L. W. Currey, Inc.

(California Oil Fields) California State Mining Bureau, State Oil and Gas Supervisor. SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS CALIFORNIA OIL FIELDS MONTHLY CHAPTER. FIFTH [and SIXTH] ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE OIL AND GAS SUPERVISOR ISSUED BY CALIFORNIA STATE MINING BUREAU. San Francisco: California State Mining Bureau, State Oil and Gas Supervisor, November 1919 - September 1920 (volume 5, number 5 - volume 6, number 3). 23x15.5 cm (octavo), eleven issues, numerous maps, charts and graphs, many folded, original pictorial wrappers, bound in blue cloth with ribbon tie. From 1903 onward, various attempts were made to regulate petroleum exploration and production. In September 1909, to ensure a supply of fuel oil for the Navy, the Secretary of the Interior issued orders withdrawing prospective public lands from selection, filing, entry, or disposal under the public-land laws to form the Naval Petroleum Reserve 1 (now Elk Hills field) (Rintoul, 1990). State legislation, local associations, and self-policing were all tried, culminating in August 1915 with the formation of the Department of Petroleum and Gas in the California State Mining Bureau. The department’s mission was "... to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance and abandonment of petroleum or gas wells in such manner as to prevent damage to the petroleum and gas deposits of the state from infiltrating water and other causes" (Rintoul, 1990). When the United States entered World War I, California’s oil industry was the nation’s largest supplier of petroleum ... World War I demonstrated not only the importance of oil to national security, but also that oil was not as abundant as desired. The United States supplied 80 percent of the oil used by Allied forces during the war ... In 1918 total national production was 350 million barrels, but Standard predicted that by 1927 some 700 million barrels of petroleum would be required nationwide (Rintoul, 1999a). It was in the context of a looming shortage that in 1918 Standard Oil Company began exploring the "school section" at the Elk Hills field (so-called because it had been granted to the State of California for the development of the state’s school system), a section that they purchased in 1909 ... In 1992, the Elk Hills field would become the fifth California oil field to exceed one billion barrels of cumulative oil production (Rintoul, 1999a) ... Throughout the 1920s the petroleum industry responded to the threat of an oil shortage. By 1929, California was producing more than 800,000 barrels per day, an increase of more than 524,000 barrels per day from the beginning of the decade ... Several giant discoveries were made during the 1920s in the southern San Joaquin Valley: the Mount Poso field, north of the Kern River field in July 1926; the Edison field east of Bakersfield in July 1928; and the Kettleman Hills field (now known as Kettleman North Dome field), west of Kettleman City in November 1928. Increased exploration and production had produced a surplus of oil, allaying fears of shortages (Rintoul, 1990). California had always been a place to try new technology. In the 1920s, gas engines began to replace steam engines on the rotary rigs because they were cheaper to operate and more portable. Improvements in drilling muds, drill bits and pipe, and other technologies allowed for deeper drilling, placing more stress on the wooden derricks. By the 1930s steel had completely replaced wood for derrick construction (Rintoul, 1976). Publication of the monthly SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS CALIFORNIA OIL FIELDS commenced with the issue dated April, 1919. The eleven issues present here cover the heyday of petroleum exploration and production during the search for new resources in the early years following World War I, and many of the reports printed here describe the use of new technology and new techniques in the California oil fields. ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE STATE SUPERVISOR OIL AND GAS have been published from 1915 through at least 2018. (The historical summary is based on part of chapter 3 of Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California: A Brief History of Oil and Gas Exploration in the Southern San Joaquin Valley of California, by Kenneth I. Takahashi and Donald L. Gautier, USGS Professional Paper 1713.). Ex libris Santa Ana Public Library with several of their ink stamps, ink stamp of Morehart Land Co., Realtors, Builders, Insurers, of Los Angeles, California, on front cover and another on the front cover of the first issue. Light wear to boards, pocket removed from inner front board, some institutional stamps, top corner from front wrapper of first vol. torn away, first issue good, remainder very good to nearly fine. These early issues are uncommon. (#167190).

Price: $375.00