115:
247:
20:
185:, which is of Middle and Lower Miocene age. Within that formation, five different zones are identified in cross section, with a total thickness of petroleum-bearing rock approaching 2,000 feet (610 m). Underneath the Temblor is yet another series of impermeable and permeable strata, like layers of a cake: the
267:
have been used minimally at
Kettleman Hills. Water flooding was used in both the Temblor and Vaqueros pools, between 1965 and 1977, but many of the enhanced recovery methods used successfully at other oil fields – steam flooding, fire flooding, gas injection, and so forth, which were so successful at
230:
A persistent attempt paid off in 1927, when the Milham
Company drilled its Elliott No. 1 well: after 19 months of labor, in October 1928, at a depth of 7,108 feet (2,167 m), oil was found, and a terrific blowout ensued, which took three years to bring under control. Elliott No. 1 and other wells
259:
from
Kettleman, with its depressant effect on the price of oil, was a cause of considerable antagonism in the oil industry at the time. Production from Kettleman peaked in 1936, with over 29 million barrels pumped during that year, making it one of the most productive fields in the United States. In
201:
age) at a depth of around 10,000 feet (3,000 m). This formation was not discovered until 1940. A few other smaller oil pools were found later, such as one in the
Kreyenhagen in 1957 and the Whepley, a small additional pool at great depth in the Temblor Formation, discovered in 1976. While the
64:
on the east from the much smaller
Kettleman Plain to the west. They are discontinuous, as indicated by their name ("hills" rather than "ridge"). The predominant vegetation is grassland, with surrounding areas containing grassland, low scrub, orchards, and agricultural fields. The climate is arid,
254:
Unrestricted production of oil at the
Kettleman Hills fields, mainly North Dome, was controversial during the 1930s. Other states, such as Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, restricted production of oil through agreements with each other, in order to keep the price from falling too far; however, in
226:
The presence of a large oil field was long suspected in the
Kettleman Hills region, since it is an anticlinal structure like so many of the nearby San Joaquin Valley oil fields; however, early test wells found nothing, since drilling methods then lacked the ability to reach the 7,000 feet
55:
to the west. The range consists of two elongate "domes", the North Dome and Middle Dome; a portion of the Middle Dome is sometimes called the "South Dome," although the North and Middle Dome are the most topographically distinct. Both the North and Middle Domes overlie oil fields.
321:
by Eloise
Sterling Hirt, Theodore Kesler Sterling, et al., is a novel about the discovery of oil in Kettleman Hills. One of the characters, "Bernie Bernard," is probably based on oilman Bernard H. "Bernie" Scott, one of the three geologists who discovered the field.
39:, California. Discovered in 1928, it is the fifteenth largest field in the state by total ultimate oil recovery, and of the top twenty oil fields, it is the closest to exhaustion, with less than one-half of one percent of its original oil remaining in place.
65:
with 6 to 12 inches (300 mm) of precipitation per year on the average, all falling as rain. Summers are hot, with daily highs regularly exceeding 100 °F (38 °C) in the summer months, and winters are cool with occasional freezes.
59:
The
Kettleman Hills is named, and misspelled, after Dave Kettelman, a pioneer sheep and cattle rancher who grazed his animals there in the 1860s. The hills, which rise to an elevation of approximately 1,200 feet (370 m), divide the
209:
earthquake, since the total deformation caused by the quake was exactly that necessary to compensate for the oil removed historically, i.e. by filling the vacated space. The same mechanism has been suggested for the
563:
568:
126:
fields paralleling the San
Andreas Fault, where tectonic forces squeezed the rock formations into anticlinal structures, trapping large quantities of petroleum. To the northwest is the large
499:
287:
J.P. Oil Company, Inc., of Lafayette, Louisiana, took over operation of the entire Kettleman Hills North Dome Oil Field in 1997, but as of 2008 the oil field is run by
543:
553:
558:
106:
is longer. Its long axis, northwest to southeast, is approximately 14 miles (23 km), and it is almost three miles (5 km) across at its widest point.
548:
368:
231:
in the huge Temblor pool produced 3,670 barrels a day during that period; the initial measured pressure was 3,540 psi (24,400 kPa). The town of
202:
Kreyenhagen is normally an impermeable shale, where it is highly fractured it is a productive unit in its own right, since oil collects in the fractures.
162:
field in the southwestern corner of the San Joaquin Valley. The total productive area of the Kettleman Hills North Dome is 13,700 acres (55 km).
340:
489:
260:
2006, the latest year for which data was available, production was a mere 128,000 barrels, even with the modern technologies available.
538:
402:
235:, originally named Milham City after the oil company, quickly grew near the field, the latest in a series of oil boom towns in the
459:
215:
211:
181:
age, forms the impermeable cap beneath which enormous quantities of oil have pooled over millions of years, principally in the
227:(2,100 m) necessary to tap the reservoirs. Before 1910, drillers made nine separate unsuccessful attempts to reach oil.
114:
205:
Removal of oil from the large Kettleman Hills fields, mainly the North Dome, has been suggested as a cause of the 1985
313:. The film ends with the Gable and Tracy characters preparing to be the first oil men to drill on the Kettleman Dome.
354:
92:
236:
76:
72:
36:
147:
143:
32:
246:
206:
159:
103:
190:
316:
264:
155:
194:
193:
are impermeable units beneath the Temblor; underneath them, another large pool of oil is found in the
174:
269:
139:
131:
51:, a northwest-southeast trending line of hills about 30 miles (48 km) long which parallels the
288:
151:
273:
232:
186:
127:
96:
61:
376:
475:
341:
California Department of Conservation, Oil and Gas Statistics, Annual Report, 31 December 2006
182:
52:
23:
The Kettleman North Dome Oil Field in Central California. Other oil fields are shown in gray.
447:
372:
300:
135:
448:"On a possible connection between three major earthquakes in California and oil production"
240:
166:
48:
406:
490:
Time Magazine story from 1935 on overproduction, personality conflicts, and competition
256:
84:
532:
359:
310:
277:
68:
19:
306:
281:
80:
280:
and elsewhere – have proved impractical because of the oil's relatively light
514:
501:
170:
123:
102:
North Dome itself is one of the longest of the California oil fields; only
305:
a 1940 film about wildcatting in the early Oklahoma oil industry, starred
250:
Monument to the Discovery of the Kettleman North Dome Oil Field in 1928
178:
118:
Old Oil Well Derrick in the Kettleman North Dome Oil Field near Avenal
198:
91:, crosses the hills at the southern extremity of the North Dome, and
88:
99:
to Interstate 5, crosses the hills in the middle of the North Dome.
245:
113:
47:
The Kettleman North Dome occupies the northernmost portion of the
18:
218:, both of which occurred near the centers of mature oil fields.
122:
The oil field is one of a long line of similar lengthy, narrow,
16:
Oil and gas field in Kings and Fresno counties, California, USA
473:"Fred Manning, Oil Pioneer in Oklahoma, Dies (obituary)".
263:
Unlike many of the other major California oil fields,
165:
Within the Kettleman Hills, oil is found in the large
564:
Buildings and structures in Fresno County, California
569:
Buildings and structures in Kings County, California
336:
334:
71:parallels the range of hills to the northeast, and
355:"Geology of Kettleman Hills Oil Field, California"
239:. Other oil drillers active at Kettlemen include
452:Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
158:, and finally the largest of all, the enormous
8:
369:American Association of Petroleum Geologists
377:10.1306/3d932bac-16b1-11d7-8645000102c1865d
392:, p. 123, A.H. Cawston, Hanford CA, 1940
544:Natural gas fields in the United States
432:
430:
428:
426:
424:
330:
255:California no such regulation existed.
554:Geography of Fresno County, California
559:Geography of Kings County, California
405:. U.S. Forest Service. Archived from
403:"Ecological Subregions of California"
388:Brown, Robert R. and Richmond, J.E.,
7:
318:Wildcatting: The Hills of Kettleman
549:Geography of the San Joaquin Valley
353:Gester, G.C.; Galloway, J. (1933),
222:History, production, and operations
14:
460:Seismological Society of America
216:1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake
31:is a large oil and gas field in
29:Kettleman North Dome Oil Field
1:
95:, which connects the town of
130:; to the southeast are the
585:
265:enhanced recovery methods
237:California Central Valley
539:Oil fields in California
212:1983 Coalinga earthquake
390:History of Kings County
195:Upper McAdams Formation
295:In literature and film
251:
119:
24:
249:
191:Kreyenhagen Formation
117:
22:
515:36.0402°N 120.0960°W
132:Lost Hills Oil Field
511: /
446:McGarr, A. (1991),
289:Chevron Corporation
520:36.0402; -120.0960
479:. 1 November 1958.
436:DOGGR, pp. 240-245
252:
187:Vaqueros Sandstone
128:Coalinga Oil Field
120:
79:, which runs from
75:to the southwest.
62:San Joaquin Valley
25:
476:Los Angeles Times
183:Temblor Formation
53:San Andreas Fault
576:
526:
525:
523:
522:
521:
516:
512:
509:
508:
507:
504:
492:
487:
481:
480:
470:
464:
463:
443:
437:
434:
419:
418:
416:
414:
409:on 15 March 2005
399:
393:
386:
380:
379:
350:
344:
338:
175:McLure Formation
584:
583:
579:
578:
577:
575:
574:
573:
529:
528:
519:
517:
513:
510:
505:
502:
500:
498:
497:
495:
488:
484:
472:
471:
467:
445:
444:
440:
435:
422:
412:
410:
401:
400:
396:
387:
383:
352:
351:
347:
339:
332:
328:
297:
284:and its depth.
241:Fred M. Manning
224:
167:structural trap
112:
49:Kettleman Hills
45:
37:Fresno counties
17:
12:
11:
5:
582:
580:
572:
571:
566:
561:
556:
551:
546:
541:
531:
530:
494:
493:
482:
465:
438:
420:
394:
381:
345:
329:
327:
324:
296:
293:
257:Overproduction
223:
220:
169:formed by the
148:South Belridge
144:North Belridge
111:
108:
85:Kettleman City
44:
41:
15:
13:
10:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
581:
570:
567:
565:
562:
560:
557:
555:
552:
550:
547:
545:
542:
540:
537:
536:
534:
527:
524:
491:
486:
483:
478:
477:
469:
466:
461:
457:
453:
449:
442:
439:
433:
431:
429:
427:
425:
421:
408:
404:
398:
395:
391:
385:
382:
378:
374:
371:: 1161–1193,
370:
366:
362:
361:
360:AAPG Bulletin
356:
349:
346:
342:
337:
335:
331:
325:
323:
320:
319:
314:
312:
311:Spencer Tracy
308:
304:
302:
294:
292:
290:
285:
283:
279:
278:Midway-Sunset
275:
271:
266:
261:
258:
248:
244:
242:
238:
234:
228:
221:
219:
217:
213:
208:
203:
200:
196:
192:
188:
184:
180:
176:
172:
168:
163:
161:
160:Midway-Sunset
157:
153:
149:
145:
141:
137:
133:
129:
125:
116:
109:
107:
105:
104:Midway-Sunset
100:
98:
94:
90:
86:
82:
78:
74:
70:
66:
63:
57:
54:
50:
42:
40:
38:
34:
30:
21:
496:
485:
474:
468:
455:
451:
441:
411:. Retrieved
407:the original
397:
389:
384:
364:
358:
348:
317:
315:
299:
298:
286:
262:
253:
229:
225:
204:
173:. The large
164:
121:
101:
69:Interstate 5
67:
58:
46:
28:
26:
518: /
506:120°05′46″W
413:22 February
307:Clark Gable
282:API gravity
177:, of upper
156:Buena Vista
81:Paso Robles
533:Categories
503:36°02′25″N
326:References
270:Kern River
140:McKittrick
124:anticlinal
462:: 948–970
301:Boom Town
171:anticline
152:Elk Hills
274:San Ardo
214:and the
343:, p. 67
179:Miocene
110:Geology
43:Setting
233:Avenal
199:Eocene
136:Cymric
97:Avenal
93:SR 269
89:Fresno
458:(3),
77:SR 41
73:SR 33
33:Kings
415:2014
309:and
207:M6.1
197:(of
189:and
35:and
27:The
373:doi
87:to
83:to
535::
456:81
454:,
450:,
423:^
367:,
365:17
363:,
357:,
333:^
291:.
276:,
272:,
243:.
154:,
150:,
146:,
142:,
138:,
134:,
417:.
375::
303:,
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
