells being drilled by 1912 in the area of Brea Canyon, at the time of the survey by the state mineralogist. Many different oil companies, some very small, were working on

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