The Lompoc Oil Field is a large oil field in the Purisima Hills north of Lompoc, California , in Santa Barbara County . Discovered in 1903, two years after the discovery of the Orcutt Oil Field in the Solomon Hills , it is one of the oldest oil fields in northern Santa Barbara County, and one of the closest to exhaustion, reporting only 1.7 million barrels (270,000 m) of recoverable oil remaining out of its original 50 million barrels (7,900,000 m) as of the end of 2008. Its sole operator is Sentinel Peak Resources, who acquired it from Freeport-McMoRan . In 2009, the proposed decommissioning and habitat restoration of the 3,700-acre (15 km) field was part of a controversial and so-far unsuccessful deal between Plains, several environmental groups, Santa Barbara County, and the State of California, to allow Plains to carry out new offshore oil drilling on the Tranquillon Ridge, in the Pacific Ocean about twenty miles (32 km) southwest of the Lompoc field.
30-797: The Lompoc field follows the line of the Purisima Hills, a northwest-to-southeast trending range dividing the Santa Ynez Valley on the south from the Los Alamos Valley to the north, and the field is about five miles (8.0 km) long by one-half to one mile (0.80 to 1.61 km) across. The hills are a part of the Burton Mesa region, much of which is an ecological reserve maintained by the California Department of Fish and Game . Populated places close to
60-491: Is located at Unocal Corporation facility in the Mission Hills District of Lompoc. The California Historical Landmark plaque and the well are 1.6 miles behind the gated facility in a canyon. Union Oil Company of California hit the oil on September 26, 1905. Union Oil had drilled down 2,507 feet to hit the oil deposit . The oil well did not run dry till 1951. The well is named after engineer Frank E. Hill who
90-556: Is medium grade, with an API gravity of 15 to 26; in the Northwest Area it is heavier and more viscous, with a gravity of 17 to 19.5. Only one pool or producing horizon has been defined, the "Monterey", discovered in 1903 and still producing as of 2009. The discontiguous Northwest Area also produces from the Monterey, but at a depth of approximately 2,700 feet (820 m), and with a net thickness of 280 feet (85 m). With
120-548: Is noted for having over 52 different breeds of horses, plus 28 veterinarians. Tourists often visit the valley for its attractions including numerous art galleries, wine tasting rooms, and antique stores as well as resorts such as the Alisal Guest Ranch, Lake Cachuma , PCPA 's Theatrefest, and the Chumash Casino . Because of good weather year round, many participate in outdoor activities such as hiking in
150-875: The Santa Ynez Mountains to the south and the San Rafael Mountains to the north. The Santa Ynez River flows through the valley from east to west. The Santa Ynez Valley is separated from the Los Alamos Valley, to the northwest, by the Purisima Hills, and from the Santa Maria Valley by the Solomon Hills . The Santa Rita Hills separate the Santa Ynez Valley from the Santa Rita and Lompoc Valleys to
180-661: The Lompoc Oil and Gas Processing plant. Platform Irene, the Lompoc Field, and the Processing Plant would be shut down by 2022, and in the meantime the state would have received approximately $ 2 billion in tax revenues, while Santa Barbara County would have gotten $ 350 million. The deal was defeated by a 2-1 vote of the State Lands Commission on January 29, 2009, who cited the unenforceability of
210-545: The Northwest Area. Several others were used for water injection – primarily of produced water from offshore Platform Irene, as the most convenient disposal for this otherwise unusable water is to reinject it into the geologic formations which once contained petroleum. As part of a deal with various environmental groups, including the Santa Barbara-based Environmental Defense Center and Get Oil Out!, both venerable opponents of
240-632: The Santa Ynez Valley Alliance, Preservation of Los Olivos (POLO), Preservation of Santa Ynez (POSY), WeWatch, and the Santa Ynez Valley Concerned Citizens. These groups' stated mission is the preservation of the Santa Ynez Valley. The 2004 film Sideways was set (and shot on location) in the Santa Ynez Valley. Since then, visits from tourists looking to recreate the experiences of the fictional characters Miles and Jack, have become common. Fans of
270-480: The Valley, five miles from the town of Los Olivos, California , was one of the filming locations for a 1983 video of the song " Say Say Say ", featuring Michael Jackson , Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney . At the time, it was called Sycamore Valley Ranch. According to La Toya Jackson , Michael expressed interest in someday buying the property. In 1988, he would do so, renaming it Neverland Ranch . The singer sold
300-583: The adjacent Lompoc Anticline and the Purisima Anticline, which are offset from each other by faults . The surface Paso Robles and Careaga formations are Pleistocene sediments . Underneath them is the relatively impermeable Sisquoc Formation , of Pliocene and Miocene age. Beneath this unit, and separated by an unconformity , is the oil-bearing rock, the fractured shale of the Miocene-age Monterey Formation , at
330-531: The center of Santa Barbara County and partially surrounded by the Los Padres National Forest , is sometimes regarded as more politically aligned with northern Santa Barbara County and would have been included in the proposed Mission County under "Measure H," rejected by 81% of County voters in the June 6, 2006 Direct Primary election. Numerous smart growth -type coalitions have formed such as
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#1732786953951360-592: The field continued to decline. However the field was not played out. In 1983, Unocal discovered the Northwest Area, a small but productive region about a mile and a half northwest of the main part of the field, following the anticlinal trend of the hills, on the Jesus Maria lease. They reached peak production of 210,000 barrels (33,000 m) of oil from this area in 1989. However, interest in oil drilling in California had been moving offshore, particularly for
390-406: The field in 2002 with its purchase of Nuevo Energy, and continues to operate it as of the beginning of 2010. The Lompoc field was one of the properties transferred, along with the Lompoc Oil and Gas Plant, which then became, and remains, the principal processing plant for Plains's operations in the region. A total of 34 oil wells continued to pump from the field at the beginning of 2009, including 8 in
420-444: The field include Vandenberg Village and Lompoc to the south, Vandenberg Space Force Base to the west, and Los Alamos to the east. One public road, Harris Grade Road, traverses the field from north to south. Several access points to the field are along this road. Most of the field's productive area, and most of the oil wells, are on the southern slope of the hills. Elevations on the oil field range from around 400 feet (120 m) on
450-472: The hills contain stands of bishop pine as well as coast live oak forest; the south-facing slopes have mostly chaparral vegetation types, including coastal sage scrub . Fourteen inches (36 cm) of rain falls in a typical winter. Drainage on the south side of the hills is to the Santa Ynez River, and then out to the sea via Lompoc; to the north, runoff goes to San Antonio Creek, which exits to
480-538: The major oil companies, who had the resources to build offshore platforms and invest large sums of money in long-term prospects which had considerably greater reserves than the mature and declining onshore fields. Unocal, the operator of the Lompoc field as well as several others in the Santa Maria area, chose the Lompoc field as a central location to build an oil and gas processing plant, while maintaining operations as
510-848: The movie can often be seen making a pilgrimage from the Buellton Days Inn to the Hitching Post restaurant. Other movies that have been filmed in the Santa Ynez Valley include indie film "Flying Lessons" featuring Michael O’Neill, Maggie Grace, and Hal Holbrook, “Michael Jackson: The Untold Story of Neverland", “Uncorked” /Hallmark/Larry Levinson; “Bad Girls”; “It’s Complicated”/Universal; Nitro Circus/MTV; “Inside Luxury Travel”; “The Othersiders”/Red Varden Studios;“More to Love”; “Back in Wedding Shape”; “You’re Hired”; “Kathy Griffin Season 2”; and “Somewhere” Movie locations An estate in
540-490: The nearby Los Padres National Forest or bicycling throughout the valley. The Santa Ynez Valley is part of Santa Barbara County's Third Supervisorial District, whose voters are registered 39% Democratic and 31% Republican; however, registered voters within the Valley's two incorporated cities, Buellton and Solvang, are approximately 31% Democratic and 45% Republican, reflecting the greater Valley's more conservative political constituency. The Valley, geographically located at
570-419: The ocean through Vandenberg Space Force Base. A small discontiguous part of the field, the Northwest Area, is situated about a mile and a half northwest of the main part of the field, close to the main gate of Vandenberg Space Force Base. As of 2009, that area had 9 actively producing wells, as well as three used for water disposal. The hills are the surface expression of an anticlinal structure consisting of
600-524: The oil industry in California, Plains offered to decommission the entire Lompoc Field in 2022, donating it as a permanent public nature preserve, in return for being able to slant drill from its existing Platform Irene in Federal waters into the previously untapped Tranquillon Ridge field, in state waters close to shore. Under the terms of the deal, oil produced at Platform Irene from the new field would be pumped to shore through existing pipelines and treated at
630-717: The production declined. In 1986 the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors approved a request by Unocal, after an extensive environmental review, to develop an offshore oil platform in Federal waters (Platform Irene), a series of pipelines connecting it to a proposed new oil processing facility on the grounds of the Lompoc Oil Field. The plant was built shortly after, and went online in 1987. Unocal divested most of its California assets in February 1996, selling them to Nuevo Energy. Plains acquired
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#1732786953951660-659: The property prior to his death and in 2017, the estate, again Sycamore Valley Ranch was for sale at an asking price of $ 67 million. Well, Hill 4 The Well, Hill 4 is a California Historical Landmark in Lompoc, California 's Lompoc Oil Field in the Purisima Hills . The oil well is the first one to use pumping cement to aid in installing a shutoff valve . The well became a California State Historical Landmark No. 582 on May 1, 1957. The well
690-663: The success of the drilling in the Los Angeles Basin around 1900, and similar discoveries of oil in Kern County around the same time, prospecting for oil began to occur in Santa Barbara County as well. In 1901 the Orcutt field was discovered, and in 1903 the discovery well for the Lompoc field was drilled, after several failed attempts to find oil in the obviously promising anticlinal structure. A 1902 well
720-490: The sunset clause. Freeport McMoRan Oil and Gas acquired the operations in the field with their 2013 purchase of Plains Exploration & Production 34°43′43″N 120°26′15″W / 34.7287°N 120.4375°W / 34.7287; -120.4375 Santa Ynez Valley The Santa Ynez Valley ( Spanish : Valle de Santa Ynez ) is located in Santa Barbara County, California , between
750-464: The top of which oil has pooled, halted in its upward migration by the impermeable cap of the Sisquoc. The minimum depth at which oil has been recovered in the Lompoc field is approximately 2,250 feet (690 m), and the average net thickness of the oil-bearing rock is 450 to 500 feet (150 m). Total productive area of the field is 2,350 acres (9.5 km). In the main part of the Lompoc field oil
780-547: The valley also has numerous apple farms, many of them with roadside apple stands or "pick your own" programs. It is the location of the Santa Ynez Valley American Viticultural Area . Horses are seen throughout the valley and a historic Western atmosphere is kept alive. Notable ranches include Monty Roberts ' Flag Is Up Farms, River Edge Farm ( thoroughbreds ), and the nationally known Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center. This valley
810-472: The west to 1,242 feet (379 m) at the summit of the Purisima Hills. Climate in the region is Mediterranean , with cool, rainy winters and dry summers during which the heat is greatly diminished by fog and northwesterly winds from the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean , which is about 12 miles (19 km) west of the field. Prevailing winds year-round are from the west-northwest. The north slopes of
840-481: The west. The valley has a population of about 20,000 residents living in the communities of Solvang , Los Olivos , Santa Ynez , Buellton , and Ballard . The economy of the Santa Ynez Valley is driven by agriculture (particularly viticulture ), the equine industry, and tourism. The wine industry is a major part of the Santa Ynez Valley's economy. The Santa Ynez Valley Visitors Association lists over 70 wineries and tasting rooms on their website. Besides grapes,
870-415: Was the first oil well in which a shutoff was attained by pumping cement through the tubing and back of the casing. Peak production on the field did not occur until 1951, during which the operators reported almost 2.5 million barrels (400,000 m) of oil. An enhanced recovery project – gas injection to increase reservoir pressure – which had commenced in 1929 was discontinued in 1960, and production from
900-542: Was wrecked in an earthquake before it found oil. The discovery well, by the Union Oil Company of California, hit oil in March 1903, and initially produced 225 barrels per day (35.8 m/d). By 1911, the field had 33 producing wells on the field, six in the process of being drilled, and 15 had already been abandoned, either as dry holes or insufficient producers. Union Oil Company of California's 1905 Well, Hill 4
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